This year has been an interesting one in terms of the pitch process within sport, we've won some big one's (more to follow very soon!) and we've missed out on a few.
When we pitch at Yellow Panther, we go all in, we're big on visuals, we spend massive amounts of time wireframing, run R&D on best in class digital products, and then create prototypes. We're not just talking home screens, we go full throttle, I'm talking designs for everything from match centres, ecommerce, sign up, OTT players, athlete profiles etc.
I've spoken to friends in the industry who say it's madness to do this much work without receiving a penny. But I'm hyper aware of where our business is, we're a challenger brand and I accept this. The sports industry is massively monopolised, I worked 12 years brand side and it's the same agencies that get asked to pitch time and time again. Therefore we have to go above and beyond when we're in the mix, show more desire and creativity than the others. The client will nearly always go for the agency that are the safe pick with the huge creds deck, I was that client and I did this.
It's been interesting to see that a couple of the pitches we didn't win have recently launched their products and the design work is nearly identical to what we showcased. I could take the attitude of being pissed off but I don't, it means that the client loved our design work, they just wanted to pick the agency that is more established and longer in the tooth.
It gives me belief that even when we lose a pitch, we're still winning. We're getting closer inch by inch, play by play.
Today we are a challenger but someday very soon we will be established.