By Max Fellows, Founder, allpoints
Let’s be honest, the UK and EMEA agency landscape has a pitch addiction. Whether you’re in brand experience, creative strategy, or events, the pitch has become a three-week spiral, in some cases, where teams are pulled from client work, freelancers are brought in, late nights become standard, and PowerPoint fatigue sets in hard. All for a maybe.
And it’s not just time. It’s money. Real money. We’ve run the numbers at allpoints. Based on a recent survey of 100 agencies, it was found that pitching can cost an agency between 4 and 6% of a project’s potential value. So, if you’re gunning for a £1 million contract, you’re easily dropping £40K–£60K before anyone’s signed on the dotted line. Multiply that across five agencies in a competitive bid, and you’re looking at a collective quarter of a million pounds going up in smoke. It’s no wonder the whole process is being re-evaluated.
Which brings us to AI. Not the abstract, Silicon Valley hype-machine kind of AI, but the real, integrated, quietly-working-behind-the-scenes tools that are already changing how agencies think, plan, and win.
At allpoints, we’ve been building, refining, and using AI within live pitches and strategic projects for the last 12 months. It’s not just about saving time, it’s about shifting thinking. AI now helps us interrogate briefs, extract key insights, generate early creative concepts, analyse competitor behaviour, and even visualise ideas at speed. What once took a team a fortnight can now be done, properly, in 72 hours.
A recent case with a UK experiential agency (working on a global brand activation) saw AI reduce pitch prep by 75%, freeing up the team to refine the emotional and strategic core of their idea. They weren’t just faster. They were sharper. More confident. And crucially, they won.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: this is only going to widen the gap. Agencies that lean into AI aren’t just getting a head start, they’re rewriting the race entirely. They’re able to pitch more efficiently, with less burnout and lower overheads. Meanwhile, those sticking to the traditional pitch grind are bleeding time, energy, and talent. The leaky bucket gets leakier.
And then there’s the debate no one wants to lead on: should pitching be paid?
The answer is yes, of course it should. But it’s also irrelevant. Until the industry bands together, and we all know that’s wishful thinking, someone will always offer it for free. That’s the reality. So the question becomes, how do you operate smarter within that system?
AI offers a tactical answer. It won’t solve the ethics of unpaid work, but it gives agencies a fighting chance to survive it. More importantly, it helps small and mid-sized agencies compete with the big names, without being crushed by process and pressure.
This isn’t about removing people or replacing creativity; quite the opposite. AI allows agencies to reclaim their talent and refocus creative energy where it matters: on the work, not the admin, on ideas, not decks, on craft, not formatting.
And here’s where the competitive edge gets real: the best agencies in 2025 won’t be the ones with the fanciest studios or the most polished Instagram feed. They’ll be the ones who can move fast, think deeply, and still deliver exceptional work at pace.
We’ve been helping agencies plug the leaks at all points. Through real-time insight tools, smart automation, and integrated AI pipelines, we’re seeing teams pitch with clarity, consistency, and confidence again, not because they’re cutting corners, but because they’re choosing better ones to walk around in.
AI won’t fix everything. But it will change everything.
The question is, when it comes to pitching: are you playing to win, or just playing to keep up?