Introducing the Pitch Perfect Sprint: no-compromise strategy, delivered faster than agency life allows

Pitching under pressure is part of agency life. But what if you didn’t have to sacrifice sharp, strategic thinking just because timelines are mad?

That’s exactly why I created the Pitch Perfect Sprint – a way to deliver no-compromise new business strategy, ready to build on, in just 48–72 hours. Built specifically for agencies pitching for new business, it gives your team the solid strategic backbone they need to create brilliant ideas, rehearse with confidence, and win – without getting stuck wrestling the brief while the clock ticks down.

Why agencies need breathing room to win pitches

I loved agency life. I loved the buzz of a new brief, the adrenaline of pitch day, the moments when a big idea caught fire. But what I didn’t love – and what eventually made me step away - was the constant tension of trying to do deep, meaningful thinking within working environments that simply didn't allow it.

In real life, good creative thinking doesn’t happen in back-to-back brainstorms squeezed between client meetings. It happens when you have the space to percolate – in the shower, on a walk, over the weekend, standing in line at Pret.

But good strategy? That needs a clear read of the opportunity, smart framing of the challenge, and enough breathing room to actually think before diving into ideas.

Agency life doesn’t leave much room for that. The brief lands. Everyone scrambles. Strategy, creative, design, rehearsal – all crammed into a couple of crazy weeks, layered on top of business as usual. And often, the strategic foundations of a pitch suffer because of it – things end up rushed, debated, or only half-agreed by the time the creative work is built.

Worse still, strategy and creative often end up running concurrently – not because that makes any sense whatsoever, but because there simply isn’t enough time to do it properly. The strategy gets retrofitted onto the creative afterwards, trying to rationalise big ideas that weren’t built from a sharp foundation in the first place.

It’s not the team’s fault. It’s the reality of the pitch treadmill. And it’s exactly the problem the Pitch Perfect Sprint is designed to fix.

Since stepping out of agency life, I no longer have to follow agency hours. No big teams. No layers of approvals. No Monday-to-Friday 9-6 rules.

It means I can work when others don’t – evenings, weekends, whenever the brief lands – so you get the strategy you need, faster, without the usual bottlenecks. Because when the pitch is on, time is everything. And your thinking needs to move faster than the calendar.

The pitch pressure is real (and the timelines prove it)

A LinkedIn poll I ran over the weekend showed that 57% of agency professionals usually have just 1–2 weeks between receiving the brief and pitching. That’s barely enough time to even agree a strategy internally – let alone build, rehearse and deliver a winning creative platform.

In those conditions, it’s no wonder:

• Strategy gets squeezed

• Creativity gets rushed

• Internal debates waste the precious time that should be spent refining and rehearsing

It’s not a people problem. It’s a process problem. And there’s an even deeper layer to it.

Why strategy gets squeezed even when the talent is there

It’s not just time that’s in short supply. Even when timelines are manageable, strategy often gets squeezed because most agency teams aren’t formally trained in it.

In another recent LinkedIn poll, only 13% of agency professionals said they naturally pick up strategic thinking skills on the job. The majority said they learn client management skills – not strategy, not creative development, not messaging craft.

In other words:

• Strategy doesn’t just need time.

• It needs intentional focus – and dedicated space to make it sharp enough to win.

What the Pitch Perfect Sprint delivers

Most of my clients are agencies, so I built Pitch Perfect Sprint to fit the real-world pitch pressure they deal with every day. Delivered in 72 hours (or 48 hours if you need express turnaround), you get:

• A sharp diagnosis of the opportunity – rooted in the client’s real business strategy, identifying what’s truly at stake and where the smartest advantage lies

• A clear articulation of the ambition – the what and why that align to client goals

• Priority audience insights, distilled into what's most important

• Three strategic springboards to unlock strong creative thinking

• Cultural, behavioural and business hooks to embed your pitch in real-world relevance

• Impact measures that pre-empt the client’s KPIs

• A one-hour playback call with your team to hand it over cleanly and answer questions

This is exactly the kind of sprint I recently delivered to help a major agency sharpen their narrative, unlock stronger creative routes, and rehearse with total clarity – all under serious time pressure.

Now, I’ve formalised that approach so more agencies can get the same advantage.

Strategy sorted early. Creativity sharpened faster. Pitches won smarter.

When the strategy’s sorted early, everything else gets easier. Ideas land better. Rehearsals don’t turn into existential crises. You’re not fighting over the storyline the night before the pitch. The team feels sharper, the client feels it too – and you actually get to show up at your best.

The Pitch Perfect Sprint gives you the breathing room to do that – even when the timeline's mad.

Got a pitch coming up? Need to move sharper and faster without losing precious time? Let’s talk.