Here’s a true story.

Big Client asks Agency A to pitch for a tone of voice project. “Yes yes!” They cry. Except they don’t do tone of voice.

So they call us. We say we’ll pitch but we’d like to be honest and say who we are (and tell Big Client that we’re working together).

Agency A says no, we have to stay behind the curtain. So just this once we try it out. We work on their pitch.

We’re up against Agency B. Another big name.

We do a great pitch. But Big Client picks Agency B because they do research.

Two weeks later we get a phone call. It’s Agency B. They need some help with a tone of voice project they’ve just won. Because they do research and don’t do tone of voice.

Same tone of voice project. Same Big Client. Same us behind the scenes.

We say we’ll do it (again). But we’d like to be honest and say who we are. They say no thanks.

This time, we stick to our syllables.

Caught in the middle? Yep.

Oh well. We’ll just carry on with the simple, honest way. We’ll say what we do and what we don’t do.
We think it’ll be easier for everyone.

How about:

We don’t do research but we know some people who do.
We don’t do logos but we know some brilliant designers who can.

See? Easier already.

No fibs. No panics. Just fair.
And better work to boot.

Who’s with us?