How I pitch
Find the opening before anyone writes a headline.
Before any creative, I show the prospect where their category sounds the same, and the one thing only they can say.
That’s what makes the creative persuasive. It answers a gap the prospect can see for themselves, so the debate isn’t about taste. At DELVE, I led the creative portion of larger media pitches and wrote the creative strategy that went with written RFP responses. The method works in any category.
Examples are illustrative. Real client work stays confidential.
Opening foundIllustrative
6 organizations. 5 themes. 1 nobody owns.
A fictional adult-literacy nonprofit. Number of organizations that make each theme a clear, repeated part of their messaging:
| Theme | Owned by |
|---|---|
| Early childhood reading | 3 |
| Volunteer tutoring | 2 |
| Economic mobility | 1 |
| Adult learner stories | Nobody |
| Monthly giving | 2 |
The propositionHelp an adult learn to read, and change what’s possible for a whole family.
- My role
- Creative strategy, research, copywriting, deck build, creative direction, and presenting the creative.
- The team
- I led the creative team, and designers built the mockups to my direction. Alongside us: a pitch lead, plus leads from media, technology, data, and measurement.
- Timing
- 2 to 3 days to build; 1 to 2 weeks with internal reviews.
- Pace
- Several pitches running at the same time.
The method
Four steps, the same every time.
It starts with a scorecard, not a headline, and every step leaves something the team can use.
Research the field
Every pitch starts with the prospect and the organizations competing for the same people, often ten or more. AI agents I developed gather what each one says in public: websites, donation or purchase flows, email, social, and the Meta, Google, and LinkedIn ad libraries. I check what they find, then build a targeting and positioning profile and a messaging SWOT for the closest competitors.
Output A profile and messaging SWOT for each key competitor
Score the landscape
I score each organization from 0 to 2 on what its public messaging emphasizes: 2 for a clear, repeated theme, 0 for little or none. The low scores show where nobody is standing.
Output A scorecard of the category
Name the opening
A landscape usually shows several openings, and they aren’t equal. I look for the one the prospect can credibly own and competitors can’t easily copy, and I write it in a line or two.
Output One opening and a proposition
Make it real
An opening isn’t a pitch until people can see it. I turn it into a proposition, messaging pillars, and creative for each step of the journey. I write the copy and direct the designers who build the mockups.
Output Creative across the journey
Worked example
The method, worked through.
Here’s the method on two prospects. Both are fictional, because the real ones are confidential.
Illustrative A fictional adult-literacy nonprofit
The research
The prospect and five others are asking for the same literacy dollars: a children’s book charity, a library foundation, a tutoring network, a workforce nonprofit, and a kids’ reading app. AI agents pulled what each one says on its website, in its donation flow, in email and social, and in the ad libraries. I read it all and checked the claims against the sources.
6 organizations
5 messaging themes
Websites · Donation flows · Email · Social · Meta, Google, and LinkedIn ad libraries
I check every finding.
The scorecard
Four themes are taken. Early reading, tutoring, economic mobility, and monthly giving each have at least one organization making them a central message. Adult learner stories have none. Most of the category’s fundraising is built around children.
| Organization | Early childhood reading | Volunteer tutoring | Economic mobility | Adult learner storiesNobody owns this | Monthly giving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The prospect: adult-literacy nonprofit | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Children’s book charity | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Library foundation | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Volunteer tutoring network | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Workforce nonprofit | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kids’ reading app | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
2 = clear, repeated theme · 1 = present but secondary · 0 = little or none.
The opening
Two openings showed up. Choosing between them is the part no spreadsheet does.
- Passed onEconomic mobilityOnly one organization owns it, so there’s room. But it’s the workforce nonprofit’s home turf, and it would make reading sound like a means to a paycheck.
- ChosenAdult learner storiesNobody owns it, and the prospect already works with adult learners every day. It’s the one story only this prospect can tell.
The prospect serves adults, but its messaging leads with tutoring, the same story the tutoring network tells. The opening is the story nobody is telling: an adult learning to read, and what changes for their family when they do.
Most literacy fundraising shows a child learning to read. Almost no one shows an adult doing it, and adults are who this nonprofit serves.
Proposition Help an adult learn to read, and change what’s possible for a whole family.
The journey, in mockups
From there, every touchpoint carries the same idea, adapted to its job: introduce the story, meet people who are already searching, answer their questions on the landing page, and bring back anyone who didn’t finish their gift.
In the real pitches, this step was designed mockups of the creative itself: display and social ads, search ads, the landing page, and the email, built by designers to my direction so the prospect could see the idea working. The ones below are simple illustrations.
- Display and socialIntroduce it
- Paid searchMeet intent
- Landing pageAnswer the obvious questions
- Follow-up emailFinish an interrupted gift
Illustrative A fictional daily-wear sunscreen brand
The research
The prospect and five other brands are competing for the same shopper: a drugstore sport sunscreen, a clean mineral brand, a dermatologist skincare line, a family sunscreen, and a prestige SPF primer. AI agents gathered their websites, product pages, email, social, and ad libraries. I checked what they found.
6 organizations
5 messaging themes
Websites · Purchase flows · Email · Social · Meta, Google, and LinkedIn ad libraries
I check every finding.
The scorecard
The category crowds around the beach, SPF numbers, and ingredients. Everyday wear barely registers: nobody makes it their story, even though the prospect’s product is built for it.
| Organization | Beach and vacation | SPF protection claims | Clean ingredients | Dermatologist proof | Everyday wearNobody owns this |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The prospect: daily-wear sunscreen brand | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Drugstore sport sunscreen | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Clean mineral sunscreen | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Dermatologist skincare line | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Family sunscreen | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Prestige SPF primer | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2 = clear, repeated theme · 1 = present but secondary · 0 = little or none.
The opening
The opening is the ordinary day. Sunscreen ads sell the vacation. This brand can own the commute, the walk at lunch, and the school pickup.
Sunscreen ads sell the beach. Most days in the sun aren’t at the beach.
Proposition SPF for the days you’re not thinking about the sun.
The journey, in mockups
From there, every touchpoint carries the same idea, adapted to its job: introduce it in the feed, meet people already searching for a daily sunscreen, answer their questions on the product page, and bring back anyone who left something in their cart.
In the real pitches, this step was designed mockups of the creative itself: display and social ads, search ads, the landing page, and the email, built by designers to my direction so the prospect could see the idea working. The ones below are simple illustrations.
- Social and videoIntroduce it
- Paid searchMeet intent
- Product pageAnswer the obvious questions
- Cart reminder emailFinish an unfinished order
What the research can and can’t show
I build from recurring themes, not single ads. Ad libraries hide targeting, geography, and budget, so one ad may be a narrow test. The findings show what organizations emphasize in public, not what they spend or how they perform.
How the creative fits the media pitch
Creative built to test, so every flight teaches the next.
In a media pitch, the opening is half the promise. The other half is creative built for testing from day one: distinct ideas drawn from audience research, tested against each other, with each round making the next one better. It’s the Audience-First Creative System, compressed for a pitch. Here’s how that runs for the same literacy nonprofit.
Illustrative Readwell Adult Literacy, continued
The Audience Brain
Understand who we need to reach and what motivates them
For each audience: what motivates them, what holds them back, and what proof they need before they act.
Education-minded donors · barrier: “Literacy is a kids’ issue.”
Media shares targeting data.Creative leads audience research.
The Messaging Matrix
Plan how to talk to each audience, then test it
Research becomes a messaging strategy. Several angles go to market so response, not opinion, shows what each audience needs to hear.
- A · Her story
- B · The family ripple
- C · What a gift pays for
Creative shapes the angles.Both teams design the test plan together.
Modular creative
Distinct ideas, built to test and scale
Message, imagery, offer, and format are built as modules. Each test isolates the planned variable. Executions are designed for each channel’s viewing behavior, format, and funnel role.
6 audiences×3 messages×3 personas×5 formats270+ versions
Illustrative production scope, deployed in stages according to budget and learning priorities. Targeting keys and version IDs connect each execution to its audience and test.
Creative builds versions to the plan.Media maps each one to its audience with shared IDs.
Signals and learning
Find what works, and who else it works for
Results are read by audience and message. Spend shifts to proven pairs, and response patterns reveal new audiences worth targeting.
Possible learning: If “The family ripple” performs best and grandparents also respond, media can test that group as a new audience.
Both teams read results together and write the next brief together.
Learnings update the audience strategy and the targeting. Every round starts smarter.
What the client gets Spend that goes further every round
- Stronger return on spend. Budget concentrates on the audience and message pairs with proof behind them.
- Relevance at scale. Every audience hears what moves it, without a new campaign for each.
- New audiences to grow into. Creative response shows media who else to target next.
Every pitch starts by finding what no one else is saying.
Because the method doesn’t change, I can run several pitches at once without starting from zero, and the team always knows what comes next. A team can learn it and repeat it, so pitch quality never depends on one person.
Next: Selected workFor Executive Creative Director and VP of Creative searches
Strong creative leadership should improve more than the next campaign.
It should improve how teams think, work, learn, and make decisions together. I’m open to local, hybrid, or remote ECD and VP of Creative roles.
Looking for a creative leader who can strengthen the work and the system behind it?