Rethinking Repitches: Why Commercial Innovations could be your Secret Weapon
Campaign UK recently posed the question ‘When should an agency decline to repitch’ to some of our industry’s most successful leaders and for once, they tended to agree on one thing – the decision to repitch needs to take into account a careful assessment of the needs and commercial impact for both client and agency. .
While agency leaders like Goodstuff’s Andrew Stephens suggested agencies should “nearly always” decline repitches, and Neverland’s Jon Forsyth emphasised the importance of shared values, there’s another dimension worth considering: the transformative power of commercial innovation in reinventing client relationships.
As We are Social CEO Jim Coleman notes, evaluating whether to repitch requires understanding why the work is up for review. Often, it’s not about dissatisfaction but rather mounting pressure on marketing departments to demonstrate value and efficiency. With brands allocating significant portions of their operational costs to marketing services, procurement teams naturally seek optimisation.
This is where forward-thinking agencies can transform challenge into opportunity.
Rather than viewing procurement-driven pitches as a race to the bottom, agencies can leverage them as platforms to showcase commercial creativity and create stronger partnerships. The key lies in developing innovative models that adapt to evolving client needs while maintaining profitability.
Strategic Commercial Innovation
Successful commercial innovation in re-pitches can take different forms, such as:
- Performance-Based Compensation: Align agency success with client outcomes through KPI-driven remuneration structures. Can be complicated to do, but shows confidence in your ability to deliver measurable impact.
- Value-Stack Innovation: Agencies have a whole raft of services and offerings, and so should look at a comprehensive ‘value’ proposition incorporating all the different assets they have at their disposal.
- Properly Packaged Value: Make your offer easy to understand by clearly outlining every element of your value proposition, from basic cost savings to high value services, making it easier for clients to justify retaining your agency.
The Path Forward
To quote Carly Avener, CEO of Leo Burnett, ‘repitching isn’t just about retaining the account – it impacts people, jobs, and the agency’s overall focus’. However, with innovative commercial models, agencies can transform repitches from defensive exercises into opportunities for relationship reinforcement.
The key is approaching these situations not just as relationship preservation efforts, but as chances to demonstrate commercial creativity and strategic foresight. In today’s complex marketing landscape, the ability to innovate on commercial terms might be your strongest asset in securing long-term partnerships.
Remember: while clients rarely expect agencies to work at a loss, they do expect partners who can think creatively about value creation – not just in creative output, but in the commercial foundations that underpin the relationship. As AMV’s Jemima Monies suggests, while the decision to repitch should be straightforward in theory, the reality often requires nuanced thinking and innovative approaches.
If a client is dissatisfied with an agency, politics are in play, or a client just feels the ‘need for change’, then walk away graciously and focus somewhere else. But, in some cases, commercial innovation could be the secret weapon that helps agencies retain valuable clients while building stronger, more sustainable partnerships for the future.
At 300, we believe this approach doesn’t just secure accounts; it builds stronger, more sustainable partnerships for the future.