In December, we said it: the customer isn’t always right. A surge in chargeback fraud, unnecessary one-star reviews and straight-up no shows are leaving an industry already facing tough times even further out of pocket. Bad form, all of it. Did nobody’s mum teach them manners?
Now, it looks like people are taking this sense of entitlement into their professional lives too, approaching their work with the mindset that they don’t owe anyone anything and treating people’s time as an afterthought.
In a city like London, where the cost of running a business is more expensive than ever, time is one of the most valuable commodities. Yet, so many brands, businesses and agencies seem to have forgotten the basics, wasting it like Premier League footballers running down the clock.
Life’s a Pitch
Pitching is where we’re feeling it the most – and we’re not alone. Here’s how it usually goes: a brand sends over a brief with a tight deadline attached. We drop everything, jump on a call and work our arses off to deliver a proposal and then… tumbleweed. No decision or feedback, just that feeling that you’ve been stood up. Turns out ghosting isn’t reserved for the dating world.
Alia Jamal, founder of food and drink PR agency, doubleshot, has been working in the industry for over 20 years, and says she’s never seen it this bad. “We’ve had at least five pitches this year worth over £100k in revenue where we’ve thrown everything and the kitchen sink at it. After the pitch, which seemingly went well, we haven’t even had a mere ‘thank you’ email, nevermind an actual decision on which agency they’ve gone with or feedback on our proposal.”
It’s not just egos which can take a bruising. Alia says: “Pitches take significant time, resource and budget, and for smaller agencies, this is not in abundance. Not receiving feedback on a pitch is rude and leaves the team feeling deflated.”
For Alia, the solution is simple: “Be a good business person and treat the agency how you would want to be treated. Maybe we should also start charging brands for the pitch.”
She’s not the only one who’s thought that. In 2024, NYC-based design agency Porto Rocha got so fed up with prospective clients dressing up unpaid work as a “pitch” that founder Felipe Rocha launched No Free Pitches, a campaign against speculative creative work. The page has over 7200 signatures from creatives worldwide. However, two years on, not much has changed.
Freelance PR consultant, Joel Porter of Peanuts PR, has taken it one step further and now refuses to pitch all together. “It just takes far too much time, and that time can only come away from paying clients. I’ve been around long enough for most people to work with me on reputation or recommendation so I just don’t have the business need. Agencies have the resource for the founder to take two days off to do a big pitch but as I’m doing everything with no support they just don’t work for me. I’ve pulled out of new business discussions before when they’ve asked me to be part of a pitch process, which some people totally understand and others just don’t get.”
Instead of pitching, Joel opts for meetings over a drink or coffee to discuss new business. However, even then prospective clients show similar disregard for the time he’s given them.
“It’s amazing how some people don’t have the courtesy to follow up,” he says. “I met a pizza brand last December. I wasn’t that interested in the client but still spent a couple of hours with them. Not even a thanks, nice to meet you after. I don’t know if people are just busy or rude or a bit of both but a two line email shouldn’t take more than 60 seconds.”
P(AI)tience Is a Virtue
So what’s driving all this ghosting? Algorithms are moving at hyperspeed, creating an unprecedented sense of urgency. Brands want to hop on trends so quickly, that by the time an agency submits a proposal 24-hours later, the ideas are already outdated and it turns out some comms agencies are just not very good at well…comms.
A growing lack of patience is also to blame. We’ve all got used to getting instant answers from ChatGPT, giving us pages of identikit ideas with a hit of the enter key. We’re all forgetting that genuine creativity takes time, and those reliant on AI for ideas are creating a sea of sameness. Ironically, those looking to save their own time are the ones wasting others’.
Beyond The Deck
Once you start noticing it, it’s everywhere. Restaurants cancelling a shoot while you’re locking your bike up outside? Check. A meeting pushed back an hour when you’d moved your entire schedule to accommodate it? Been there. Hours-long Zoom calls discussing campaigns that will forever remain hypothetical? We know the feeling all too well. Our diaries are being treated as a courtesy, not a commitment.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The bottom line: we think this needs calling out, and more importantly, it needs to stop. It’s unfair to those being asked to give up their time and resources. Businesses need to think about how their actions impact others, and think before asking people to pull together pitches for business that doesn’t exist, or is unlikely to happen.
Creativity takes time, and time is essentially money – especially now, when everyone is overstretched and overworked. If you’re asking highly skilled people to create something because they’re the ones who’ll give you original, human work, then at the very least you owe them feedback (never mind a simple yes, no or thank you). If they’ve put in the time and energy, it’s the least you can do.
If you wanted a substandard job, done quickly and cheaply, you could’ve asked Claude.
Consider this our yellow card. We’re keeping count.
