The
forces of the creative professions are aligned against the artist.
These forces pressure him to give his work away for free as a means of
proving his worthiness of the assignment. Clients demand it. Designers,
art directors, writers and other creative professionals resign
themselves to it. Trade associations are powerless against it.
Consultants and outsourced business development firms earn their living
by perpetuating it. And conferences put the worst offenders from all
sides on stage and have them preach about how to get better at it.
It is a mistake to look to the creative professions to
deal with this issue. Free pitching and speculative creative will only
be beaten one firm at a time, with little help and much loud opposition
from the professions themselves. This battle is but a collection of
individual struggles: the single artist or creative firm against the
many allied forces of the status quo.
But while collectively the battle may seem lost, a
revolution is afoot. Some creative firms are fighting and winning. They
are reclaiming the high ground in the client relationship, beating back
the pitch and winning new business without first having to part with
their thinking for free. They are building stronger practices amid the
forces of commoditization.
This treatise contains the
twelve proclamations of a Win Without Pitching firm. It describes a
trail blazed by owners of creative businesses who have made the
difficult business decisions and transformed their firms, and the way
they go about getting new business. They have resisted the
profession-wide pressure to toe the free-pitching line. They have gone
from order-taker suppliers to expert advisors and have forged a more
satisfying and lucrative way of getting and doing business.
Their
path, described in these pages, may not be your path. Not everyone has
the heart or stomach for revolution. It is up to you to read and decide
for yourself if you will follow.
If you're a freelance creative type, or manage a design studio / ad agency / etc, you should read this.
Naturally, depending on your life, your reputation, your country, the industry in your area, etc, much of it may not be practical. But for those in the position to work in the way this manifesto outlines, or even for those NOT in the position, but who are crazy enough to risk getting burned, it's a very, VERY good read.
Available for free online (or pay for the ebook/pdf/hardcover if you like).
