Agency Spec Work: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

For those new to the Food for Thought Food Industry Marketing Intelligence blog, My name is Patrick Nycz. I have been an agency owner since 2009 and a career creative strategist for over 40 years. In my wide range of experiences, I’ve seen firsthand how agency speculative creative work, or spec work, impacts our industry, especially when working with food companies.

It’s a practice that’s been a hot topic in our field for years, particularly when pitching to sales and marketing leaders in the food sector.

The debate over spec work is particularly relevant in the fast-paced world of food marketing, where trends can change as quickly as consumer tastes. On one side, proponents argue it allows agencies like ours to showcase our creativity and win new business in a competitive market. And by competitive market, we’re talking about the potential for substantial budgets that come with a promise of new business. So, the incentive is certainly there for agencies to invest in a new business pitch with new creative.

Critics, however, contend that it devalues our expertise, drains resources, and often leads to subpar work that doesn’t truly address the unique challenges of food brands. For instance, an agency investing in spec campaign concepts without a deep dive into brand strategy, positioning, and messaging runs the risk of potentially striking out so badly they may not be invited back for the next pitch.

I’ve had a lot of opportunities to navigate the agency spec work landscape, and I could see the good, the bad, and the ugly that go along with the nuances of spec work and its impact on agencies and food industry clients.

Agency Spec Work: The Good

While it has its critics, there are several benefits worth considering, especially for new agencies or those looking to break into the competitive food marketing sector.

Investing In the Agency: Build the Knowledge Base

• Research: We may be experts in marketing strategy, but hopefully have the the intellectual humility to know when we do not know enough about a category we have not worked in. For that reason, I will not hesitate to invest in research when my firm is invited to present to a potential new client with brands in categories we do not have deep expertise. Although we may not be developing creative, per se (with a great team like NewPoint, sometimes you can’t help but have a fun sidebar brainstorming session 😎), we are investing in a potential client partnership:
  • Consumer buying preferences (surveys, category trend reports, etc.)
  • Competitive brand market share, pricing, packaging, and claims (store checks, syndicated data, etc.)
  • Marketing/advertising messaging (brand research, social listening tools, etc.)

Portfolio Development: A Showcase of Creativity

• Building a Robust Portfolio: For new agencies and freelancers, spec work can be a valuable tool for showcasing your skills.
• Diverse Range of Projects: Crafting campaigns for hypothetical food brands allows you to demonstrate your understanding of food trends, packaging design, and brand storytelling.
• Selective Approach: Focus on projects that align with your agency’s strengths or target niche within the food industry to attract the right clients.

Creative Freedom: Cooking Up Innovative Ideas

• Showcasing an Approach to Common Client Issues: Although we count #1 brands in our client base, many of our agency clients are market challengers in their category—brands that are actively competing against the market leader. We’ve been inspired to develop spec creative to show how small brands can take on market leaders.
• Pushing Boundaries: Spec work offers the opportunity to experiment without client constraints or budget limitations.
• Showcasing Innovation: Create bold ideas, such as augmented reality packaging for snacks or social media campaigns that turn food waste into art.
• Staying Ahead of Trends: This kind of creative thinking can catch the eye of food industry executives looking for fresh marketing approaches.

Client Attraction: Serving Up Compelling Presentations

• Winning New Clients: A well-executed spec project can serve as a powerful demonstration of your agency’s capabilities.
• Relevant Presentations: When pitching to potential clients, having a relevant spec project makes your pitch more compelling and memorable.
• Strategic Approach: Instead of full campaigns, consider developing concept presentations that showcase your strategic thinking without giving away finished work.

However, it’s essential to balance these potential benefits against the risks. Evaluate each opportunity carefully to ensure it aligns with your agency’s long-term goals and values.

Agency Spec Work: The Bad

Here is some of my thinking when it comes to the “bad” side of spec work and why it’s worth reconsidering its role in your marketing partnerships.

Resource Drain: Time and Effort Wasted

• Spec work requires agencies to dedicate time, talent, and resources to projects that may never result in a paying client.
• This unpaid effort often takes attention away from existing clients who deserve our full focus and energy.
• For food marketing agencies, where strategy and creativity are key, these resources could be better spent on refining campaigns for loyal clients or pursuing opportunities with more certainty of success.

The opportunity cost is significant—every hour spent on spec work is an hour not spent on revenue-generating activities, which can strain both budgets and timelines.

Quality Concerns: Lack of Collaboration Hurts Results

• Spec work is often created in a vacuum, without the benefit of client input or feedback.
• In food marketing, where understanding a brand’s unique story and audience is critical, this lack of collaboration can lead to subpar results that don’t align with the client’s vision.
• Without proper research or strategic insights, spec work may fail to address the real challenges food brands face in today’s competitive market.

Ultimately, this process doesn’t reflect how an agency-client relationship would function in practice. Quality suffers when there isn’t time to build trust and communication.

Ill Will Among Staff: Undervaluing Effort

• Asking employees to pour their energy into unpaid projects can harm team morale.
• When staff who are faced with real client deadlines feel their hard work isn’t valued or rewarded, it can lead to frustration, burnout, and even turnover.
• For creative professionals who thrive on meaningful collaboration and impactful results, spec work can feel like an empty exercise that undermines their expertise.

At NewPoint Marketing, we prioritize fostering a positive team environment where a high priority is placed on “doing the required homework” so that our efforts contribute to tangible outcomes for our clients. Spec work has the potential to conflict with these goals.

Agency Spec Work: The Ugly

Intellectual Property: Who Owns the Spec Work?

• Loss of control over creative intellectual property: Once agencies submit their ideas or designs during spec work, they may lose control over how that work is used.
• Difficulty enforcing rights: Even if agencies place copyright notices on their work, enforcing their rights can be costly and time-consuming, requiring legal action that may cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Unfair Expectations: A Recipe for Disappointment

Spec work often sets unrealistic expectations for both parties. Clients may anticipate receiving high-quality, tailored marketing solutions without providing the necessary context or compensation. This misalignment can lead to:

• Incomplete briefs that don’t capture the full scope of a brand’s needs
• Rushed creative processes that don’t allow for proper research or strategy development
• Misunderstandings about the level of work that can be produced without a formal engagement

In the food industry, where a nuanced understanding of flavors, trends, and consumer behaviors is crucial, these expectations can be particularly damaging. A hastily created spec campaign might miss key brand elements or fail to resonate with the target audience, leading to disappointment on both sides.

Devaluation of Professional Work: Eroding Industry Standards

Perhaps the most insidious effect of spec work is how it undermines the perceived value of creative professionals. When agencies agree to produce work for free or at a significantly reduced rate, it sends a message that our expertise isn’t worth paying for. This devaluation can have far-reaching consequences:

• It sets a precedent that creative work should be free or cheap
• It diminishes the perceived importance of strategic thinking and research in marketing
• It can lead to a race to the bottom, where agencies compete on price rather than quality or expertise

This devaluation can ultimately result in lower-quality marketing that fails to differentiate their products in a crowded marketplace. When creative work is treated as a commodity, the unique flavors and stories that make food brands special can get lost in the mix.

Long-term Financial Implications: A Costly Gamble

Engaging in spec work isn’t just a short-term issue; it can have significant long-term financial implications for agencies. The costs associated with spec work go beyond just the time spent on unpaid projects:

• Resources diverted from paying clients and business development
• Potential loss of intellectual property if ideas are used without compensation
• Decreased morale and productivity among staff, leading to turnover

Relying on spec work can also backfire. While it might seem like a way to save money upfront, it often results in subpar work that needs to be redone, costing more in the long run. Additionally, it can damage relationships with agencies, making it harder to find quality partners for future projects.

A Balanced Approach

Agency spec work is not going away anytime soon. However, I’ve been lucky enough to been invited to pitches where food industry leaders have taken alternative ways of evaluating agency partners:

• Review case studies and portfolios of relevant work
• Engage in paid discovery sessions to understand an agency’s approach
• Start with smaller projects to test the working relationship

At NewPoint Marketing, we’re always eager to showcase our expertise in the food sector.

If you’re considering a new agency relationship, I invite you to reach out. Let’s discuss how we can approach the pitch process in a way that respects both your needs and our creative resources. Whether that involves limited spec work or alternative demonstration methods, we’re committed to finding a solution that works for all parties.

Together, we can create a partnership that drives real results for your brand in today’s competitive food market.