The two parody ads below will make you squirm. They’re about you. But they’re also good for you.

They’re good for you because they’re trying to change advertising pitches. Trying to make them fairer.

Along the way, they also highlight the power of creativity. Because they are creative. Wonderfully so. That can’t be bad for you either.

The new ad, World’s Worst RFP, follows from a 2015 parody video, Say No to Spec:

This went viral around the world and sparked a dialogue about ending a requirement for ad agencies to produce unpaid creative work in new business pitches. It has been viewed nearly 2.6 million times on YouTube alone.

World’s Worst RFP skewers all the wrong ways to run an agency pitch, from spec creative, the sheer number of agencies invited, to how people behave during presentations. And it does this in a fun format, mimicking the post-game media press conferences in professional sports. In this case, the panel being interviewed by a throng of reporters is made up of the client, the winning and the losing agency.

Sadly, it’s based on true pitch stories that the agency has experienced itself or heard about during the RFP process.

“Today was the final of the biggest pitch of the year,” the film begins. “Six gruelling months, 25 shops and four rounds of spec creative later, only two competitors were left standing.” What could you have done better, the losing agency is asked.  “…the clicker hand-off…there was like a three-second awkward silence before we got to the digital.”

And why did the consultancy win? “We cave twice as fast as the competition, we do sub-par creative, we kiss a lot of ass.”

Ultimately, the consultancy is told that it hasn’t become the AOR. Rather, it has won the right to pitch on individual projects.

The video is supported by a website, smarterpitch.com, where Zulu lists its suggested improvements to the pitch process and invites clients, agencies, pitch consultants and other industry players to add to it, using #smarterpitch.

World’s Worst RFP was unveiled at the Agency of the Year, an annual awards show hosted by Strategy, Canada’s largest trade publication for the industry.

Zulu Alpha Kilo was nominated in three categories: Digital, Design and Advertising Agency of the Year. The agency ended up winning overall Gold as Design Agency of the Year and Bronze as Advertising Agency of the Year.

Say No to Spec premiered at the same event in 2015.

“Every year, Strategy invites the agencies shortlisted for Agency of the Year to produce a video to debut at the gala. And so we wanted to entertain, but also use the platform to call attention to how our industry can be better for both clients and agencies,” explained Zulu founder and chief creative officer Zak Mroueh. “Hopefully World’s Worst RFP and smarterpitch.com will start a dialogue just like Say No to Spec did.”

Credits:

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo

Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh

Creative Directors: Rodger Eyre (art director) & Gerald Kugler (copywriter)

Agency Producer: Bette Minott

Account Team: Violet Karbalaei

Production Company: Zulubot

Director: Zak Mroueh

Directors of Photography: James Klopkp & Nathaniel Chadwick

Producer: Bette Minott & Christina Hill

Audio Mixer & Boom: Paolo Di Teodoro

Casting Director: Jigsaw: Shasta Lutz

Post Production & Editing Company: Zulubot

Editor: Marissa Bourgougnou

Compositor & Online: Zulubot

Colourist & Transfer: Connor Fisher @ Alter Ego

Audio Post & Music House: Zulubot

Engineer: Stephen Stepanic