ANA and 4As launch pitch rules to cut agency waste
The ANA and 4As put 10 pitch principles behind a long-festering cost problem: agencies can spend $204,460 to chase one new-business pitch and $406,090 to defend an account.
The ANA and 4As tried to put guardrails around one of advertising’s most expensive habits: the pitch process. Their 10 Positive Pitch Principles, posted May 6 and framed as a shared standard rather than a rigid rulebook, are designed to make agency reviews more transparent, fair and efficient, because every vague brief, blown timeline and unanswered submission quietly taxes agency growth.
The trade groups said the guidance applies across media, full-service, creative, experiential, PR and other agency relationships. It asks marketers to explain why a review is happening, what outcomes they want, and whether the incumbent is participating. It also pushes for clearer budgeting, shared KPIs and scorecards, and a cleaner handoff around intellectual property, saying agencies should keep ownership of presented work unless a marketer pays for it and gets permission or ownership.
That matters because pitch friction is not just a morale issue. It is a cost center. A summary of earlier ANA and 4As research puts the average cost of an agency pitch for a client at about $408,500. Non-incumbent agencies spend about $204,460 responding to a new-business pitch, while incumbent agencies spend about $406,090 defending an account. In other words, the bid to win the right to start work can consume enough time and money to distort how agencies staff, price and prioritize growth.
The timing also reflects how much the market has changed. Agency-of-record relationships have been declining while project work, especially in digital marketing, has increased. That has left more reviews in the hands of less experienced operators, and the result has often been a more transactional process, with unclear budgets, poorly defined business questions and agencies being ghosted after they submit ideas. The 4As described pitch reviews as high-stakes, resource-intensive and emotionally charged, which is exactly why better process discipline can translate into less wasted strategy time and less burnout.
This is not the first attempt to fix the system. The ANA and 4As released The Cost of the Pitch in 2023, then The Cost of the Pitch II: The Rise of Value in June 2024, expanding the conversation to value, trust, cost, transparency and respect in client-agency relationships. The ANA’s April 2025 tenure report continued that effort by examining how long agency-of-record relationships last.
The numbers show why the work keeps returning. The 4As says it represents more than 600 member agencies, while the ANA says it serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands. And a committee summary from the ANA says 90% of clients prioritize overall value and long-term ROI, with trust and campaign performance, or ROAS, as the top two factors in successful long-term relationships. For agencies trying to scale new business responsibly, that makes pitch reform more than etiquette. It is a direct lever on profitability.
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