Category Archives: Pitches and troughs

How Camelot left nothing to chance.

A PITCHES AND TROUGHES ‘100 BEST’ STORY

Until the Olympics bid the highest profile pitch in the UK was that run by the Government Department (OFLOT) for operating the National Lottery. Several mighty consortia entered the fray. Rank, the UK leader in games of chance; Rothshild, bringing financial credibility; Branson, the ‘people’s champion’ and Camelot which, then, included GTECH, world leading lottery experts.

The brief, three hundred pages of it, was formidable. The winner would, in effect, be setting up an entirely new form of gambling to the UK. This was expected to be (and was) played by the majority of the population. An excellent book by Ray Snoddy gives chapter and verse but I am focussing on just two winning aspects.

One. Camelot left nothing to chance.

Led by Tim Holly , an expert in winning defence contracts for Racal, Camelot’s attention to detail and over delivery on every single aspect was astounding. A few examples. Hundreds of recently retired Cadbury Scweppes ( consortium member) sales people personally vetted thousands of potential retailers; three ad campaigns were created and fully researched; a single copy of the submission stacked 3 feet high and, for their interview with OFLOT, Camelot directors held fifteen hours of reheasal.

Two. Camelot understood that “fear of failure” motivated the decision.

Imagine you are the civil servant who makes the award and the world’s biggest online lottery fails on first night, making your Prime Minister look foolish. Camelot, unlike their competitors who only promised success, played to this fear.

One example, that stands out, was the running of a recruitment campaign in newspapers after the tender had been submitted but before the decision! This was not an act of bravado. It was a calculated signal to the decision takers. ‘ We are doing this to have people in place, in time, to guarantee there is no chance of failure’.

Pitchcoach comment: Camelot’s insight into the decision making mindset was key to their winning strategy and was one reason why the popular Branson bid never troubled them.

Mourinho in Milan. A very special pitch.

My original intention was to write a topical post on the press conference announcing Inter Milan’s new coach but soon realised that this was, by any criteria, a major pitch that deserved inclusion in Pitches and Troughes, the 100 best ever pitch stories.

The challenge for Mourinho was daunting. Out of a job since the autumn, and in the face of coverage of other high profile manager jobs , he had this one news opportunity to re-establish himself at the top of the pecking order. He had to satisfy the high expectations of potentially critical audiences, his new team, the owner, the Milanese, Italians at large and their media, as well as the global rest of us.

A good way to judge the great pitch is to see how well it answers two questions. First, did it demonstrate mastery of its subject, here football? Second, and this is where differentiation lies, did it surprise, delight and engage? How did Jose shape up?

The short answer, brilliantly. There can be few people on the world stage in any sphere, politics, business, religion, who can match this kind of performance.

He radiated intelligence on his ‘subject’, with pointed reminders of his formidable track record . This was expected. What was not expected was his speaking fluent Italian, and better still, with Milanese slang thown in. Surprise! (Compare and contrast with England’s new manager, Capello)

Having captured with surprise , he delighted by turning the potentially irritating “special one” to positive effect “I am a normal manager in a special club”. This, and other remarks, underlined his total commitment to his new team, the club and Italian football.

Did he engage? As one of many captivated reporters said, this in the Mail, “Forty minutes, 55 seconds of enchantment. Jose Mourinho has landed in Northern Italy and Serie A life will never be the same again”

This is the first story to be posted in Pitches and Troughes but everyone I speak to has their own favourite. Now is the chance to share them!

“PITCHES & TROUGHS”

A number of people have said it would be a good idea to start gathering and posting the truly memorable pitch stories. Brilliant insights, bizarre mistakes, bravura performances, brazen bullshit, bright ideas, bloody foolishness and any other that come to mind.

Mine, surprise, surprise, will be drawn from experience at Saatchi but every sector of business, politics, law, media, sport, entertainment, you name it, has great stories to be told.

What are your favourites? Let’s have them please, in about one to two hundred words. To send them you can register and comment, or email me whichever is easiest. They will be posted under the Pitches and Troughs category.

A distinguished panel, yet to be announced, will rank contributions by story interest and intrigue, rather than pitch success, giving us The 100 Best Pitch Stories-EVER!

To give you a taster of stories over next few days, Camelot playing to the Government’s fear of failure, London 2012 making the emotional connection and, as we saw last week, Labour blowing it in Crewe with the “toff” stunt.

Let the storytelling begin……………………