DON'T JUMP!

While anxiously awaiting to find out if we won the account we just pitched, I'm reminded of some of our early efforts at pitching. Usually the pitches that I felt we did horribly at, we won. And the ones I thought were "in the bag," well ...they weren't. It's so hard to predict. There are so many variables. So many unknowns. And, at best, it's subjective. Even when we win.

One of our very first pitches, 10+ years ago, was for TNT in Atlanta. We were less than a year old, with 3 employees (including the 2 founders) and we were pitching against some of the best agencies in the country, including Goodby Silverstein & Partners. TNT had decided to reprogram their station to be all about "Drama". So, David Oakley and I decided to give the most dramatic presentation of our lives.

First, we decided to turn the conference room on the 6th floor at Turner Broadcasting into a living room ...because that's where people watch TV. So we ordered six La-Z-boy recliners from a local furniture rental store. We also brought in 4' x 8' sheets of wood paneling to cover the walls. Oh, and I disassembled my daughter's trampoline and threw it in the van, too (but more about that later.)

As in every pitch, something is guaranteed to go wrong. And it did. Right when we arrived at TNT's Atlanta headquarters, we were excited to see the rented recliners arrive. But the excitement turned to panic when we realized the recliners were in boxes ...unassembled! With the help of 2 student volunteers, David Oakley, Adam Roth and myself scrambled to assemble 6 recliners faster than robots on an assembly line. The only difference is, robots don't sweat.

As the TNT clients filed into our makeshift, wood-paneled "living room", they sat in cushy recliners and we served them popcorn to begin our presentation. And present, we did. With passion and enthusiasm. Things were starting to go well and we were on a roll.

Our presentation was all about how they should "own" drama. Everything they do should be done in a dramatic way. But, right when were were about to unveil our big idea, there was a commotion outside. We ran over to the window and looked down. The clients got out of their comfy recliners and joined us by the window. They couldn't believe what they saw.

Down below on the sidewalk, 3 firemen were holding a safety net. The fire chief was looking up and yelling through a bullhorn, "Don't jump! Sir, step away from the ledge! Do NOT jump!!!

What was going on? Right in the middle of our presentation about drama, it looked as if someone was going to jump off the roof of the 12-story TBS building.

"Sir! Step back! Do not jump!!!", the bullhorn continued to blare.

As we all had our faces glued to the window, the unthinkable happened. A human body flew past us at 100-mph. We couldn't believe what we had seen. Startled, we all looked down. To our amazement and relief, the firemen had caught the body in their safety net.

After what seemed like an eternity, the client whispered, "What just happened?"

Without missing a beat, we simply replied, "TNT needs to be just as dramatic as that."

The clients' eyes lit up. "You guys were in on this, weren't you?"

"Yep. We set the whole thing up", we replied. "One of our art directors, Adam Roth, threw a blow-up doll off the roof. The firemen are student volunteers from a local ad school. Oh, and the safety net is my daughter's trampoline."

They laughed, probably more out of relief than actually thinking it was funny. And, after the presentation ended, we thought for sure we had won.

But we didn't.

Goodby did.

As bold as our presentation was, theirs was, apparently, even bolder. They presented an idea where TNT would announce their new positioning by shutting the station down for an entire day. They would go dark for a full 24 hours! Then, after getting everyone's attention, they would come back on air as a whole new station.

And, thus, the "We Know Drama" tagline was born. And it's still in use today.

Every time I see it, I think of the day we gave the most dramatic pitch of our lives. It's something that I'll never forget. And, I'm pretty sure they won't either.

BALL FOUR

Our agency just finished pitching an important account. For many days, we put our heart and soul into the pitch and I am really proud of our efforts. We did our best and now we're just hoping that the client will choose us. It's hard to know exactly what the client is looking for in a pitch because creativity is so subjective. As we're waiting on pins and needles to get the call from the client to find out if we've won or not, I received an email from a good friend of mine, Michael Folino, who freelanced on the pitch. It really put things in perspective for me. Here it is:

Hey, John,

My favorite book of all time is BALL FOUR. It's the journal of a once great...now mediocre knuckleball pitcher in 1969.

He talks about his old pitching coach, Johnny Sain (a Southerner). And Sain had a saying called, "The cool of the evening."

It's the feeling you have when you pitched a good game.
It didn't matter if you won or lost. Just the satisfaction of a job well done.

Give me a shout when you can. Would love to hear more about it.

But for now, enjoy the cool of the evening, John.

--Michael

Thanks, Michael, for the timely email. We did pitch a good game. It was a job well done. And regardless of the outcome, we will enjoy "the cool of the evening."