As a student, I have always been asked to pitch something. Most of the time it would be an elevator pitch, often without much guidance on what to include. I have always seen pitching as a terrifying experience where you have to show up and speak quickly, trying to fit everything into one speech. During these moments my hands would start sweating, and the words in my mind would begin to mix without a clear direction. However, this session could not have made pitching more fun!
I discovered that a pitch can be an entertaining mix of structure combined with bits of your own personality.
But let’s start from the beginning.
This week’s amazing expert at Brand Potential was Jorijn. Together with Jos, the Managing Partner at Brand Potential, she gave us an interesting insight into how to build the perfect pitch.
I have to say that I felt very lucky to write the blog post for this week after this session, as it was incredibly interactive compared to all the ones we had until now.
During the first part, we had to take either one side or the other of a statement and try to convince the audience of the point we were supporting. For example, one question was: Does a perfect pitch rely more on a) content or b) form?
Not only was trying to support our point and convince the audience a practical exercise that can easily be transferred to the context of a pitch, but the questions themselves stimulated a very interesting debate within the group.
Some colleagues of mine mentioned that content without an expression of personality is boring, while others argued that at the end of a pitch you need to present actual proposals, not just an aesthetically pleasing presentation. Of course, there was no right or wrong answer, but the debate really gave me deeper insights into the context of pitching that I would have never considered on my own.
Another interesting input during this first part of the activity was the following question: What is more important in a pitch? A) A tight structure or B) Spontaneity and improvisation.
As someone who considers herself very methodological and structured, I argued that without structure you cannot be sure you will cover all the points needed to convince the client. However, someone countered my argument by pointing out that clients also trust you based on the energy and confidence you demonstrate during the pitch itself. Once again, my brain was very stimulated by these debates.
The second part of the session was more theoretical. As with every pitching and advertising session that can be respected, there were multiple honourable mentions of Don Draper. If you haven’t watched Mad Men yet in 2026, go for it, it is, in my opinion, one of the best cast and filmed TV series ever, and it is particularly relevant for marketing students like us.
Don Draper is the main character in Mad Men, and he is often considered a symbol of early advertising and pitching culture during the 1950s in Manhattan.
Jorijn described him as “the king of reframing.” She mentioned how good Don is at not just selling the product, but also the feeling that comes with it. As Jorijn stated: “If you focus too much on the product, you miss the magic of the context the product finds itself in.”
I found this idea to be especially true for big brands, where everyone already knows what the product is about.
One thing I love about these Brand Potential sessions is the personal insights brought by our experts. Jorijn told us about a time when she was working on a campaign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Heinz. She explained that Heinz initially wanted to make its baked beans cans gold to celebrate the milestone. However, through a well done and convincing pitch, she explained to the Heinz team that this idea would be too similar to campaigns already done by competitors who had used similar celebratory strategies.
Instead, Jorijn proposed that Heinz produce cans featuring words that British people associate with Heinz beans, such as Breakfast, Mom, Sundays, and so on.
This resulted in a much more effective and unique strategy. The success came from focusing on the emotional connection that British people have with Heinz beans, rather than simply changing the aesthetic of the cans.
This theme also connects to another part of the session, where we discussed how the pitch is often the starting point of the negotiation process that takes place between the agency and the client.
To take a more practical approach to this negotiation topic, we were asked to find a solution for a campaign in which New Balance, our imaginary client, requested a 40% discount fee for a PR activation. What we needed to consider was whether we actually wanted to negotiate (spoiler alert: you always need to negotiate with your client), what elements we would need to remove if there were cuts in the budget, and how we could maintain a strong relationship with our client throughout the process.
The group discussion was very interesting, as I had never previously had the opportunity to dive into the details of this negotiation process. I will forever remember what Jorijn says about negotiation: “Never give a discount without taking things from the table”.
Finally, the funniest part of the session was definitely when we had to pitch to our colleagues the most boring item ever: a toothpick.
But hey, the pitch turned out great, and we managed to frame the toothpick as the new dating tool, saving people time on dating apps!
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Written by Carolina Ferretti.
