Asking video production companies to pitch ideas might seem like a sensible way to choose a supplier. In practice, it often leads to the wrong outcome.
This article explains why pitching can work against clients, how it encourages surface-level thinking, and what a better approach looks like when you want a video that actually solves a business problem.
This perspective is based on how we work at Dream Engine, and what we have seen go wrong when projects start with creative ideas before strategy.
Why video pitching often fails
When organisations ask multiple video production companies to pitch, they are usually asking for ideas before anyone has had the chance to properly understand the problem.
What they receive are storyboards, creative concepts, and examples of videos that look impressive. These ideas are often produced as unpaid speculative work, under tight timelines, and without meaningful access to the client’s context.
The risk is that decision-makers fall in love with how something looks rather than what it is meant to do.
Once a particular idea has emotional buy-in, it becomes difficult to step back and ask whether it actually addresses the underlying business objective.
A better way to choose a video production partner
A more effective approach is to evaluate video production companies based on how they think, not what they pitch.
That means looking at:
- Who they have worked with before
- The types of problems they typically solve
- Their process and approach to strategy
- The people you would actually be working with
- What past clients say about the experience
This gives you a much clearer indication of whether a company is likely to understand your situation and guide you toward the right solution.
Once you have chosen a partner you trust, that is the right time to invest in strategy. A proper strategy session allows the production company to develop a deep understanding of your audience, your goals, and the constraints you are working within.
The creative solution should come after that work, not before it.
Video: The dangers of asking video production companies to pitch
Who this advice is for
This approach is particularly relevant if you are:
- A marketing or communications manager commissioning video
- Responsible for supplier selection or procurement
- Looking for a long-term video partner rather than a one-off supplier
If your goal is to produce a video that delivers a clear outcome, starting with strategy rather than speculative ideas gives you a much better chance of success.
Video transcript
The full transcript of the video is provided below for reference.
Read the full transcript
I am going to say strategy doesn’t get enough attention because the visual content has a creative bias. And so when a client approaches me for the first time, or a repeat client, they see a portfolio, they think, oh, those are beautiful images, that’s a really great video. I want that. And we get tied in, or they get tied into this idea that if it’s beautiful, if it’s shiny, it’ll work, and sometimes I feel like, oh, well, we should really slow down and think critically about what this is doing for someone’s business.
Something that I feel is very important in the early stages of production is not pitching for a project. And I think this is one of the classic places where businesses go wrong: they go out to the market and ask companies to pitch for a video project. And there are two main reasons why I don’t think there’s a good way to go. One is asking us to do unpaid split speculative work. However, the other reason, which is really more important from the client’s point of view, is asking companies to come up with ideas and solutions without having a full understanding of the problem. Companies will go out there and create storyboards or find examples of videos that look really cool. They’ll find videos that have been done in the same industry as the prospect, and they’ll put together a pitch deck to sell an idea. The problem is that they haven’t got a full understanding of what the problem is yet. The client may be seduced by seeing these wonderful videos, beautiful storyboards, or all of this hard, unpaid work that’s gone into creating an idea and actually be seduced by it. Once they fall in love with that idea, they will want to make the video. A far better approach is for, from a client’s point of view, is to get to know a company by understanding who they’ve worked with before, what their approach is, who’s involved in the business, what their track record is, what customers and previous customers of the video production company have said about them and learn enough to understand whether these are the type of people you can work with and whether you think they have the potential to solve your problem. Once the company’s working with the video production company, that’s the time to do the strategy session, where the video production company can get a really deep understanding of who you are, what you do and what your particular problem is. And then they’ll come up with a solution that will address that problem. And they’ll end up with a far more effective video.
Ryan Spanger is the founder and managing director of Dream Engine, a Melbourne-based video production company established in 2002. With more than two decades of experience, Ryan has helped leading Australian businesses, government departments, and non-profits communicate their message with clarity and impact through video. He’s known for his strategic approach, reliable process, and commitment to producing videos that deliver measurable results.
