Nick Walsh, Founder & CEO, Migrate and Alliance of Independent Agencies Middle East.The conversation around pitching in the Middle East has finally opened up. For years, the pitch process has been marked by frustrations around unrealistic timelines, speculative work, huge agency lists, procurement-heavy structures, unclear decision-making and, in some cases, pitches that simply disappear without closure.
Yet despite how openly these conversations happen behind closed doors, very little has changed.
Shifting the focus
The debates almost always centres around client behaviour. Procurement teams are blamed. Marketing departments are criticised. The region itself is labelled as “difficult”.
But the real question is why the industry has allowed this culture to continue.
Answer: Agencies are still participating
Having spent nearly two decades inside global network agencies before building Migrate and now working closely with independent agencies and international market entrants, I’ve seen this issue from multiple sides.
The reality is more nuanced than simply “difficult clients”. The industry regularly talks about the need for healthier partnerships, fairer compensation models, and more sustainable ways of working.
Yet, at the same time, agencies continue accepting pitch structures that undermine exactly those ambitions.
Large speculative pitches are criticised publicly but accepted privately. Unsustainable timelines are flagged but still delivered against.
Partnership requires standards
Stronger partnerships depend on both sides operating with the same clarity, consistency and standards.
That means greater alignment. Stronger standards. Better transparency. Clearer commercial structures. More alignment around talent, pricing, participation and ways of working.
Because partnership works both ways.
Lack of industry alignment
The industry itself has never aligned around what “good” should look like.
Across the region, standards remain inconsistent. Salary benchmarks, rate cards, and commercial transparency vary widely.
Talent treatment varies significantly across agencies.
Offshoring structures are often unclear to clients. Pitch participation rules barely exist. Response timelines are inconsistent.
This is why the conversation feels much bigger than pitches alone.
Lessons from other industries
In sport, the biggest teams and the smallest teams compete aggressively every week. Rivalries are fierce. But everybody agrees to play by the same league rules.
There are standards, governance and consequences when those standards fall. At the end of the match, players shake hands, regroup and come back stronger next week.
Our industry has competition, but very little collective alignment.
When competition becomes counterproductive
Distrust replaces partnership.
Agencies protect information from each other. Collaboration disappears.
Processes become adversarial rather than productive.
Winning becomes more important than building long-term value.
A better way: ecosystems and collaboration
One of the most refreshing parts of working closely with independent agencies over the last 12 months has been seeing their appetite to work together in ecosystems.
Different specialists combining capabilities, opening doors for each other and recognising that modern clients often need interconnected expertise rather than isolated agency silos.
Rethinking the pitch process
That was also one of the key learnings from helping a major government organisation appoint new independent agencies to its roster.
We didn’t manage a pitch process. We managed a partnership process.
The focus was not speculative work or presentation theatre.
It was creating a level playing field, ensuring transparency and identifying the right long-term partners based on chemistry, capabilities, operational fit and shared ambition.
That distinction matters.
Because the quality of agency partnerships directly impacts the quality of the work, the stability of the industry and, over time, the global reputation of the region.
Reputation at stake
Over the last 12 months, one topic has come up consistently: the reputation of the Middle East pitch market globally.
For many international agencies considering expansion into the region, the concern is no longer competition. It is inconsistency.
Long timelines, huge agency lists, endless portals, last-minute commercial changes and unanswered pitches leave a lasting impression.
A market in transition
The Middle East is becoming one of the world’s most ambitious and fastest-growing communications markets.
Governments are investing heavily in tourism, innovation, reputation and economic transformation. International agencies and specialist talent are entering the market at pace. Independent agencies are growing rapidly.
At the same time, brands themselves are frustrated. Many marketing leaders struggle to identify the right specialist agencies beyond the most visible network names.
Others feel trapped between legacy roster structures and the growing need for more agile specialist capability.
This is a moment for the industry to come together rather than continue operating in silos.
Not networks versus independents; not agencies versus procurement; and not clients versus partners. Just a more connected industry that recognises the long-term health of the ecosystem benefits everyone.
The real measure of success
The Middle East has never lacked ambition. Across every sector, the region has shown a willingness to build world-class industries. There’s no reason the communications industry cannot do the same.
But if we want the region to become a truly world-class communications market, agencies, clients and industry bodies need to align on stronger standards, healthier partnerships and clearer rules of engagement.
Because the future of this industry will not be defined by who wins the most pitches or awards.
It will be defined by whether we can build an industry that behaves like the kind of long-term partner the world’s best brands want beside them.
By Nick Walsh, Founder & CEO, Migrate and Alliance of Independent Agencies Middle East
