The Debrief Call

Recently, I pitched a BIG commercial project. We had a unique angle and offered multiple versions to test different hooks/angles in their marketing funnel instead of just a stand-alone commercial.

After weeks of following up, we got an email saying we didn’t get the project.

Now that I've built a relationship with the client, I asked for a “debrief call” to discuss our pitch. My goal was to get their genuine feedback to improve my future pitches and storyboards.

Since there was nothing to pitch, we were able to have an open conversation and receive valuable feedback.

On the call, I asked questions like

• What did the other pitches include that we didn’t?
• Were we missing any essential information?
• What could we have done better?

I discovered they loved our creative direction, but we needed a few key branding elements they wanted for a commercial representing their brand across the internet.

These branding elements could include colours, slogans, messaging, and crafting a brand story for which they could become known for.

If you remember the old Gatorade commercials with Michael Jordan sweating orange or the famous  “Be Like Mike” commercial, these are great examples of campaigns that help define a brand.

After the feedback, we also discussed having their Creative Director assist with the branding elements for the commercial and future projects we’d be a great fit for.

In full transparency, these discussions are ongoing, but I wanted to share the idea of conducting a “Debrief Call” for bigger projects to learn, improve, and discover more opportunities!

Remember, if a client says no, it doesn’t mean it’s a no forever.

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