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No Free Pitch: Sampson Fires Subaru
7th June, 2011
When Subaru decided that their agencies would pitch against each other for every brief, Todd Sampson, CEO of Leo Burnett Sydney decided "We deserved better".
After more than a decade together. Sampson has fired Subaru, one of the agency's most prestigious and awarded clients.
In an email to Leo Burnett staff, Sampson said: "We talk a lot about our priorities: People. Product. Profit (in that order) and sometimes that means we have to make some hard decisions. This is one of those hard decisions.
"Yesterday we fired Subaru. As you know Subaru decided to change its working model to one where their agencies pitch against each other for every brief. You know better than anyone that pitching is really hard on you, our culture and our current clients. We simply don't want to work that way. We deserve better.
"We have had a long relationship with Subaru, of which the last 10 years were record sales, so we all need to act professionally in ending this relationship. Whilst they have not treated us well recently, they are not bad people."
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Source: Campaign Brief
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No need to go into detail on why free pitching is bad for everyone, clients and agencies included.
I hope others take Todds lead, and thus begins the revolution!
Posted by John Eleftheriou on 8th June 2011
Posted by Damian Monaghan on 8th June 2011