The Pitch

Checked out The Pitch on AMC.

This show would be a whole lot cooler if it was a fake show about advertising. But because no agency is going to let camera crews in on what really happens behind the scenes, it's not that cool. And though agency life in 2012 isn't as glamorous as Mad Men, it's a whole lot more awesome than this show makes it seem. Where are the way-too-out-there ideas that client would never sign off on? The ones that make a meeting howl but need to stay within the walls of the agency? Creative teams are the lifeblood of any agency. These are the people that could have stand up comedy careers or write screenplays but have a love for constant competition (and a pay cheque). The show only displayed creatives during their worst moments, getting shut down by their CD's (who were surprisingly lamely depicted in the show) for not being out there enough. But take a camera into the creative team's office at 10PM and you'd have a better story to expose.

The show misses the mark in the campaign it features. Where is the digital strategy? Where is the social media integration? Perhaps later episodes will touch on more integrative campaign ideas but this one is so inapplicable to today's creative campaign necessities it was baffling. Strangely, the winning agency's big idea stems from a YouTube video with millions of views. Which displays their knowledge that content sharing online is this decade's most powerful way to reach consumers. But they don't apply this knowledge in a fresh way at all, turning a YouTube viral video into a less cool television spot. TV. Pssh. Maybe there will be tie in to digital once the business is won, but to leave it completely out of the pilot episode lends to the lackluster, dinosaur feel this show carries.

In a day when advertising is struggling to find its foothold in this newly evolved, consumer powered, brands personified, full disclosure ecosystem, why does AMC focus on such an outdated aspect of our business? Yes, the Pitch is still relevant. But there are so many more parts of the wheel to include. Will consumers care about the end product? Will they share it? Television ads are for the most part, no longer entertaining. The best advertising comes from the shops that take risks to find what will touch the consumer’s heart enough to pass the content along. Subway should not have been the client to focus on, nor were the agencies that prepared safe ideas to appease them. In the end, nobody will care about this campaign. And thus nobody will likely care about how it came to be, or the Pitch, as it is.

- Jon