Winners & Shortlists

PITCHER, THE AGENCY MATCHMAKER

TitlePITCHER, THE AGENCY MATCHMAKER
BrandWOEDEND!
Product/ServiceMOBILE APP
Category C01. USE OF DIGITAL IN A PR CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company WOEDEND! Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Advertising Agency WOEDEND! Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Merien Kunst Woedend! Creative Director
Max De Vries Woedend! Account/Strategy
Paul Van Uden Woedend! Art Director
Mariska Rijnaarts Woedend! Designer
Jeroen Feenstra Woedend! Animation
Jan Guichelaar Woedend! Development
Jos Faber Woedend! Development
Majke Hogendorp Woedend! Producer
Bert Hagendoorn Woedend! Pr

The Campaign

A medium sized independent agency in Amsterdam created a new service to get top of mind with (inter)national marketeers. They launched Pitcher, a Tinder app for marketeers. It makes finding a new ad agency a no-brainer. Within in minutes you set up a pitch, by swiping through a list of great agencies and inviting the shortlist directly from the mobile app. Built for PR, the app is not entirely serious. But it does work and it got the intended response. And much more. After 3 days, Pitcher was picked up by advertising and marketeer blogs worldwide. Becoming the most read article on Adweek for 3 days in a row. Putting not only the agency name on the map but also every other Dutch agency that is featured in the app.

The Brief

Putting the agency name (back) on top of mind of the marketeers in the Netherlands. And as an altruistic side-effect, doing the same for a few dozen other small to mid-sized agencies!

Results

The idea was successfully picked up in (inter)national press with over 180.000 news impressions. In the Netherlands, an estimated 90% of the target audience (brand marketeers) were reached. The campaign video was viewed 25.000 times. The app was downloaded over 5.000 times. Most importantly, the app has already guided new clients to the agency. Fun facts: No agencies asked to be removed from the app. Hundreds of agencies from around the world emailed with requests to be added. And requests for local versions of the app poured in from over 20 countries, including dozens from the US and Canada. Quickly after launch the first agencies started to receive actual pitch invitations. How many official pitches were sent out through the app is unknown at this point.

Execution

The agency developed the app for Apple and Android, and made sure it worked flawlessly. This first edition was for Amsterdam agencies only. Supported by an app website with a tongue-in-cheek campaign movie, in which the Pitcher app presents itself and cheerfully explains why it needs to exist. Other support was a small local launch event with press and clients, and press releases in Dutch and English. The devil was in the details. To make this idea credible, the app content had to be objective. So they asked a third party advertising blog to supply the selection of agencies featured in the app. In fact, these agencies had no idea about the app before its release. Also, the app was built with a few jokes hidden inside (for example, the app has an opinion about the selected pitch fee). All these details turned out to be quite important for the likeability of the campaign.

The Situation

Relationships between ad agencies and marketeers are getting shorter every year. Marketeers often pick the household names or a vague recommendation and not necessarily for the best agency with the best fit. The agency discovered a cheerful way to create added value for Dutch marketeers. It takes a positive approach to the topic of pitches by offering a mobile solution that actually works and implicitly asks a question: should you set up a pitch in only a few swipes?

The Strategy

By offering a semi-serious app to make pitching as easy as a date on Tinder, the agency took an original approach to an old discussion. They presented a solution that was disruptive and a starting point for conversation. With a tongue-in-cheek product movie and an app that offered real functionality, the campaign was designed to spark the interest of communication professionals from both sides of the fence: marketeers and agency professionals. Through media attention, the mobile app could lock the name of the agency in the minds of the marketeers: "if an agency finds such a playful way to address this marketeer's issues, it probably understands other marketeer's challenges." Or, in other words: "What a silly idea... But I should check it out. Who made it?"