Tag Archives: pitchcoach

Sarah Palin, the body language counts

The Presidential election in the USA is boiling up nicely to be one of the political pitches of all time, certainly as a media spectator sport. Obama versus Clinton was a cliffhanger, with style, just, winning out over substance. The, seemingly last minute, addition of Palin to the McCain ticket is already overshadowing that earlier battle.

Until quite recently it seemed the Obama style and charisma would carry the day. He, seemingly without effort, puts into practice the concepts illustrated here. But so does Sarah Palin!

As this ”baked Alaska“ (!) pie chart shows, the way we respond to communication is such that only 8% is purely down to the verbal content. The rest of our response is formed by the non-verbal, tone and visual. It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it.

For this argument’s sake, let’s ignore the political content, and think of the contest only in the terms of this chart. Then, it seems to me that the combined ‘body language count’ of McCain, calmly heroic and Palin, feisty, fearless plus female, outscores that of Obama, the orator and Biden, recycling Kinnock.

Until, of course , the next dramatic revelation.

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PITCH WARS IN PROVENCE!

On holiday in Provence, where one of the many delights is browsing the village markets, I came across a local bilingual promotional magazine. The front cover, not surprisingly, caught my interest. Dominating, in brutal type , were the words PITCH WARS.

This was not, as I first thought, an article on pitching but, as the French title “La Guerre des places” indicated, one on the bitter jostling, back-stabbing and bribery that goes on to secure the best sited pitch, an original meaning of the word.

Interestingly, as soon as this war is over peace breaks out and all the traders unite behind the common goal of creating a great market. As the writer of the article, Jamie Ivey, himself a market newcomer banished to the less favoured pitches, descrbes it:

“Every market was a show and every trader had a role to play to ensure its success…luring the tourists in the heat of the day was a team effort. Every week we were successful in creating a critical mass of bustling people, a magical environment in which money somehow ceased to matter and shoppers left with a smile on their face, a camera full of beautiful photos and no money in their pockets”.

Sounds to me like the description of a great pitch. It was Paul Arden, in his marvellous book, ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be’, who tolds us not to present but to “Put on a show!”

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Beijing, a deserved gold for branding.

Hundreds of thousands watched live. The rest of us, some 4.3 billion, that’s about 99.99% of the audience, watched on television. This is the audience that really mattered to Beijing. How well did they do?

Most commentators were in agreement. They awarded ‘gold’ for the opening and closing ceremonies, gold for the stadia (and platinum for the Bird’s Nest), gold for the competition (a fast track and a fast pool), their athletes won most golds and to cap it all our, unfortunately named, Team GB won record gold haul, setting London up fantasically for 2012.

In my view Beijing deserved a further gold, for branding.

The full identity has three elements, a figurative icon, beneath this Beijing 2008 in a chinese script style, with the Olympic symbol at the base. In practice, the dominant element by far, frequently used in isolation, was the Beijing 2008. Reversed white out of deep blue or red, the Beijing identity dominated our screens as if every camera had been positioned to do just this.

A reminder of the Beijing omnipresence. On perimeter boards everywhere. For diving, the bottom of the pool, edges of the boards, behind the poised divers and in the apparently mandatory shower area. For boxing on the canvas, on headgear and on the gloves. It was on the sides of yachts, gym ‘horses’, on hurdles and show jump fences, on finishing tapes and, of course, on the medal ribbons.

Sponsors try to asess exposure value with a formula that values the on screen visibility, presence and duration, against audience. My guess would be that Beijing, as the dominant brand identity had an exposure value in excess of £1,000,000.

It will be interesting to see how London handles it’s branding. The 2012 logo, in its familiar form, contains all the elments, London being the least significant. When the Games hit world screens in August,2012, will London be the dominant brand?

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Should focus groups rule?

An article by David Benady, in Marketing Week, titled ‘the lamp-post theory of pitch research’ looks at the use of focus groups to decide who wins. Strong views for and against were raised, the same views that would have prevailed ten, twenty or thirty years ago.

I happen to side with the no focus group view. This has not stopped me pitching when research is in play. The reason is obvious. In a competitive service industry, the first rule is that the client, potential or otherwise, is always right. For the second and third rules, go back to number one.

It is nevertheless reasonable that the client should let you know how they will assess. If they don’t, ask. You can then decide whether, or how, to pitch, but the problem remains. No decision process can be set in stone. Even with procurement attack dogs, objective evaluation criteria and impartial consultants, something will intervene. It’s called human nature.

It is both the fascination and the frustration of pitching. Whim and chance do play their part. This is why chances of success are greatest where insights into the nature of the decision makers are sharpest. Before and throughout the process.

One example from personal experience, this a 6-way pitch to major French company, Saint Gobain. A formal 2 hour presentation to 20 country managers for evaluation, then 30 minutes one-on-one with the CEO. Our insight was that he, and he alone, took the decisions. So pitch focussed solely on him and his concerns rather than the company at large. The managers scored us sixth out of six. The CEO awarded us the business.

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‘Beauty contests’ at the Olympics?

Another post in Olympic mode in a moment of respite between highlights and live coverage. This one is prompted by wondering how panels of judges manage to evaluate those, to my mind, lesser events where an assessment of ‘ artistic impression’ is involved.

For me, the real events are those where success is measured in absolute terms of ‘Citius, Altius, Fortis’. They include track, swimming, weightlifting and rowing. They do not include events, however compelling, where a panel of judges makes a subjective, ‘Pulchrior’, judgement on beauty and artistic impression.

I don’t particularly like it that pitches are often referred to as ‘beauty contests’, an expression more readily associated wih 80’s’ Miss World’ television programmes, high heels, bathing suits and ever-so polite interviews. However, the description does reflect the fact that, like the gymnasts, no matter how good our content, our technical merit score will be marked down if we ignore the artistic impression.

The champion Olympic gymnasts really work on this. The positive body language, the radiant smile, (even mid somersault), a sense of attack and confidence personified. When you think about it, the characteristics, apart from the somersaults, that separate the great from the average pitch.

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