Should companies pay for pitch ideas

A couple of days ago I posed a question on Linkedin asking if companies should pay for ideas they got at pitches. It’s not a new theme but an interesting one in the creative industries - I’ve pasted the question and answers below as some of them, while spiky, give a very useful insight.

Confused.com held a pitch for their PR support and sat through 6 of them. When they had selected the agency they wanted they offered some of the other agencies who’d pitched money for their ideas - here’s the PR Week article

I’ve seen our company’s ideas being used following an unsuccessful pitch (in one instance the potential client saw 5 pitches, didn’t appoint any, and then generated qite a bit of news with some of our ideas!).

I’m not sure I’d sell our ideas but many see this move as hugely positive (or clever PR in itself) … do you?

Answer 1:

I feel very strongly about this…if they receive a pitch and use it without some agreement with the person pitching then they have committed theft!

Protect your pitches. I am working on a pitch, have invested time, research, money etc. and will be registering it with the writers guild
https://www.wgaeast.org/index.php?id=238
before my pitch to ensure I have the sole rights.

In fact there are cases where a couple of gents here in Ontario made a pitch and then it was used by Disney. They were sued. http://www.spl-law.com/case.php?id=54 and had to pay 240 Million.

Answer 2

I agree. Protection is key. I wish we lived in an age where we could trust that if an idea is pitched and not accepted, it is then disregarded and the potential client moves on. Unfortunately, we are seeing more often now that isn’t the case. Everyone is in a push to make money so why not “borrow” an idea that was pitched, right? Wrong. Give credit where credit is due. If an individual spent the time & resources to put their best pitch together, that person should get the credit due to them. Period.

The link example I’m sharing is that of copyright vs. patent from CNN Money. While the topic is slightly different, the principle is the same, in my book anyway. Further validation that if your work is used in any capacity, YOU should be given credit for it UNLESS you have signed an agreement that otherwise forfeit’s that credit. At least this is my own humble opinion anyway.

Answer 3

I don’t know how much legal protection you can have when making “pitches”, unless your material was copyrighted or patented in the first place, or you somehow convinced the prospective customer to sign some sort of NDA.

A similar problem arises with people who are seeking jobs. There are some employers (usually small ones) who will ask job candidates to do whole projects as part of the vetting process. There is one local tech company in the Seattle area that has been asking everyone applying for a marketing director job to put together an extensive marketing plan, and strategy as part of the application process. I know one person who put in something like 30 hours doing research, and building charts and slides outlining his proposed marketing plan.

I don’t see that these job applicants can do anything if the company uses their ideas without offering the job.

Answer 4

You pitch to a potential new client in good faith - and part of any effective pitch is to demonstrate a number of skills, with ideas a major component. I think it is a personal affront if someone were to use one of my ideas at a later date, passing it off as one of their own.
A company turning up at a pitch will include “honesty and transparency” in its approach, I know I do.
It would be comforting to know that your pitch was being made to like-minded, decent people.
But life isn’t like that, is it.
Realistically, theft of ideas is difficult to combat - and that is a subject I have raised on this site before. Putting “Private and Confidential” at the top of a document is a wafer-thin, protective measure, isn’t it?
I have no answers, I’m afraid. But the company that offered to “pay” for ideas to an outfit following an unsuccessful pitch sounds like the type of organisation I’d like to work with.
Dealing decently with people isn’t all that hard.

Answer 5

I won’t be the only one reading this who’s been on both sides of the pitch table. I’ve hosted pitches where, unsurprisingly, 70-80 percent of the ideas were practically the same—there’s more or less pedestrian stuff that needs doing. The difference can make the difference, but not always. In others, the ideas were left-field enough to demonstrate lots of creativity but not necessarily practical or internally saleable. Further down the track the appointed agency sometimes suggested ideas I’d seen in non-winning pitches. What to do then? And how to expunge an agency’s idea from my brain when, although it hadn’t occurred to me in my overall role, it might well have if all I had focus on was PR (that’s not meant pejoratively BTW).

Many of us have had our brains extensively picked at job interviews and not been been appointed with both sides of the table suspecting it was a free consultation.

As part of a boutique PR outfit I’ve pitched to companies that haven’t appointed anyone.

Some time ago I had a conversation with a web designer who said that he didn’t do non-paid pitches any more. That was during a sellers’ market, which may have gone away. In any case, he and other designers of “tangible” things would have a better chance of demonstrating that an idea had been lifted. Not so easy in PR.

The comment about smaller companies hosting interview or pitches to gather ideas that they implement themselves can be a cautionary tale. But In my experience a good proportion people going about the business of vetting candidates or agencies would make a reasonable fist of doing the work themselves, but are intent hiring someone, hopefully better at it, who will be wholly focused on it, which allows the selector to get on with the rest of their job.

I’d be unlikely to invite a pitch from an agency wanting money for pitching. And I wouldn’t ask for a pitching fee. I do think the confused.com example is good news. And if a runner-up agency had such a truly unique great idea that it was worth paying for. If I had the budget, I’d offer to buy it.

Answer 6

First the legal part.

If the work has the requisite creativity, copyright protection starts at the instant of creation. You are not required to file for protection. You are required to file for a copyright to sue for copyright infringement, and you must file within 3 months of a reasonable opportunity of learning of the infringement, and your infringement protection does not start until you file. As ‘reasonable opportunity’ is subjective, the best tactic is file soon after creation. The cost is only around $50, while filing both asserts your copyright and starts the clock against any infringer.

Now the hard part, defining your protection.

The prospective client owns the copyright in the product or service, so you’ll need more than what is in product or service being pitched to have copyright protection for the advertising you create.

The key to the requisite creativity is to have defined characteristics that you created. In copyright, this is the ‘expression of an idea’ that is protected by copyright. The hurdle you need to overcome in advertising is to avoid adopting the client’s copyright in the product or service as the primary characteristics in the advertising. This is because the client’s copyright also protects derivative ideas. One example of a derivative idea is taking artwork and making tile from the artwork. This was an actual case won by the artist of the artwork.

Answer 7

Attribution is very difficult to prove. I’ve using my website for tracking, hosting and serving up presentations.

The problem with confused.com’s method is, there is no way to gauge the ROI of an agency’s idea there after. As client’s themselves, increasingly seek to qualify and quantify their campaign initiatives, agencies are relocated to *artists* and *creatives* by this process. We’re literally back in the stone age.

A *merit* reward is useless when the client makes millions of off your creative or strategies.

Answer 8

Wow, I can’t believe the naïveté and unprofessionalism from public relations people. Glad I got that MBA.

Allow me to quote from Jake Steinfeld (Body by Jake): “In the ideal world, you could pitch your business plan without every worrying (SIC) that someone in the audience with more money or better connections might steal the idea and get a business up and running before you get yours out of the blocks. But that ideal world doesn’t exist, unfortunately. (Didn’t say Jake was literate.) People talk. And they steal. Sometimes it’s just a conversational slip about this ‘great idea’ that someone else takes and runs with. I’m afraid it happens all the time.

“To prevent it from happing to you and your inspired business idea, do the street-smart thing and get a lawyer to draft a confidentially agreement.
Before you present your business plan to anyone, discretely ask that each person in the room sign a copy of the agreement. Don’t worry, professionals and people who really care about you and your success will understand, and they’ll appreciate that you are being careful and thorough in protecting your business concept. Anyone who balks at signing it can take a hike. You don’t want to do business with them anyway.”

If a muscle-head with no college degree gets it, why don’t public relations people understand? Hope this answers your question.

Would be glad to talk to anyone about public relations/communications counsel (I call it Marketing Sociologist and now you see why) and pitching. I have 30 years experience and would be glad to expound upon this. Contact me, please.

Just yesterday a company asked me to do a proposal of what they need. It would have taken four hours. I bill per hour, I told them and would be happy to offer a free consultation, but I get paid for recommending what marketing strategies they need and why. That’s called professionalism, not desperation. Call a lawyer and tell them to write down what action they will take in your lawsuit before you pay them any money. Good luck on that. Same with accountants, dentists or even a guy cutting trees in your yard. Why are PR people so desperate they will give away the store?

Answer 9

Theft of ideas is why I now just present a proposal with generic indicators, e.g. 3 x 1:1 interviews or 4 x opinion pieces or 2 x events.

The only specifics potential clients get are my track record - examples of events I’ve designed and executed before or multi-page coverage I’ve pulled off for clients or even just case studies of other similar campaigns.

I’ve had my ideas stolen far too many times to even bring them with me to pitch sessions anymore.

I don’t know where this leaves us because, ultimately, you want to impress a potential client and wow them with your ideas. We might all be a little nervous of keeping stuff back lest we miss out on the opportunity. This one will run and run …

Well hello again!