My old mate Jeremy Lee at Campaign – whom, I’m pleased to see has survived at Haymarket despite my best efforts to get him fired when I spiked his drink on the Oriana – has been waxing lyrical about the Tesco pitch this week.
According to Jezza, “the biggest pitch of 2012 could be the most intriguing too, as the likes of Karmarama, TBWA Group, JWT, McCann London, SapientNitro, VCCP and WCRS put in hours of unpaid overtime this weekend, ahead of chemistry meetings with Tesco next week”.
All insightful stuff, I’m sure. Isn’t it funny, though, how the pitch is being handled by Oystercatchers?
Of course, it’s just a coincidence that Oystercatchers managing partner Angus Crowther used to work for EHS 4D and the man whose running the pitch, Matt Atkinson.
Anyway, before the lawyers take me to the cleaners, folks, I have to tell you that I have secured the inside track – and, dare I say, not for the first time – on how to win the business.
You see, it is a well-known fact that Mr Atkinson is a fitness freak, who likes nothing more than to spend his weekends training for the Ford Ironman World Championship.
Preparing for the final is no mean feat in itself. According to the official blurb, “on average, athletes preparing for the Ironman train over 20 hours a week for months (and even years). Due to the difficulty of the full Ironman endurance challenge, triathletes often follow rigorous training programmes of swimming 7 miles, cycling 232 and running 48 miles each week.
“As the Ironman Championship has a cut-off time of 17 hours from the beginning of the race to the end (in addition to segment time restrictions), triathletes must not only be strong, but fast in each sporting event.”
But surely, I hear you ask, he hasn’t got time to do that now he’s working for the UK’s largest retailer?
Well, there’s the rub…
You see, it is said that’s exactly how he got the job in the first place. While at EHS 4D, he started building stronger relationships with Tesco bosses while on the Ironman treadmill, because they are all fitness freaks, too. And those hours of pounding the streets and swallowing effluent-filled sea-water certainly paid off for Matt when Tesco started looking for a group marketing and digital officer…
Of course, it’s nothing new for agencies to get heavily involved in a client’s extra-curricular activities. VCCP me bosses regularly dress up as numpties for the More Than-sponsored charity events at Goodwood. And bosses of the now-defunct Cramm Francis Woolf were forced to ‘yomp’ hundreds of miles across British wind-swept and rain-soaked moors while working on the Army DM business. Tequila bosses Tim Bonnet and Allan Fraser-Rush even used to walk Army client Mark Bainbridge’s dog…
But swimming 7 miles, cycling 232 and running 48 miles each week? Now, that really does beat ‘jumping through hoops’ for your client…
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