By Dominate Your Elevator Pitch with The No Comma Challenge
How odd would it be to start off a first date by introducing yourself in the context of your prowess at daily life? Now that’s not to say that my ability to breathe air and load a dishwasher wouldn’t woo any intelligent red-blooded female, but it would sound weird, right? Seriously, you should see the way I organize a silverware rack.
So why do we feel the need to justify our agencies with a slew of adjectives that are increasingly generic? These adjectives (or buzzwords) grow increasingly insignificant the more we use them.
Gloves are off. We’re calling you out Mr. Integrated Agency. You can’t do everything under the sun. It’s time to lock down your elevator pitch.
Enter: The No Comma Challenge.
The No Comma Challenge is an effective way to tighten up your elevator pitch. It consists of two particularly simple rules.
Rule #1: Pick something and be good at it.
Assuming your agency has a unique POV or point of differentiation—which if you’re on The Ham’s list, thumbs up, at least we think you do—then just state it! By the time you’re talking to a brand, they’ve pretty much got a sense for whether or not you can produce a print ad, or put on a stellar experience, or create a killer website. Don’t be Scumbag Steve. Now is your opportunity to not blurt out “We’re just like everyone else…only better!”
Winter is coming. Choose your sigil and be proud of it.
Side Note: If you’ve made up a word to encapsulate your agency’s strong suit and to avoid the comma, just remember: nobody ever looked up to the Mathemagician during assembly and thought that guy was cool.
Rule #2: Kill the comma.
Even the waiters don’t enjoy the 16-page menu at The Cheesecake Factory. When you dine out, you want to know that your Bolognese is “The Bolognese,” not “and also the Bolognese.”
If the pitch moves forward, let the work that you show elaborate on your skill sets. Don’t water down what makes you unique by listing the par-for-the-course agency jargon that you most likely HAVE to do or be, in order to be at the table with aforementioned client. Get rid of all commas in your pitch.
In 1962, DDB rocked it with Avis’ slogan “We Try Harder” — a simple POV that didn’t need to list off what it meant.
The Result:
When you get rid of the commas, you’ll end up with an elevator pitch that’s about 10 words shorter and a point of differentiation that doesn’t get lost in the herd of nonsense.
Why trust us? We curate a list of the top creative agencies from over 120,000 agencies in the U.S., so we kind of, maybe, just possibly know a thing or two about your collective elevator pitches…but we still love you even if you are an adorably integrated, end-to-end solutions provider who was born digitally. Yes, those commas were intentional. Because irony.
