Peter Coughter, Art of the Pitch

How to be a better communicator, be a better presenter.

• Think as much of ourselves
• Economist ad: Would you like to sit next to you at dinner?
• Big test for applicants, Jon Steel. If he'd want to sit with them in 5 hours in a plane ride?
• Would you have enjoyed that presentation you did? Would you want to be a part of the audience there?

People pitching the ideas kill the ideas.

Sell the idea of the creative before you sell the creative. Get them nodding, "Framing", frame the argument in such a way that we eliminate all solution and the only solution is ours.

Defy convention, try to create the exceptional. Meaning, convention = account person says, gosh golly darn we've got some good shit we want to show you today. We just can't wait to show you, we're so excited. But before we begin (but of course, they've already begun). They bore us to tears. Then there's the planner who talks about something that has nothing to do with anything we're going to see later, then we have creatives who just hold these stuff up and go like, "huh, huh, ha? Like it? Please like it, theyre hoping and praying", Then Media guy, if there's any time at all left, we have the social guy, now he's had 5 mins, now he's got a minute and a half, so what he does is he just talks faster rather than editing himself. We observe convention bec that's what conventional people do things. And we begin at the beginning with the table of contents and we have our objectives and we have our strategies and strategic opportunities and all these other bullshit instead of getting to the point. So rather than being conventional, and having something at every department, we gotta have her there bec she's working on the account, we gotta have this guy in there bec he knows a lot about this. What we forget is the reason we're there is we want to beat the competition. We're there to get the business. That's why we're there. We're not even there to sell the campaign, bec the creative almost never runs as you know. So conventional people put people into these roles, and plug. What we did when we decided we wanted one person to present, to throw the convention. There will be one voice, one idea, one. 1.5 hour. When you can make them cry you did a good job.

We have to assess our strengths.

CP+B, Bogusky was really the star of the show. Most wanted to see the Johnny Depp of advertising.

Casting, 5 really good presenters. Really great ones.

Don't put people in the presentation just bec they did the work, bec youre only placating to that ego than trying to win the business.

Tell a better story than the other guy, differentiate ourselves from the other guy.

Roy Spence, such a great presenter that almost gets to convince everyone to do what he wants.

Q: Are these the people who will work on the project? A: You know, we don't know you well enough to tell you who's going to work on this business. We don't know well enough about you. We've got plenty of good people, the more we get to know you, the more we learn about you. We can tailor these people to cater to what exactly youve been looking for, but right now, we don't really know.

YOU NEED TO WIN IN THE ROOM. Sometimes, you want to have all the check marks. YOU NEED TO WIN IN THE ROOM. Can't risk not winning. Take control of the situation.

"Dog and Pony specialists - the presenters.

If your story is good enough, if youre able to make a powerful enough, emotional connection, those boxes tend to be ignored. The checkboxes can be total bullshit, it's just a way for you to get to the finals, to be there. YOU HAVE TO WIN IN THAT ROOM. MAKE THEM MAKE THE DECISION WHILE THEYRE SITTING THERE. Don't give them an opportunity to think of anybody else. You want to be remember, those are the people who blew us away.

Probs: • Presence of Procurement. • Spec creative • Them doing formal pitches as if youre winning the business, but youre not really winning the business you become part of a rouster, you have to pitch • amt of work that's been asked isn't equal to the budget being alocated to it

We need to find a way to make an emotional connection. We're looking for social media solutions.

Madmen, lots of things differs now. But one thing is the same. Making an emotional connection and telling the truth.

Most people don't understand that advertising that are really really good, we like, powerful and works is based on truth, communicated in an emotional way.

In Madmen's Carousel episode, what those executives were seeing there were themselves. That's my family, that's my truth.

Samsonite. Don: Yeah, yeah that's fine. Except no one will ever do that. That isn't true.

A truth well told.

Great agencies know who they are, and stick to what they believe in. Clients love the fact that they are honest and say they don't know these things and these are the things they can do and do best.

Be you because everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde

If we are to throw these logos out and the spec ads and juggle them, and they land and you can't tell where they came from that they can be exchanged, youre in trouble.

All agencies are interchangeable (hyperbole) but a lot of clients believe. When agency's tend to procurement. We're not in the business of making bridges, we're in the business of communication.

Left side (clients) have a hard time to get the right side. They want to make these "art" into sidewalks.

• Best creatives are able to put enough into each one that the response or the emotion you get from the audience is the analytic.

• Analytics show more of efficiency rather than effective. How long/how many times did they watch it (number check box) vs how did this video make you feel (semantic values).

• Pitching in Digital is different in the book. Digital, there's UI, strategy, etc (too technical). Traditional (more emotional)

The process of digital nature sol'n, nature of digital, strategy while clients are checking the boxes, may be the analog to 'framing'. Taking the client through in such a way that youre controlling each of these interactions that ultimately sets up your solution.

Agencies don't do, in additional convention they used. Every people who are there in the pitch should serve a purpose. ie. the first one to talk should foreshadow the idea. Spending so much time in meaningless shit and clients just want to you to get to it.

There's a theatre that needs to involve in the pitch.

Do an ad for your ads

The most famous creatives aren't necessarily the best creatives, they are the best presenters. Bogusky may not be the best creative but he can get you to the promise land. Lee Clow, brilliant presenter, didn't seem like he's presenting, seems like he wandered off the street and just talking to you. And he's a hell of a creative.

Joe Pytka film director - tvc

It was extremely helpful that he illustrated his points by using real life examples.

Great presenters realize that people make decisions emotionally; they will rationalize decisions based on all the facts and figures, using the objective to help them justify the decisions they made subjectively, according to Peter Coughter in this book. It is critical to make the audience feel that what you are suggesting is the best thing for them.

According to the author, the elements of an effective presentation include:

• It's a conversation, only you're doing most of the talking.
• Be yourself: what audiences want is authenticity.
• Tell stories: we all love stories that grab our attention and hold it all the way to the end.
• Know your stuff: don't memorize the presentation, but know the underlying ideas thoroughly.
• Relax and be personable: it's the audience that really counts, so don't worry about yourself.
• Teamwork counts: in great presentations, teams present as if they really like one another.
• Make it personal: a level of intimacy builds credibility and makes a connection.

The book is written from the perspective of an advertising agency executive, but the principles described are applicable to the marketing of any professional services, or more broadly to any form of public speaking or private presentation. In accordance with his own advice, the author provides numerous engaging stories of business won through persuasive presentations, and the book includes brief insights from a number of experienced presenters.

Many of the key points are reinforced by being repeated several times in the book. There is detailed advice on how to organize a presentation, how to use PowerPoint-type slides if they are suitable for your type of presentation, the importance of extensive rehearsal, and the effective use of silence, volume, pitch, tone of voice, facial expressions and other forms of "punctuation". Anyone who wants to become a better presenter is likely to find some useful tips in this book.

http://www.graphicology.com/storage/article-images/Presenting_PeterCoughter.pdf

http://www.garageadvertising.com/blogimages/dec06/Presenting_SallyHogshead.pdf

http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/advice_for_a_new_designer.html