Chemistry And Trust Are Critical Factors to Winning Pitches

jfdi/Opinium Barometer 2025 unveils new business opportunities and challenges for agencies

The UK New Business Barometer has published its eighth annual survey of performance and insights for agency business development leaders.

Published by jfdi, leading specialist new business consultancy and award-winning strategic insight agency Opinium, The Barometer is conducted nationwide with data drawn from 255 agency business development professionals, across 18 disciplines from creative to media; digital to experiential; content to social.

Liz Wilson, Global Chief Integration Office, Landor has commented, “We’re seeing clients demand broader, bolder, more innovative solutions to transform their business – so no surprise that new business is an incredibly competitive landscape for creative agencies. The jfdi/Opinium New Business Barometer brings us industry insights and action to up our game year on year.”

2025 key findings

• Chemistry is the most critical factor to winning pitches
• Trust plays a key role: connections and referrals are the most popular prospecting strategies
• Specialist briefs grow as marketers move into new spaces and places
• Ideas presented at pitch are a means to an end: just 50% of ideas are actioned
• Ghost pitch briefs continue to accelerate

Generating strong chemistry with the client has become the most important factor in converting prospects: up 5 points on last year (74%). Good chemistry between the pitch team rose 8 points to 51% – outperforming creative ideas at 44%. Chasing an increased number of opportunities coupled with hybrid working practise and pitch team stretch is making agency chemistry harder to sustain.  When it shows up, it is a major decision maker for clients.

Management network connections [86%] and client referrals [74%] are the most used prospecting strategies as trust and authenticity become a superpower in an anxious world fuelled by misinformation and uncertainty.

“As sales and marketing grow more sophisticated for clients, agencies are adapting by building effective B2B tools and methodologies to engage prospects. However, the human touch remains critical to winning pitches as clients place chemistry and trust at the top of their decision making” observed Camilla Honey, CEO, jfdi.

Only half of ideas presented at pitch are executed post conversion. Clients consider the pitch brief as a means to an end and reset with firm requirements of agency Indicating again that chemistry and trust play a critical part in agency choice.

Specialist briefs are escalating as brands pursue new opportunities to find relevant ways to engage with consumers. A common reason cited for not winning a pitch is that ideas/strategies presented did not met the brief – up 8 points on last year at 22% – suggesting agencies are trying to stretch/adapt capabilities ahead of being able to compete effectively in new places.

The “Ghost pitch” continues to rise with nearly half of respondents [45%] stating budget withdrawal for pitch loss. Up 2 points on last year. Agencies can safeguard their interests by activating tighter qualification of budget ‘status’ within client organisations: is it real, speculative or ‘tbc’?

Mark Clark, CEO, jfdi remarked that new business is the lifeblood of every agency and too critical to leave to guesswork. “That’s why our Barometer exists: to provide data-driven insights shaping the future of agency growth. In a fiercely competitive market, our insights offer strategic edge, ensuring no agency is left navigating blind.”

Additional findings

• Revenue targets have increased significantly compared to last year. Large agencies up 7%; medium agencies up 13%; small agencies up 31%. Agencies are placing more pressure on new business to fulfil their business plans.
• Conversely, marketing spend has not increased at the same rate and has decreased for large agencies. Large agencies down 32%; medium agencies and small agencies up 11%. Citing ‘marketing as sales engagement’ as a top three prospecting strategy, agencies continue to struggle with the nature of the role, and optimal levels of spend.
• Agencies are pursuing more, higher value opportunities. Resulting in large and small agencies seeing a decline in conversion from opportunity to pitch, whilst medium sized agencies indicate successful management of this strategy by achieving close to their highest score ever [44%] on this metric.
• Time is the biggest internal challenge for agencies. Respondents commenting on: “dedicated resource- making the time/focus on lead generation”, “dedicating time to finding new opportunities”. AI is proving one solution with time-saving tools. Speed of adoption over the next 12 months would create significant competitive advantage.

Josh Glendinning, partner and board director, Opinium concluded. “Over nearly eight years, the New Business Barometer has become the go-to insight resource for the new business community. It always offers a fascinating snapshot into the new business community and this year is no different. While automation and AI may be improving the efficiency of new business processes, the continued importance of trust, personal connections, and chemistry really stands out.”

The Barometer is published in partnership with the IPA, MPA, BIMA, PRCA, BD100, The Drum Network, Alliance of Independent Agencies, Network One, EVCOM and Bristol Creative Industries.

Source: jfdi

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