QUEBEC GROUP CALLS FOR STOP TO CREATIVE PITCHES
By Adnews Staff
Enough is enough, says the Association of Quebec Advertising Agencies. It's time to put a stop to creative pitches because they're costly and useless. The organization is contacting advertisers and agencies "to ask them to agree to a procedural protocol to encourage credentials pitches and strategic presentations," association spokesperson Joseph Mullie told Adnews yesterday. According to a survey done by accounting firm Baril Payette, it cost more than $95,000, on average, for each of nine presentations brought up as examples by the association. A speculative campaign costs three times more than presenting credentials or making strategic proposals, says the association. At a meeting this week of the Publicité-Club de Montreal, AAPQ president Jacques Duval and vice-presidents Louis-Eric Vallé and Daniel Rabinowicz spoke out against the spec pitch, a constant sore spot with agencies. Duval is president of Montreal-based Marketel and head of McCann-Erickson in Canada. Vallée is president of Montreal agency Saint-Jacques Vallée Young & Rubicam. Rabinowicz is executive vice-president of Cossette Communication-Marketing. In reply to a question from Adnews, both Duval and Vallé said their agencies are not regusing to do speculative pitches at the moment. They said the association would be laying the groundwork. "Creative presentations weaken the Quebec agencies because money invested in pitches is money that is not invested in more important areas such as training and research and development in new technologies," Duval told the Publicité-Club gathering. Concepts developed to impress a potential client are rarely used in campaigns, added Vallée.