TrinityP3 is shaking up the pitch process again as it launches new tools for marketers and opening its third annual State of The Pitch survey.
BetterPitch framework aims to help marketers run faster, smarter, and more effective agency reviews.
Darren Woolley, Global CEO of TrinityP3, explained to Mediaweek that BetterPitch was created by TrinityP3 to help marketers improve their pitching skills following the findings of the second State of The Pitch survey.
“The whole purpose of this initiative is to give marketers the resources they need to be better at pitching.”
He noted that while marketers and procurement teams run most pitches, they often turn to pitch consultancy firms for advice.
“All marketers know is what they’ve done previously or what other people have done, and the world’s changed a lot. Unfortunately, the pitch process hasn’t and so we (TrinityP3) decided towards the end of last year what we could do to help marketers run their pitches better.
“What we’ve done is we’ve built a questionnaire that helps them work out whether they should be pitching or not, and set up a mini-coaching session to help them take them through the process before they start the pitch.
“We’ve got our benchmarking tool online that they can use to work out what’s a fair fee for their agency so we’ve put together this package of tools so that marketers can start to get better ideas or you know get have somewhere to go to get an idea of how to run a better pitch.”
BetterPitch offers a free suite of tools – BetterPitch checklist to help marketers determine if a pitch is necessary, Ad Cost Checker to benchmark agency costs, and Pitch Cost Checker to estimate the financial and time commitments involved in the pitch process.
Woolley said the free access to the BetterPitch tools and consultation sessions will help marketers who have low or no budgets to run a pitch or run complex pitches that require advice.
“We want the vast majority of marketers to have somewhere to go where they can get some solid advice on how to run a better pitch and not be one of those scoring twos and ones in the annual state of the pitch survey.”
Taking the State of the Pitch around the world
TrinityP3’s State of the Pitch has examined the pitch process in Australia for the past two years and expanded to Canada and the US.
Woolley revealed that Canada’s results from the first round of the survey were not that much different to Australia and was keen to compare data from the US.
“I don’t think big markets necessarily get their pitches any better than smaller markets. But I think the pitch process globally has really struggled because in the old days, you’d get a creative agency and maybe a media agency.
“These days there’s so many specialists and there’s so much technology and there’s all these things that are part of the pitch process and it’s become a lot more complicated and complex to run a good pitch.”
Despite the complexities that come with choosing, Woolley noted that he often sees marketers choosing an agency that offers everything because it is the easier choice rather than the individual specialisations they need.
“It’s just easier than trying to work out the individual parts. There are clients that will try and find one agency to do everything, when in some cases you may need a specialist because the needs that you have can’t be fulfilled by an agency that’s a tacked-on service.
“Part of having a better pitch is one where marketers can make those decisions and work with the right agency for the job, not just compromise and settle for something less.”
The next market to be surveyed is Germany in the coming months, while talks are underway for the APAC region to be surveyed.
“If some markets have got it really well organised, then we should be sharing that with other markets. This is trying to raise the standard of better pitching globally no one’s got a mandate on that,” he added.
Getting honest praise and honest criticism
The launch of TrinityP3’s BetterPitch initiative comes as the third State of The Pitch survey has officially gone live.
From now until December 31, 2025, agencies are being asked to share their feedback and experiences of the pitch process.
Going into the next survey, Woolley noted that he wants agencies to share their feedback, from small local pitches to big, global pitches.
“We want to get the very best view of pitching in Australia in the next six months. It’s open till December 31st, and it is anonymous, so agencies can be honest.
“That means honest praise and honest criticism.”
Top image: Darren Woolley