Pitching for an industry standard we can all endorse

While agreeing with the Design Business Association and the Chartered Society of Designers about changing the culture of free-pitching being an accepted norm, Anti Copying In Design is aware that critics might say it’s easy for design bodies to take the moral high ground.

A potential pot of gold is always tempting, but beware – many who invest in free-pitch work often find their intellectual property has been infringed because designs/ products/plans/concepts are forwarded to other potential suppliers to provide cost comparisons and alternative quotes. Or else respondents discover a ‘take the best’ culture resulting in an amalgam of pitch responses.

Let’s see an industry standard that designers and clients can all endorse. This should include a communicated assertion from designers reinforcing their IP rights, hand-in-hand with declared IP respect within corporate responsibility and publicised assurances from those that create pitch opportunities.

Dids Macdonald, Chief executive, Anti Copying In Design, by e-mail