Catapult New Business, the leading fractional new business development firm for agencies, today announced a new partnership with Wripple, a top on-demand talent platform where brands are matched in real-time with agencies and freelancers for project-based work. Using a combination of technology and a human touch, the platform offers greater speed, flexibility, and transparency to its clients and talent members.
Catapult and Wripple plan to connect more agencies with brands in need of their services using the on-demand talent platform. This platform allows agencies to create a profile within the portal to attract companies actively searching for a specialized partner.
Catapult has two decades of experience proactively winning new business for agencies, and has seen the current shift away from traditional AOR relationships and pitches take place slowly over the years.
“We see more and more agencies winning new business through non-traditional methods like project-based work, and it’s exciting to partner with Wripple, which frees agencies up to find these opportunities easily,” said Matt Chollet, President of Catapult New Business. “The basis for new business is and always will be relationship-driven, and what we’ve seen is that the traditional pitching and review process is not supportive of ongoing relationships with potential and current clients.”
Brands are leaning more toward project-based work compared to traditional AOR relationships and expensive pitching processes. Winning new clients using a project structure – from resourcing on the agency side to building a relationship with the client for a long term partnership – changes how agencies source new business and grow accounts. This is going to be especially true for those agencies that have dedicated resources primarily to these hefty pitching processes.
Brands are “ditching the pitch”
According to recent market research from firms including the 4As and Forrester, the cost to pitch is now upwards of $1M with brands footing most of the bill. This is not an ideal scenario for either party involved.
AdAge reported earlier this year that agency pitches brought in thirty-five percent less revenue as compared to the year prior. In other words, the new business pool shrunk almost in half after the pandemic.
This is not a surprising statistic knowing that Forrester released a report to brand marketing leaders in 2022 declaring that brands need to “ditch the pitch for paid projects instead”. The cost savings for brands to nix the pitch puts hundreds of thousands of dollars back in their pocket.
Small to mid-size agency advantage
The cost to pitch on average runs an agency $200,000, according to 4As. This cost pushes small to midsize agencies out of the process, and with more brands looking at project based work to bring on new partners, the opportunity for agencies to compete for business against major agency holding companies is rising.
“Wripple was founded by agency veterans who understand the challenges of the traditional pitch process. We built our platform to level the playing field and significantly reduce friction in the end-to-end BD process,” said Ray Samuels, Wripple’s COO. “Our partnership with Catapult provides agencies with an additional innovative new business channel that is free for agencies to access, surfaces only qualified opportunities with top brands, and greatly extends the reach of smaller agencies beyond their existing geo and networks.”
About Wripple
Wripple is a pioneering on-demand talent platform that transforms how companies build a modern marketing workforce with greater speed, flexibility, and efficiency. With advanced proprietary software, Wripple’s private talent marketplace matches brands with vetted freelancers and small to mid-sized agencies, in real time. Clients can hire individual experts for short and long-term staffing needs as well as cross-discipline teams for deliverable-based projects. Wripple’s freelancer management software handles operations (contracting, compliance, payment) and enables companies to manage ongoing freelancer relationships all in one place. Learn how Wripple is reshaping the future of work at www.wripple.com.
About Catapult New Business
With over $1 Billion in new business opportunities uncovered, Catapult has been successfully growing agencies and delivering exceptional results for our clients for 20 years and counting. We provide the market with an outsourced solution for agency growth. Our team of expert advisors works alongside you to implement a results-driven sales and marketing strategy that identifies and generates consistent new revenue. Learn how Catapult proactively win new business for its clients at www.catapultnewbusiness.com.
