A new study has revealed what we probably all know – adland’s infamous pitch process is a physical and emotional drag and some 11 per cent of people involved in an ugly pitch have ended up quitting because of it.
Software provider Pitch surveyed 1029 agency staff across the UK and the US and found half of respondents agreed they’d suffered stress or burnout from the pitch process. This resulted in 17 per cent taking paid time off work, 11 per cent being medically unfit to work and 11 per cent quitting altogether.
The study also revealed that 70 per cent of respondents felt additional pressure when pitching due to the state of the economy.
Over a third (35 per cent) were annoyed by adhering to a consistent outline or structure. Managing the progress of other contributors was a pain the neck cited by 34 per cent of those surveyed.
A whopping 69 per cent complained of other people changing the concept or the creative. While 43 per cent per cent said they would like to spend more time building out ideas and concepts rather than formatting slides.
On the upside, post-COVID, 71 per cent said pitching remotely had opened up new opportunities and 54 per cent said remote working was making it easier to collaborate on pitches. Although 61 per cent said it was harder to win business through a virtual pitch.
Commenting on the results, Sarah Kiefer, chief marketing officer at Pitch, said: “With so many companies now assessing the bottom-line impact of pitching for new business, they can no longer afford to ignore the toll the pitch process takes on employee welfare either.
“Stress and burnout are massive contributors to staff turnover rates, so leaders in the marketing sector need to assess if their approach to winning business is sustainable,” Kiefer said.
