As I sat and watched our ad agency on national television, my palms were sweaty and my stomach was in knots. Had David Oakley and I made the right decision? Was putting BooneOakley on AMC’s new reality TV series, “The Pitch” the most brilliant thing we had ever done? Or the most foolish?
I read in Ad
Age that many of the largest, most-respected and well-known agencies
declined to be on the show for a host of reasons. Did they know something we didn’t? Did we make a hasty decision based on our egos? Had we made a huge mistake?
We definitely weighed the pros and cons ahead
of time. We talked to everyone at
our agency. Interestingly, a
couple of people were really camera shy and refused to be on it. But most were very excited about it. We even talked to a couple of people from
WDCW (who had been on episode 1) to get their take on it. They highly recommended doing it and
allayed most of our fears.
For us, the pros far outweighed the
cons. First of all, as a small
agency located far from Madison Avenue, we felt the exposure would give us a
huge boost in awareness. In many
ways, BooneOakley is a challenger brand and building awareness is critical to
our success. In short, we have to
try harder. Being on “The Pitch”
seemed like a great tool for getting our brand story out there in a big way.
So far, after the airing of our episode, the
sentiments about our agency have been overwhelmingly positive. Many have commented that we came across
as very creative, nice and smart …which is always great to hear. All in all, we are very pleased with
the results. But is “The Pitch” right
for every agency? Before you
decide to put your agency in the national spotlight, ask yourself these 5 questions:
1. Is your
agency is run by Dr. Evil?
Large egos
are amplified on television. Unenviable traits like selfishness, jealousy, arrogance,
rudeness and hot-headedness are camera magnets. If the leader(s) of your agency would make Omarosa look
good, you should probably reconsider your TV debut.
2. Does your
agency have any secrets?
Many Mad Ave agencies turned down
“The Pitch” for fear of revealing their “secret sauce”. It’s more likely they were afraid of
revealing more damaging secrets. As
Tracy Wong told us after his agency appeared on episode 1, “If you don’t have
anything to hide, you’ll be fine.”
But, just like an interrogation, the camera lights have a way of
revealing the truth. And,
according to Jack Nicholson, “You can’t handle the truth.”
3. Do your
employees hate you?
This is a
trick question. If your employees
hate you, you are probably too egotistical and self-absorbed to even know
it. But, if you go on “The Pitch”,
it will come out. And then everyone
in America will know it. Including
your current clients, potential clients and future employee candidates. But, knowing you, you probably won’t
care.
4. Do you like
ulcers and migraines?
Let’s face it, the pressure is
enormous during any new business pitch.
But,
if you go on “The Pitch”, the pressures are multiplied exponentially. In a normal pitch, you only have to “look good” for a 2-hour presentation. In filming “The Pitch”, you have to look good for 10 days. In a normal pitch, you’re presenting to a handful of clients. On “The Pitch”, you’re presenting to a national TV audience. Normal pitches take several months. “The Pitch” only gives you 1 week. If you don’t win a normal pitch, nobody knows or cares. If you don’t win “The Pitch”, everyone knows …your mom, your cousins, your 597 facebook friends, the kid who bullied you in 3rd grade …everyone. After a normal pitch, everyone moves on. After “The Pitch”, there are reruns.
if you go on “The Pitch”, the pressures are multiplied exponentially. In a normal pitch, you only have to “look good” for a 2-hour presentation. In filming “The Pitch”, you have to look good for 10 days. In a normal pitch, you’re presenting to a handful of clients. On “The Pitch”, you’re presenting to a national TV audience. Normal pitches take several months. “The Pitch” only gives you 1 week. If you don’t win a normal pitch, nobody knows or cares. If you don’t win “The Pitch”, everyone knows …your mom, your cousins, your 597 facebook friends, the kid who bullied you in 3rd grade …everyone. After a normal pitch, everyone moves on. After “The Pitch”, there are reruns.
5. Are your
teeth white?
If not, you
may want to have them whitened.
All the TV stars do it.