Are you any good at explaining why a sure-hit reality show is flailing? The interesting case of "The Pitch."

Can you figure out why ad agencies are so slow to join?

The recent TV show, Mad Men, a serial drama about the world of advertising was for many people a huge hit.  That's not only because Mad Men was a grand drama--we Americans have a huge love-hate relationship with advertising, especially with respect to television commercials.  After all, about half of us claim to draw up a seat at the annual broadcast of the NFL's football Super Bowl...to watch the commercials!!!

So it was an obvious idea when AMC--the network that successfully ran Mad Men--to plan a reality show about ad agencies and their competition to win accounts called The Pitch.  For those of you who aren't familiar, ad agencies are invited by product sellers to "pitch" for an account; this is where agencies compete with each other in a preliminary, pre-retention stage, to sing the praises of the brand and suggest ways--using slogans, messages, images, promises, etc.--that might be most successful in the market place...and, thus, win the bid for the seller to choose their agency to work with.  

Here's the pitch for The Pitch

"Each episode is a standalone competition between two or three agencies...The structure of the show is as follows: In the beginning, the agencies will travel to the brand's HQ to get the brief. We will then document each agency as they spend the next 10 days formulating their creative pitch. In the end, the agencies come back to the brand and deliver their pitches. The brand will decide which agency to choose. And the business that the agency wins will be REAL business."

Sounds promising as a business-based reality show, right?  Maybe.  But there's a huge problem:  Not one advertising agency has been induced to participate, according to AdAge News.  Not one!  And some pretty big players have been approached, including BBDO, TBWA, DDB, Deutsch, Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, JWT, and others.

What's the problem?

So you have to ask yourself, why wouldn't an ad agency--firms that thrive on bragging and chest-thumping--want to be showcased on how smart they are?  At first glance, this seems really strange and I'd invite you to consider your best explanation why not even one ad agency has agreed to participate.  Think about what you'd say to explain this apparent oddity and compare it to my analysis.

Ready with your sidewalk analysis?

Here are my various explanations for why The Pitch is floundering to want of participants:

[1] Why would a company want to participate in a public head-to-head contest that tests their professional "wares"--where the firm runs a 50% chance of looking bad and, specifically, being rejected?  Let's face it, a company only wants to have their professional competencies depicted when the outcome in the end is going to be positive!  It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, eh?

[2] The creative "logic," or the creative "genius" of a good ad agency is the firm's stock-in-trade.  Why would an agency want to reveal how it operates, how it "thinks"?  I'm pretty sure that if it was my firm, I'd like the mystery, the secret ingredient of my company's success to be just that:  secret, not public!

[3] In only a few creative strategies is the "answer" or the "best solution" obvious from the beginning.  So when The Pitch reality show shows the circuitous route of getting to the final "pitch" decision, there's a lot of opportunity for doubt to be raised as to whether the chosen pitch decision was the right one.  The objection for an ad agency not to participate falls into the category of "if you like sausages, it's best not to see how they're are made in the sausage factory." Perceived equivocation is not always viewed in a favorable light...when it's done by a medical treatment team, a law firm defense team, or an ad agency pitching for an account!

[4] In the last analysis, every pitch focuses on a real-world company, an actual brand.  So for The Pitch to be successful, you've also got to get the consent of real-world companies, companies which will consent to be put under a public microscope with respect to their brand's problems, difficulties, marketing issues, etc.  Now, stop and think about it, if you were looking for an ad agency for your product, would you want the good and bad details of your brand's market success aired on TV by two competing ad firms that only really wanted to offer their services?  The answer to that seems obvious to me?  I bet to you too!

My prediction for The Pitch is very guarded

Let's face it, in a reality show setting you start with the premise that the actors are dying to see themselves on TV--and that they've got an interesting story to tell in doing so.  Ad agencies have only one of those ingredients--most of us think they have an intriguing way of making money and doing business.  However, in the last analysis, they don't really want to be on television--much less in a reality show--as much as they want to have promising, profitable accounts with major brands.  

So are you really surprised that The Pitch is finding it hard-going to any momentum?  I'm not.  If I had to guess, The Pitch will--if it gets off the ground at all--will be with minor-league ad agencies with minor-league brands and minor league companies; for any of the major players--in terms of agencies or brands--to consent, well, it would be just too complicated and risky to say yes to!  

I'd love to hear if you see it or figured it out much differently from that! 

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Follow Keith's biz blog on Twitter for updates and see more of what he's reading about on his Facebook Page. If you are inclined, you can write him at kmurray@bryant.edu.