You can tell when real people sweat the details. Human sensibilities and instincts matter, and this week we're talking about one of our members who went toe-to-toe with an agency that let AI do nearly everything. The results are interesting, and how it played out says a lot about where biz dev is headed.
Pitching Against the Pure AI Shop
Pitching used to mean going up against other shops that work like we do. Now some choose to turn out a huge amount of work in a few days for less money by letting AI take the lead. Those of us who are going to put people at the center of our work have to figure out how to compete with that.
Round one
A client who was skeptical about AI, but curious, decided to put it to the test. They paid two agencies for a discovery and concepts phase and had them compete. In one corner was Andi Graham's team at Big Sea. In the other was an agency that did all of its strategy and production with AI.
Big Sea costs more, and the client wanted to know if the difference was worth it. Andi's team used AI where it helped, but they also flew to the client's campus and interviewed students, alumni and staff. Human designers did the creative, learning from primary research what the people who would actually use the work wanted. The team also created original photography and illustration, which matters a lot to the younger audience the client wanted to reach.
My Take: Taking the time to immerse yourself in the actual problem and the people it will impact will always help you find solutions that aren't on the surface. This is a huge advantage for human teams willing to invest the time.
When the other shop brings more
The AI shop delivered a research deck close to 300 pages long and about eight concepts. Delivering a phone book and a variety of options can make a client feel like they got a lot for their money. While Big Sea could have tried to match that, it really didn't make sense.
My Take: Clients stay with agencies whose work clearly comes from understanding their business. Delivering hundreds of pages doesn't mean you read them, and delivering eight concepts means you're not really sure what to do.
Clients can't always tell the difference
Andi's client didn't think the AI-only work was bad. She had to explain that the people the client was trying to reach, young students, would spot the difference right away.
My Take: Clients need truth-tellers and guides. There are so many options for what they can do now, but they're not sure how the outcomes change depending on the solution they choose. This is why we have to be loud and proud about what we know and what we think.
Make the people visible
According to Andi, the AI shop's concepts looked exactly like what you'd expect to come out of an AI design tool. Big Sea's work came straight from what their team heard in those interviews on campus.
My Take: Humans love stories. Andi could tell the client who her team talked to and what they learned, and walk them through the ideas they considered, which ones they decided against and why. Getting to see behind the curtain is a big part of what clients are paying for, so make sure they see your thought process and the strategy behind every decision.
Paid discovery
The client paid both agencies for a fairly extensive discovery and concepts phase up front. They wanted to see whether Big Sea's work would really be different enough to justify the higher price. The budget was big enough for Andi's team to fly to campus and do their interviews in person. So they did.
My Take: This was a dream client. We won't always have clients willing to fund real research up front, and sometimes we'll need to lean on the AI tools we have. But when we can tell the story of why we did what we did and how we got there, we have something AI never will.
And the winner is
Big Sea won the rest of the client's marketing and web work, and the client couldn't stop complimenting their process and approach. Since then, Big Sea has sent the client about $600,000 in scopes for additional projects, and the client's president got on a call with Andi just to tell her how great her team was. Andi calls it some of the best creative they've done all year.
In her words, "We beat the AI slop this time." It was closer than it should have been. She's planning a case study once the work launches, and I'll share it here when it's ready. If you've pitched against a pure AI shop, win or lose, I'd love to hear how it went.
Every pitch is a bit of a fight, and lately the other corner looks different than it used to. What gives me hope is how openly this community talks about both sides of it, the deals that close and the ones that slip away. That honesty happens in The Bureau every day. It's why Andi could share a win that came closer to a loss than she liked, and why the rest of us get to learn from it. Keep the stories coming.
