{"id":1832,"date":"2020-06-17T12:49:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T10:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T11:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:31:22","slug":"go-to-relate-not-tinder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/","title":{"rendered":"Go to Relate not Tinder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marketers should be looking to improve existing agency relationships not casting their eyes at the dating scene. Christine Downton<\/em>, Associate Partner at The Observatory International, says fix don\u2019t pitch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We live in times of unprecedented uncertainty. So why would you want to add to your organisational challenges?<\/p>\n

That means accepting that now may not be the time for a pitch. It may sound like an odd statement for an organisation that\u2018s heavily involved in Agency Search and Selection but advertisers should be focused on making the relationship with their agencies work as well as possible.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always focused on the principle of fix before pitch but right now it\u2019s even more of a priority. That\u2019s because the unprecedented challenge of Coronavirus gives marketers the chance to embark on a real reset for their current relationship. It\u2019s an opportunity to make it work better for both sides.<\/p>\n

Brands are facing a perfect storm of resource constraints brought about by the pandemic, disruption to normal ways of working and the looming economic recession.\u00a0 For some of the harder hit brands, the priority has been to cut costs, stabilise the business and restructure where necessary.<\/p>\n

Even for those brands that have seen a boost in demand, there has been a need to find new ways of working, innovate to protect share whilst \u2018battening down the hatches\u2019 to weather the predicted economic downturn.<\/p>\n

Adding a pitch into this cauldron of uncertainty is rarely going to be the right thing to do for three key reasons:<\/p>\n

1. Knowledge of your business<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is well documented that strong client agency relationships deliver higher standards of work and are more efficient and effective. That is a very strong incentive in itself to avoid a pitch if possible at all times.\u00a0 In these very challenging times that argument is even stronger.<\/p>\n

Following a pitch, it can take an agency several months to get fully up to speed with your business. You don\u2019t have the benefit of time to enable that to happen, problems need to be solved now.<\/p>\n

Strategists at your agencies will have a deep knowledge of your business as well as a good idea of what your competitors might be up to. They are a valuable resource that you should lean on at this time to help you plan your way out of the crisis \u2013 particularly if your own resources are constrained.\u00a0 If you need new thinking and ideas, ask your agency to bring in additional or fresh strategic talent to supplement your existing team.<\/p>\n

2. The cost opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve estimated that in total a client marketing team could expect to expend 35 to 40 man days on an average pitch \u2013 plus additional Procurement and possibly legal counsel time.\u00a0 Given the current pressures on marketing teams, it has to be asked whether that is good use of resources.<\/p>\n

3. Behaviours and ways of working<\/strong><\/p>\n

From time to time clients ask us to run a pitch for them because the relationship has \u2018irretrievably\u2019 broken down, and, of course, sometimes that is the case.\u00a0 However, digging a little deeper we often find that the breakdown is the result of poor ways of working and behaviours \u2013 both from client and agency teams.<\/p>\n

Going out to pitch won\u2019t solve that problem \u2013 it will just transfer the problem to another relationship \u2013 and compound the time, cost and problem-solving issues.\u00a0 Rapid diagnosis of the relationship issues and remedial action to address them would be a better use of time and resource.<\/p>\n

Of course, none of this means that you should never pitch but you need to carefully consider when and how to pitch during this period.<\/p>\n

Many pitches were underway when the lockdown began. We have successfully concluded a number of pitches in recent weeks, and in some cases new pitches have been initiated.<\/p>\n

The bottom line, however, should be that unless there\u2019s an urgent corporate or structural reason to re-pitch, the first port of call should be to fix that existing relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marketers should be looking to improve existing agency relationships not casting their eyes at the dating scene. Christine Downton, Associate Partner at The Observatory International, says fix don\u2019t pitch. We live in times of unprecedented uncertainty. So why would you want to add to your organisational challenges? That means accepting that now may not be … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[81,87],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en-cn","tag-agency-relationship-management-en-cn","tag-agency-search-en-cn"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFix not pitch? - The Observatory International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fix not pitch? - The Observatory International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Observatory International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"WebmasterFarnedi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@observatoryint\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@observatoryint\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f\"},\"headline\":\"Go to Relate not Tinder\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\"},\"wordCount\":671,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Agency Relationship Management\",\"Agency Search\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\",\"name\":\"Fix not pitch? - The Observatory International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Fixing not pitching\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Go to Relate not Tinder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/\",\"name\":\"The Observatory International\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Drive brand growth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Observatory International\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp\",\"width\":576,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"The Observatory International\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/observatoryint\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f\",\"name\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/wp\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fix not pitch? - The Observatory International","description":"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fix not pitch? - The Observatory International","og_description":"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/","og_site_name":"The Observatory International","article_published_time":"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"WebmasterFarnedi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@observatoryint","twitter_site":"@observatoryint","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/"},"author":{"name":"WebmasterFarnedi","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f"},"headline":"Go to Relate not Tinder","datePublished":"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/"},"wordCount":671,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp","keywords":["Agency Relationship Management","Agency Search"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-CN"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/","name":"Fix not pitch? - The Observatory International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp","datePublished":"2020-06-17T10:49:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T10:31:22+00:00","description":"Why fixing existing marketing agency relationships can be a better option for your business than going out to pitch.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CN","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Go-to-Relate-not-Tinder-scaled.jpg.webp","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Fixing not pitching"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/our-insights\/go-to-relate-not-tinder\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Go to Relate not Tinder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/","name":"The Observatory International","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Drive brand growth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CN"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#organization","name":"The Observatory International","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CN","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp","width":576,"height":300,"caption":"The Observatory International"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/observatoryint"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f","name":"WebmasterFarnedi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CN","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"WebmasterFarnedi"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/wp"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9989,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions\/9989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}