Why we stopped pitching for free
Speculative pitches sound like an investment in growth. They are usually an investment in the wrong clients.
A speculative pitch is a deal where you pay all of the cost of the work and the prospect pays none of it. The pitch winner is the studio that was best at pitching, which is not the same as the studio that is best at the work. Lots of studios know this and pitch anyway, because they are scared of saying no.
We stopped saying yes about three years ago. The replacement is a paid discovery. It is a real piece of work, properly briefed and properly billed, that ends with a written recommendation. If the client likes the recommendation we move into the main engagement. If not, they own the discovery and can take it elsewhere.
The clients who want this filter is the same as the clients who want the rest of how we work. The clients who want a free pitch are not. We are smaller for it, and we are happier for it, and the work is meaningfully better.