As the industry makes attempts to rectify the current pitching process through programmes such as the ISBA and IPA’s Pitch Positive Pledge, Mother has launched its own initiative aimed at streamlining the number of pitches. Mother’s new ‘Pitch It Forward’ initiative sees the agency pledge to donate Mother's first-year profits from all new retained clients that eschew a full creative pitch and choose to appoint Mother after a chemistry meeting. 

The scheme aims to limit the relentless pitching merry-go-round and instead invest its potential profit in creative projects that support its purpose: to Make Our Children Proud.

“After 25 years of pitching at Mother, deep down - no matter how hungry we are for it - we know the creative advertising pitch process is a time consuming and sadly sometimes wasteful exercise.” explained Chris Gallery, Partner at Mother London. “The best work always comes out of strong relationships with clients, built on shared values, ambition and purpose. So why don’t we aim to build these strong relationships - and the basis for a successful partnership - earlier in the pitch process? For some clients, we believe we can and asked ourselves: what if we used the remainder of that ‘pitch time’ for good?”

Pitch it Forward will use all of Mother’s profit from the first year of retained fees with a new client and redirect them towards programs, delivered by not-for-profits, which encourage and inspire young people with the potency of creativity, hopefully opening their imagination to a future creative career.

This is inspired by Mother's newly launched mission to Make Our Children Proud, which uses the agency's independence to challenge conventional business practices and to make bold decisions that benefit future generations. 

“If we can make a difference, and do so in a thoughtful and useful way, we will always try to. With Pitch It Forward we recognise that for some clients there are other ways to commit to a strong relationship with an agency partner as opposed to the ‘default’ of a full creative pitch. When the opportunity and conditions are right, and if invited, Mother will still take part in well-run pitches for clients with creative ambition.” explained Michael Wall, Global CEO of Mother.

The scheme intends to benefit all parties with clients saving the time invested in a creative pitch and the agency saving time and money with the hope that everyone can redirect their energies into more productive creative pursuits. 

As the industry works toward building a pitching process that works for all, initiatives such as this are a step forward in eliminating wastage and streamlining efforts to save creative brainpower and repurpose resource toward something meaningful.