Don’t shoot the messenger and stop mindless discounting

Tim Burrowes

May 7, 2010 8:40

In this guest posting Darren Woolley hits back at Seven’s James Warburton for his comments that pitch doctors are nothing more than “bottom feeders”.

It is sad and rather pathetic when an industry identity such as James Warburton is reported to be “shooting the messenger” rather than addressing the issue.

Procurement and “pitch doctors” simply challenge the industry to prove the value, and the industry response is often heavy discounting and price-cutting, a strategy Mr. Warburton is rumored to be well known for during his time in agencies.

As Seven Media Group’s chief sales and digital officer, Mr. Warburton can well appreciate that the easiest sales strategy in the world is to discount, yet time and time again we have seen agencies mindlessly discount to win business.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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4 COMMENTS

richard halmarick 7 May 10

W.T.F……..
Dear James…. dont lump Kinesis Media into the world of a template driven cost per thousand lowest common denominator wins pitch process
Dear Darren…..James is basically correct and your process creates the problem

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Gezza 7 May 10

Is this the first article by Mr Woolley without a photo of his dashingly handsome visage ?

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Darren Woolley 7 May 10

Richard, I would comment on your process, but according to the clients who have used you once and said never again, you don’t have one. So perhaps it would be best for you to not comment on something you perhaps do not understand. Or is this the only way you can get anyone to listen?