If you listened to the industry long enough, you’d think pitching was beyond saving. Too long, too expensive and too painful. A process that everyone complains about but no one really changes. But that’s not the full picture. When it works – and it does – it’s one of the few moments where this industry actually feels like itself. Fast, focused and slightly chaotic in the best way, and built on people pushing each other to do better work.
There’s a reason people still care about it. At its best, pitching reminds us why we got into this industry in the first place. It forces clarity, cuts through the noise and gets to the core of what a brand needs. Done properly, it doesn’t just test capability, it reveals chemistry. It reveals how people think, how they challenge each other and whether there’s something worth building beyond the process.
The problem isn’t pitching. It’s how we’ve allowed it to drift. Too many agencies, too much work too early and briefs that lack clarity or change halfway through. Under those conditions, it’s no surprise it feels inefficient. But that’s not a reason to write it off. It’s a reason to do it properly.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where the pace of growth and transformation is exponential, we’re seeing more complex, multi-market pitches with tight timelines and increasing pressure to demonstrate both strategic thinking and execution from day one. At the same time, clients are looking for more integrated solutions across media, data, commerce and content. This makes the quality of the pitch process even more important, not less.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming how work is produced and how teams operate. According to recent industry analysis, automation is reducing the time needed to develop creative and strategic outputs, shifting the focus away from volume and towards quality of thinking. That’s a positive shift.
Yet, it also risks turning pitches into a race for output rather than a test of ideas. Pitching is becoming more valuable, not less. It remains one of the few environments where human judgement, collaboration and instinct are under real pressure.
For younger talent, it is still a proving ground. Careers are built in these moments, learning how to think, present and respond in real time.
For brand marketers, the implications are straightforward. A well-run pitch will always deliver better outcomes, but that depends on how it is structured. Clarity on the problem is critical, not just the outputs. Overloading a process with too many agencies or too many deliverables rarely improves the result.
Evidence across the industry shows that fewer agencies, clearer briefs and more focused asks lead to stronger thinking. Just as importantly, chemistry should be treated as a core evaluation criteria. How an agency thinks, collaborates and responds under pressure is often a better indicator of long-term success than the final presentation.
In our experience at Omnicom Media MENA, the pitches that deliver the most value are the ones in which both sides treat the process as the start of a partnership, not a transaction.
The upside of pitching is often overlooked. The pace forces prioritisation. The pressure sharpens ideas.
The collaboration brings different perspectives together in a way that rarely happens in day-to-day work.
WARC has found that the most effective campaigns are those rooted in clear strategic thinking and strong collaboration across disciplines. Pitching, at its best, creates exactly those conditions. It’s one of the few moments where strategy, data and creativity are all focused on a single outcome.
If the industry wants better pitching, the answer isn’t to do less of it; it is to do it better. For clients, that means creating the conditions for agencies to do their best work. For agencies, it means focusing on what matters and being clear about how they can add value.
Pitching still matters – not because it is perfect, but because when it is done properly, it works. In a region moving as fast as ours, that is something worth getting right.
By Daniel Shepherd, Chief Strategy Officer, Omnicom Media MENA
