HOME | ABOUT | CONTACT | Magazine
Search:

Inspiration for digital creatives

NEW! Topic Zones

Digital Arts cover

Buy latest issue NOW!

Creating cutting edge vector art
Master light & shadow
Paint with fire
Graduate showcase
Urban typography
£405 of stock images, fonts & vectors

EDIGIT SIGN-UP

The twice-weekly newsletter with all the latest creative news, reviews, and features



More info...


ipad

The Complete Guide to the iPad

Packed with tips and tricks, the top 50 apps you must download & over 80 pages of step-by step tutorials.
Buy NOW for just £5.99, a saving of 40% off the retail price.

Pitch perfect

Monday 30 Apr 2007

Pitching is mission critical for design agencies – get it right and you land the job. Digit looks at how to create the perfect pitch.

border=0 /><BR></div> </p> <p> For many, public speaking – even if it’s addressing a handful of people in a room – is the stuff of nightmares. But what if your livelihood depends not only on addressing senior executives, but wowing them with your craft and insight? </p> <p> For designers and creative agencies, pitches and presentations are the means by which new clients are won and existing ones retained, and mastering this art goes way beyond important. It’s mission critical. </p> <p> On this subject, one truth shines brighter than any other: there are no short cuts or easy-fit solutions. </p> <p> <p> “A one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to win you much business,” confirms Tom Chapman, director of London multimedia agency Creative Cherry (<a href="http://www.creativecherry.com" target="_blank">www.creativecherry.com</a>). </p> <p> <div class=inlineimage><img src=@digital_arts on Twitter.


Submit to: DiggDigg deliciousDel.icio.us redditReddit

What is this?

border=0 /><BR></div> </p> <p> <h2>A sense of theatre</h2> </p> <p> Pitches and presentations straddle a strange zone between business meeting and theatre, and occasionally they tip over into farce. Tom Chapman, director of London multimedia agency Creative Cherry, recall one such episode. </p> <p> “I’ve seen many pitches fall flat for various reasons, but probably one of the most bizarre was the time when a senior account director for a blue-chip client turned up at a £7 million pitch wearing full fancy dress. </p> <p> “Unfortunately, he’d omitted to tell any of his team, or the client. The pitch was lost (along with his dignity), and safe to say, he’s never lived it down.” </p> <p> Meanwhile, Adam Devey Smith, managing director of identity and branding agency The One Off, recently delivered his own brand of theatre. </p> <p> “I presented a holiday concept to Lunn Poly with a room lit like a beach, sun loungers for the clients, and ambient waves and crickets from Tenerife in the audio.” </p> <p> But sometimes, the theatre can be unplanned – and unwelcome, as discovered by Ben Terrett, founding partner of The Design Conspiracy. </p> <p> “I was invited by a famous medical institute to pitch to design some literature for them. I arrived hungover on the morning after my birthday. The meeting went OK, until the client asked, ‘Would you like to see the brains?’. On autopilot, I said, ‘Yeah, sure’. </p> <p> She took me into a room filled with real brains, in jars. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Someone in a lab coat was even slicing one up. I made my excuses, dashed outside and threw up in the nearest bin. Strangely, we didn’t end up working with them.” </p> <p> <div class=inlineimage><img src=
HOME | TERMS & CONDITIONS | ABOUT | CONTACT | ADVERTISERS | All contents ©IDG 2010 by IDG Network
Top of page TOP