Did you watch The Pitch?



Contributing Writer
Photo: The O Face Credit: Anissa Thompson

Photo: The O Face Credit: Anissa Thompson

On Sunday, the AMC channel previewed its reality series “The Pitch” which follows a couple of  smaller advertising agencies (McKinney and WDCW) as they pitch Subway to create a campaign for their breakfast offerings.

I’ve never worked in an advertising agency but I think Mad Men is brilliant, so I tuned in to see these modern day Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryces battle it out for marketing supremacy.   My lofty expectations came back down to Earth in a hurry.

What struck me was how pedestrian the ideas were (with one notable exception).  They interviewed copywriters in their mid-twenties who talked about themselves as if they were second coming, then cut to them briefing embarrassingly milk toast ideas.  The final pitches were a little awkward, and while the campaigns were slick looking they were a bit soulless.  They were gimmicks that would briefly catch someone’s attention but didn’t offer any compelling reason to eat breakfast at Subway.  In the show, someone remarks that one good campaign can make a person’s career – at Subway that campaign obviously was the one centered around Jared Fogle.

(spoiler alert)  So, the compelling campaign that won out was a derivation of a popular YouTube clip of a white rapper rapping about pancakes (I guess “Charlie bit my finger” was busy?).  And as we all know, the 18-24 year old demographic LOVES white rappers and will eat anything rappers recommend for them (I know this too well from Wiz Kahlifa’s endorsement of brussel sprouts).  But in one of the additional videos on the AMC website, Subway CMO Tony Pace admits that the WDCW campaign (zAMbies – a derivation of zombies which was exceptionally presented) was a better campaign.  He simply preferred to work with the people at McKinney (and of course any rappers in their employ).  So, all things considered relationships won out.

Two takeaways from this:

First, if you ever think that your ideas aren’t good enough or your copy isn’t strong enough watch this show.  Fast forward past the people telling you how great they are and you’ll see that there isn’t some magical formula to developing great campaigns.  In fact, it seemed at times that they were hell-bent to forge a unique path at the brand’s peril (I thought the copywriter who was indignant that they were being forced to place the product in the commercial with the YouTube rapper was especially funny).

Second – relationships rule everything.  So whether it is in social media or when pitching a multimedia campaign, it is paramount to foster relationships.  It’s ironic that Subway would choose a agency based on their good relationship with them only to run a campaign that isn’t relatable to their intended audience, but that’s how it went down.

Point being, the real magic in anything is in the relationship.  It’s why social media is still a huge opportunity for small and large businesses alike, it’s how business is conducted, and it’s how mediocre ideas (and people sometimes) get ahead of those with more to offer.

 

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Photo Credit
Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

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Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

  • http://www.minutewiththemarketingmaven.com/ Heather

    Jim

    I watched the Pitch too and was psyched to get the inside scoop on the inner workings of an agencies creative departments.
    Your point about the relationship is all too real and at the end of the day, people want to play it safe and do business with people they like, people they trust and people they have history with. Change is scary and breaking away from status quo
    is a risk too many people are willing to take. For what is worth, I thought the Zambie idea was better!

    Heather
    The Maven

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Thanks Heather – I’m not sure if you saw the ancillary video on AMC but SUBWAY thought the zAMbie idea was better! I’ve heard some negative things about the show, but I thought it was really interesting how highly they thought of themselves! Mad Men makes it seem much cooler! ;)

  • http://herodesignstudio.com Jeff Mason

    Jim,
    Mad Men is much cooler the any of us in advertising. Spin is spin.

    I think it’s great the general public is seeing behind the green curtain of ad agencies. Creative is hard. The timing of deadlines doesn’t always match the timing of great ideas. The reality is, whatever the creative team cooks up the account team will sell. Its a business, not a an art show.

    The pitch creative is never break-through stuff. That comes later after the client and agency have gotten to know and trust each other. Subway chose McKinney because they liked them today and believed over time they would trust them more in the future. Wong Doody didn’t win the “like you, trust you” portion of the competition, so the didn’t win the account.

    Nice post.

    JM

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Great insight, Jeff – thanks! I was kind of rooting for Wong Doody since they have ties to the Seattle area, but it was pretty clear that the McKinney folks were a more affable bunch. Now ready to lobby AMC to have Hero Design Studio on the show – tell me where to focus my letter writing efforts! Thanks for commenting!

  • Krithika

    Also, in the episode the Subway CMO refers to a past campaign that Wong Doody had done for Quiznos that apparently was not well received. With that they already had a negative against them. That and the fact Subway has a relationship with McKinney probably impacted the decision.

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Krithika – great catch! I forgot about that but it did seem that Wong Doody started the race a step behind in Subway’s eyes! I think I shrugged it off as manipulative editing, but in retrospect it probably spoke to the client / agency relationship. Great insight – thank you for reading and commenting!

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