Free ‘giant beauty parade’ is an ugly business model

I want to embrace Jim Davies as my brother – his piece on free- pitching (Private View, DW 15 April) summed up exactly my feelings on the difficult subject. We recently sat in front of a famous British manufacturer, with a very sexy brand, who gleefully told us that he’d asked eight agencies to free-pitch for his business ‘because he could’ and because ‘creatives were desperate to work with him’.

I know we’re in a free-market, but these kind of unpaid ‘super pitches’ devalue our ideas and our thinking. Some people buying creative work are missing the point completely when it comes to choosing an agency if they simply conduct a giant beauty parade.

Steve Gibson

Creative director

Gibson

London SW14