Dany Aouad, Managing Director – Saudi Arabia, TBWARAAD.There’s a moment every agency person lives for. You’ve just presented. The room goes quiet. Then the chief marketing officer (CMO) leans forward and says, “I love it”.
Two seconds of pure euphoria. And then, “So … how do we move forward?”
Congratulations! You’ve just cleared the first hurdle, and you’re standing directly in front of the second one. Welcome to the other pitch: the one most agencies prepare for last, treat as an afterthought and occasionally land up losing.
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Two pitches, one shot
In the current landscape – and nowhere more sharply than in Saudi Arabia’s fast-moving, Vision 2030-charged competitive market – winning a client isn’t a single event; it’s a two-act play. And both acts need to be performed brilliantly.
The first act is what we all got into this industry for: it’s the big idea, the narrative and the work that gives people goosebumps or makes a room erupt. It’s chemistry instinct and, yes, a little bit of magic. You’re not just pitching a campaign. You’re pitching a relationship. You’re saying, “Trust us with your brand, your budget and your ambitions.”
In the Gulf region, where business has always been built on personal connections and mutual respect, this act matters enormously. The creative pitch is where the spark is lit.
But a spark, left unattended, goes out.
The part nobody romanticises, but should
The second act is where agencies either prove they’re the complete package or quietly disqualify themselves from the work they just won emotionally.
This is the procurement pitch. And before eyes glaze over: this is not the boring part. This is the trust part.
Procurement isn’t the enemy of creativity. It’s the infrastructure that lets creativity survive contact with reality. The procurement team exists to ask the questions a CMO shouldn’t have to – and, often, doesn’t want to: “Can this agency actually deliver what they’re promising? Are they financially stable enough to not disappear mid-campaign? Do they have the compliance credentials, the Saudi-national staffing and the regulatory registrations? When things go wrong – and at some point, things always go sideways – what’s the plan?”
These aren’t obstacles. These are proof of a real partnership. None of this is particularly new advice, of course.
But it’s remarkable how rarely it’s actually applied.
Agencies that treat procurement as a box-ticking formality are the ones who lose contracts they thought were in the bag. The ones who treat it as a second creative brief – one that requires craft, attention to detail and passion, are the ones who convert “I love it” into a signed contract.
Speaking both languages
Here’s the reframe that changes everything: your creative pitch and your procurement proposal should tell the exact same story – just in different languages.
The CMO hears the vision. Procurement needs to see the proof. Think about it: same agency, same values and same commitment, expressed through big ideas in one room, and through detailed timelines, resource plans, risk frameworks and cost transparency in the other.
The mistake agencies consistently make is treating these as separate conversations, even with separate teams. But the best pitches are ones where the strategic ambition of the creative work is fully mirrored in the rigour and reliability of the operational proposal – where the story of who you are is coherent from the first mood board to the last line item.
Put simply: the creative pitch makes them fall in love with you. The procurement pitch makes them feel safe enough to commit.
The real win
There’s the thrill of the creative presentation and then there’s the deeply satisfying feeling of watching a signed contract arrive, followed shortly after by a purchase order.
The agencies winning the biggest mandates across Saudi Arabia right now aren’t always the most creatively brilliant in the room. They’re also the most prepared, the most compliant, the most responsive and they understand the full journey, from “wow” to “let’s sign”.
So, the next time your team is prepping a pitch, ask yourself: have you done everything to make them fall in love with your thinking, and have you done everything to make them feel completely safe?
Get both right, and you won’t only win the pitch, you’ll also win the partnership – and that was always the point.
By Dany Aouad, Managing Director – Saudi Arabia, TBWA\RAAD.
