We’re looking forward to the premier episode of “The Pitch” on AMC. Not that we believe that the way the show is cut together really shows how great advertising is done, but because we are students of the craft of advertising and always are interested in the process of creating ads- or even spec work (which we always think is a bad idea).
The pilot episode was a pitch for Subway’s breakfast business, where the brief focused the agency work on the 18-24 crowd. As almost always is the case, the quality of the brief guides the work. How Subway decided that they needed to reach 18-24 year olds to sell more breakfast sandwiches was never substantiated which really should have been the first question the agencies asked.
The two brave agencies that went boldly where the truly huge agencies wouldn’t were McKinney in North Carolina and WDCW from California. Both have a substantial portfolio of work and are proven shops capable of doing great work. Subway’s exec team tipped their hand early, showing disrespect for WDCW’s previous work for Quiznos. Almost predictably, McKinney “won” the piece of business, but considering Subway’s never been known for producing any award winning work, it’s just dollars to the bottom line and a great chance for McKinney to get some self promotion.
Which brings us to the “premier” episode for Waste Management. Without talking trash, this isn’t exactly the kind of account that agencies hope to win Cannes hardware with. The two agencies in round two- SK+G from Las Vegas and The Ad Store from NYC aren’t as well known or respected as the round one agencies by their peers. Spend a little time on their sites and you’ll still not know very much about what makes them tick. You’ll also notice that while SK+G has lots of mentions of “The Pitch” on their site, The Ad Store doesn’t mention a thing. Foreshadowing? We’ll see. Neither site shows much prowess at Web 2.0 or social media, so maybe these are the right agencies to pitch Waste Management, who does mention The Pitch on their site. In fact, you’ll probably learn more about Waste Management on their site than you will about the agencies pitching on theirs.
One always should wonder about these “clients” using “The Pitch” as their hiring vehicle. Who is their current agency? Why are they playing spin the bottle for an agency on national television? It’s our belief and experience that the best advertising comes from long term relationships with clients that work with their agency like a respected partner. This show is about as far away from that as it comes.
We’ll have more on Episode 2 after it airs. Anyone else want to bet on the winner now?
You watched #MadMen last night. Here’s thoughts on “The Pitch” tonight: http://t.co/nNgBz3mG odds on SK+G to win.
We’re working on our “the Pitch Review” video now.
The loser in this was Waste Management- we feel that they picked the wrong agency in SK+G.
Congrats to the Ad Store for proving that big ideas are still out there. We were all relieved to hear that they won a major client- we’re pretty sure more are on the way.
This is the second episode where they seem to have sucked all the fun out of the business.
We’ll be posting a video response as soon as the editing is done, hang in there.
Interesting recap and comments on Agency Spy: http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/amcs-the-pitch-recap-skg-battles-the-ad-store-for-waste-management_b32463
You can also watch the full video that the AdStore did on YouTube- although it won’t blow you away with polish-
And our review of the show- a 3 minute clip of a 30 minute discussion:
Apparently McKinney is now being bought by a Korean holding company: http://adage.com/article/agency-news/korean-holding-company-cheil-talks-acquire-mckinney/235704/
Just four years after Durham, N.C.-based McKinney bought back its independence from French holding company Havas, the agency is in talks to be acquired by Korean company Cheil Worldwide, Ad Age has learned.
Terms of the negotiations are not known. McKinney declined to comment on the matter and Cheil representatives did not return calls by press time. But according to multiple industry executives, acquisition talks have been heating up between the two parties in recent months….
Also mixed: the reception to the agency’s appearance on the first episode of AMC’s reality show about agency life, “The Pitch,” in which it competed against Wong Doody Crandall Weiner to pick up an assignment for Subway restaurants.