Who Should Own Pitched Ideas? Sears Seeks to Own Ad-Pitch Ideas

• Who Should Own Pitched Ideas? Sears Seeks to Own Ad-Pitch Ideas

  Who should own ideas? The creator or the source of funding? The funding often times wins, but in news of Sears' agency review, the company is going a step farther - requiring that ideas pitched during the review belong to Sears (even if the agency doesn't get the business).  Agency competitors have pulled out, unwilling to sacrifice the investment they would make in the review without a client relationship.  Is this the start of a new trend? 

  tags: advertising review agency pitch ideas ownership Sears

  • Who would turn down the opportunity to work on an iconic retail brand that spent nearly $500 million last year and ranked No. 22 among all U.S. megabrands in 2009? How about Omnicom Group's DDB Worldwide and TBWA Worldwide; Interpublic Group of Cos.' Deutsch; and Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett Worldwide, all of which are snubbing Sears, Roebuck & Co.
  • The reason is simple: Sears is demanding that participants relinquish ownership of materials and ideas they present during the review -- even if they don't win the business. That demand is so unpalatable that agencies are opting out -- and Sears stands to lose out, unless an enterprising agency can convince it to waive the requirement specifically for them.
  • In some reviews, agencies have been compensated with a nominal amount of cash -- say, $25,000 or $50,000 -- but even that is hard for shops to stomach, as it can cost multiples of that to prepare for a review.

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