The inaugural Pitchcoach Awards for 2008, post before this, were received, given their highly subjective nature,  with surprising  levels of agreement.  Which was nice.  There were, however, several interesting and imaginative alternative nominations  from readers. Here are some of them.

A entirely new category was suggested, BEST PERFORMANCE BY A CRIMINAL.  Here O.J.Simpson put up a persuasive tearful defence but not as effective as the first time around. The winner, who hoodwinked police and media for weeks with an awsome, appalling performance as grieving mother, was Sharon Matthews.

A nomination for POLITICAL PERFORMER  was the articulate French Minister of Finance, Christine Legarde.  Like my winner, Boris Johnson, she has a way with words.  For example, ” France is a country that thinks too much and such obsessive thinking prevents reforms being implemented.” Vraiment!

Two names were suggested for best PERFORMANCE IN SPORT.  Both are Scots, both performing so brilliantly at their sport they don’t need to persuade us of anything.  Chris Hoy is more comfortable with bike than mike.  Andy Murray’s  sublime tennis is now simply too good for words. Or for Federer.

Ant and Dec were put forward under ENTERTAINMENT for their relaxed self-aware  personas but  these are negated  by appearances in the dismal, to me,  cockroach-crunching Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.  Another suggestion was Amy Winehouse, for unrivalled headline grabbing.  Who else in the same month in one poll was voted second “greatest ultimate heroine” and in another second “most hated”?  Already an icon.

Finally, a word  of caution.  President Bush  was not considered as the GLOBAL PERFORMER and is already best forgotten.  79% of Americans will not miss him.  However in power,  he managed for much of the time to ‘pitch’ his decisions, many of them terrible and get away with it.  As Frank Rich in the Observer says “The one indisputable talent of his White House was its ability to create and sell propaganda  both to the public and the press.”

THE CRITERIA.

Performances during 2008 where the way someone communicated, the tone, the structure, the body language, the confidence and the charisma, are what made us really listen.

OUTSTANDING GLOBAL PERFORMER:    BARAK OBAMA.

Three candidates considered. Putin who exudes a sense of controlled power  through the force of his body language, making us forget he is no longer President.  The calculated release of photographs showing him shirtless cradling a Kalashnikov, whilst a tad obvious, enhanced the perception.

The Chinese government corporately, since the individuals are largely anonymous, did a superb job of both running, and  then pitching  the Olympics. Internally to the billion plus Chinese people and externally to the rest of us, thus accelerating recognition as a (the?) world super power.

In winning firstly the nomination and then the presidency, Obama gave us an object lessson in sustained  brilliance. Has there ever been a comparable performance? ( See post dated November 3).

MOST IMPROVED PERFORMANCE:  GORDON BROWN.

What a contrast.  In the first half of the year Brown was appalling.  Defensive, aggressive, unsmiling, like a chained bear flailing at Cameron’s clever thrusts. Today in a ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ transformation, he looks better, sounds better, smiles more and radiates confidence.  Now it’s Cameron who is not smiling.

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER:   ELEANOR SIMONDS

Beijing saw the emergence of many sporting superstars.  Some of them natural communicators. The winner of this award,  Paralympic gold medallist swimmer, 13 year old Eleanor captivated in the pool and in the interview.  Enchanting.

BEST IN SUPPORTING ROLE:   SARAH BROWN.

Sara Palin may be a surprise nominee but her impact on arrival was significant. Her energy, in-your-face, hockey mom, pitbull outspokeness helped a tiring McCain move ahead in the polls.  But only briefly as media exposure, exposed her weaknesses. Carla Bruni, on the otherhand, frequently exposed in other ways, enhanced the profile of Sarkozy with style and elegance.

Sara Brown’s role in the second coming of Gordon was significant.  Her surprise platform appearance at the party conference charmed viewers and kick started her husband’s revival.(See post on Sept 15 and 24)

PERFORMANCE BY A POLITICIAN:   BORIS JOHNSON

At the start of the year Cameron was making the running but he is now losing out on three fronts.  To Brown, in  his newly found ’saving the world’ role, in the House to Vince Caborne whose assured common sense commands attention, and finally to Boris Johnson.

Boris pitched strongly to defeat Ken.  As mayor, despite some ‘unlucky’ appointees, he has communicated with authority, reinforcing the unique ‘Boris’ brand. A future Prime Minister? (Post dated June 5)

BROADCAST PERFORMANCE:   GABY LOGAN

In news and current affairs the two ‘giants’, Jeremy Paxman and John Humphreys, continue in good form but would benefit from competition.  In a ‘blokey-crumpled face-next door neighbour-scouser’ way Adrian Chiles is a challenger and much loved by the BBC.   So too, seemingly, is the mannered but effectively intrusive Robert Preston.

More associated with sports progammes, the winner here is Gaby Logan.  She was the star performer of the  very many  commentators and news reporters, who outnumbered athletes, at the Games.  Naturally charming and a great listener, she draws the best out of her interviewees.

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE:  CHERYL COLE

With reality style shows, it is the ‘pitching’ pundits who make or break them, not the contestants.  Big Daddy, as ever, is Simon Cowell who gets better and younger looking(?) each time.  The formidable expert entrepreuners on Dragon’s Den run him close with their sharp and abrasive critiques.  This award however goes to Cheryl Cole, oozing empathy  Geordie style.

PERFORMANCE IN SPORT:     RONNIE O’SULLIVAN 

 No one can replace Jose Morhino, the  best at the after-match since Brian Clough.  Wenger continues to winge, Fergie to chew gum brutally, Capello to fold arms austerely, Scolari to look permanently surprised and only Harry to amuse.  In rugby, Martin Johnson’s towering presence on the pitch is diminished off it.  In cricket, Kevin Peterson is playing and talking a good game but not winning much. During a lean year, the  most engaging communicator was Ronnie O’Sullivan as adept with words as with the cue.

PERFORMANCE IN BUSINESS:   NO AWARD!

Not surprisingly, most business and financial leaders have been somewhat muted. Now that they know, that we know, that they know no more than we do, they are keeping shtum.  A small mercy.

Here’s to 2009. When the going gets tough, the tough get pitching….

PITCHES AND TROUGHS.  100 BEST PITCH STORIES

In the last post, ’this week’s pitch in  Manchester’, I anticipated that Gordon Brown’s speech would be well written, it was, and rehearsed, it was.  What I had not anticipated, no-one had, was the power and surprise of the opening.  Sarah Brown.

In the Best Practice Guide, ‘Rehearsal. The Discriminators’ (check it out),  one of the eight key things to look for when evaluating a pitch:

 ……. A POWERFUL, ATTENTION-GETTING OPENING.  “You never have a second chance to make a first impression” (Will Rogers).  Assume prospect bases decision on first five minutes.  Capture interest fast with wit and surprise……

The decision to open with Sarah Brown, and it may well have been hers, was brilliant and the impact easily met all the ‘criteria’ above.  Some press comment;  ‘In a surprise piece of stage-craft, Sarah came to the podium to rapturous applause’. ‘ Hearts melt as Sarah lends her man a charming hand’.

The value of the poweful opening in a pitch is twofold.  It starts the task of captivating the audience emotionally and, sometimes overlooked, it boosts the following performers.  There can be no doubt that Gordon’s, for him, excellent and confident delivery gained from the tremendous opening. This is reason enough to include it in the 100 Best.

An article by David Benady, in Marketing Week,  titled ‘the lamp-post theory of pitch research’ looks at the use of focus groups to decide who wins.  Strong views for and against were raised,  the same views that would have prevailed ten, twenty or thirty years ago.

I happen to side with the no focus group view. This has not stopped me pitching when research is in play. The reason is obvious.  In a competitive service industry, the first rule is that the client, potential or otherwise, is always right.  For the second and third rules, go back to number one.

It is nevertheless reasonable that the client should let you know  how they will assess. If they don’t, ask.  You can then decide whether, or  how, to pitch, but the problem remains.  No decision process can be set in stone.  Even with procurement attack dogs, objective evaluation criteria and impartial consultants, something  will intervene.  It’s called human nature.

It is both the fascination and the frustration of pitching.  Whim and chance do play their part.  This is why  chances of success are greatest  where insights into the nature of the decision makers are sharpest.  Before and throughout the process.

One example from personal experience, this a  6-way pitch to major French company, Saint Gobain. A formal 2 hour presentation to 20 country managers for evaluation, then 30 minutes one-on-one with the CEO.  Our insight was that he, and he alone, took the decisions.  So pitch focussed solely on  him and his concerns rather than the company at large.   The managers scored us sixth out of six.  The CEO awarded us the business.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS.  100 BEST STORIES.

This story qualfies for the bizarre. It took place nearly twenty  years ago when the advent of ‘glaznost’ signalled a thaw in relations with the Soviet Union.  It started with a call from the President of the Moscow Narodny bank, based in London, one of the few commercial organisations then operating in the West.

Intrigued, I went along to a briefing  where I met General Danyev, a grizzled veteran of the Soviet military.  He  was involved in running the Soviet Space agency, at that time probably leading the US  in activity level.  During the briefing, carried out through an interpreter, the general would rub forefinger and thumb together, the universal sign for ‘money’. He was not, as I  first thought, seeking personal reward.  He was signalling a   commercial opportunity for western sponsors!

The first brief was to identify a sponsor, such as Coke, who could emblazon their brand all over the exterior of a space mission.  When scientists pointed out that thousands of degrees heat at blast-off would obliterate any branding, the general came up  with another idea.  It was to run an ad campaign to recruit  potential astronauts from the British public.

Before Saatchi’s creative work could be pitched to him there was a  9 month delay. Our London based client, the bank president, was ordered back to Moscow in one of the tit-for-tat spy scandals common at the time.

On his return, which surprised us, he was presented a campaign plan of full pages to appear once in all main newspapers,  a name, Mission  Juno,  and a totally brilliant, long bodycopy, ad written by Simon Dicketts. The headline   ”ASTRONAUT WANTED. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY”.

17,000 coupon responses came in. Some 3000 were then invited to complete a detailed questionnaire. 500 were screened in interviews before a final three were selected for training at the Space Agency. One of these, Helen Sharman, became the first British cosmonaut.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS.  100 BEST STORIES.

This is a  ’trough’ story of epic proportion. It still resonates in the corridors of 80 Charlotte St, the London office of Saatchi & Saatchi, some fifteen or so years later. This version is authenticated  by its hero David Kershaw, now heading up M & C Saatchi, but at the time of our story managing Saatchi & Saatchi.

The setting a large conference room . The players.  On one side the senior marketeers from BT, then as now, one of the UK’s largest advertisers.  On the other, the agency’s star team pitching their creative campaign.

Halfway through the presentation it became clear that things were not going as well as hoped. This prompted Kershaw, a man of both eloquence and erudition, to scribble a note to one of his colleagues. It read “the c*** in the glasses looks like trouble”

Before the end of the meeting the agency was asked to leave the room before returning for a summing up. The note was not mentioned and only subsequently, via the pages of Marketing Week, did it become clear the words had indeed  found their mark.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the agency did not win the business.

However this story has a happy ending. Some months later BT invited  the agency to pitch for a further part of their business. Kershaw, deciding discretion the better part of valour, stood himself down from the presentation.  This meant he missed the BT team all of whom turned up wearing glasses.

And Saatchis won the pitch!

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. THE BEST 100.

Last Wednesday, unecessarily late, on BBC4 there was a brilliant documentary, Black Power Salute. It went behind the scenes to explore the action and motivation that led to the moment when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloved fists at the Mexico Olympics in 1968. One of the 20th century’s most powerful, enduring images.

As the programme spells out this was not a spontaneous gesture. It was, even though not described as such, a brilliantly conceived and stunningly executed pitch, an act of persuasion. It expressed the resentment of black people at that time and fuelled the momentum of civil rights.

I was in the stadium watching, having competed without success in my event a few days earlier. The effect on the ‘ live’ audience was surprisngly muted. A gloved hand has little visual impact at a distance of 70 or so meters. Smith and Carlos knew this. They were targetting the worldwide TV audience whose screens framed, in close up, the men and their raised fists. The iconic image.

Muhammad Ali, the ‘greatest’ pitcher of all time, called it the ’single most courageous act of the 20th century’. It could be, but for me what is truly astonishing is the way they handled the physical and emotional demands of reaching the final and then having to win. Not for the medals but for the opportunity to protest.

For us lesser mortals, a reminder that a picture is worth a thousand words.

PITCHES AND TROUGHES. 100 BEST STORIES.

Last week in Glasgow, in the lead up to the by-election, David Cameron delivered what has been described as a taboo-breaking “moral leadership” speech . As reported it was a speech of real substance, with strong uneqivocal messages, for example “….we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgements about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour”.

It contained powerful messages which will register and which will drive the Tory agenda. However it is not this speech but his speech at the Tory Party conference in Blackpool in autumn 2005 that merits being included in the 100 Best Pitch Stories.

It was a five-way pitch. The two favourites going in  were the big beast Ken Clarke, an experienced and  fluent platorm speaker, and, in the lead, the bruiser David Davis, (now somewhat bruised by his by-election activity?) The other three were Liam Fox, Malcolm Rifkind and David Cameron. 

All five spoke for roughly the same amount time, to the same audience of party faithful and no one can remember what any of them said!

Quite simply the political landscape changed on that day. Not because of what Cameron said but  because of the way he said it.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. 100 BEST STORIES.

Recently, I was involved in an informal rehearsal with a team preparing to pitch a powerful concept to go into production.  There was no doubt that it was a strong concept.  However, in the course of the rehearsal it became clear that lack of a single minded and compelling expression of the idea  would hinder the sell.

This experience reminded me of a great pitch story that I  cannot personally verify ,but it is so good it has to be true!

This is the story of how the creators pitched the concept for the film Aliens to the studio bosses. 

They said think of it as “ Jaws in space”.

if anyone knows of examples anywhere near as good, please tell…

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. 100 BEST STORIES.

The battle to host the 2012 Olympics was the pitch of the decade. The general sense of euphoria then felt at London’s win is now somewhat muted as the pitched cost of £2 billion plus is now around £9 million and rising!   Nevertheless, it was a brilliant pitch and one that has been written up by many, including an excellent chapter in Jon Steel’s book Perfect Pitch.

From a long list of nine, five candidate cities, New York, Moscow, Madrid , Paris and London, invested many millions developing their technical submissions (the exaggerated equivalent of the pitch document). All five were approved by the scrutineers.  Paris was assumed to be ahead at this stage but in reality any one of the five could have won in the live pitch in Singapore. This is where the right to be a “Best 100″ story starts.

How did London win the hearts of the 110 members of the IOC, voting anonomously, average age late sixties?

Shortly after the announcement,  I asked Alan Pascoe, a  deputy chairman of the Bid team, what  was the single factor that, in his opinion, lead to success?  His immediate reply ,” we kept on and on asking ourselves the question, from the individual IOC members viewpoint,-What’s in it for me?”

The answer was not about the delivery of a successful Games. It was all about the benefit of the Olympics in terms of its legacy, particularly among  the young.  It was this insight that determined the winning strategy in a pitch which demonstated that London , and the people running the bid, understood the IOC best.

Many elements during the pitch reinforced this insight. However, the most astonishing dramatisation of the strategy came in the video. The four other cities, using  world famous directors, showcased their cities and stadia in all their glory.  As you would expect.

 The London film did not show the city at all. What it did show was heart rending footage of young children, in different parts of the world, nervously competing and ‘dreaming’ of taking part in the Olympics in London . The final words over ” To make an athlete takes millions of children around the world inspired to choose sport”.

A few months ago at a dinner I asked Seb Coe to sum up the success. His response ” it was  all down to the emotional connection”