Let’s talk about something that comes up far too often in our industry: free creative pitches.

You know the format.
“Show us some logo ideas.”
“Give us a few concepts so we can see your thinking.”
“If we like it, we’ll appoint you.”

On the surface, it sounds harmless. In reality, it undervalues strategy, experience and the very thing clients are supposedly investing in, our design expertise.

At VIA Creative, we don’t do free creative work as part of branding pitches, and there’s a very simple reason why:

Good branding isn’t decoration. It’s commercial infrastructure.

Branding is not guesswork

We recently undertook a branding pitch for a global business and the whole process from tender invitation to final pitch prompted this post.

When a business is creating a new corporate entity, such as TIOXIDE, the stakes are significant.

In TIOXIDE’s case, the brand needed to balance:

• The premium status and heritage of the TIOXIDE® product brand
• The scale and credibility of being owned by LB Group
• The independence and future ambition of a new global company
  

That isn’t something you “have a go at” on a Friday afternoon. It requires structured thinking, commercial understanding, market context, and design discipline.

Which is exactly why we agreed a paid initial creative phase before producing any early brand territories. The concepts we developed (which you’ll see alongside this article) weren’t speculative doodles, they were considered strategic responses, and that’s the difference.

The problem with free pitches

Free creative work creates the wrong dynamic from day one. Instead of collaboration, it becomes a competition.
Instead of partnership, it becomes procurement instead of strategic alignment, it becomes “which logo do we prefer?”

• That’s not how strong brands are built. When agencies give away creative work for free:
• There is no proper discovery phase
• No stakeholder alignment
• No in-depth positioning work
• No clear strategic foundation.

Which means decisions are made on aesthetics alone. That’s risky for the client and unsustainable for the agency.

The pros & cons (Let’s be honest)

• The perceived pros of free creative pitches:
• Clients feel they can “see what they’re getting”
• Easier shortlisting processAppears lower risk upfront
• Encourages competitive pricing pressure.

Now let’s look at the reality.

• The Cons (For everyone involved):
• No strategic depth behind the ideas
• Surface-level design decisions
• Wasted time and resource on all sides
• Encourages subjective decision-making
• Devalues professional expertise
• Sets the relationship up as transactional, not collaborative.

In short: it looks efficient, but it rarely delivers the best outcome.

Why we took a paid route with TIOXIDE

When we were approached regarding the formation of TIOXIDE, this wasn’t a small lifestyle brand. It was a serious industrial organisation with global visibility. The brief demanded immediate credibility.

• So we structured an initial paid phase to:
• Explore positioning properly
• Develop controlled creative territories
• Test how the brand would perform in real-world applications
• Provide serious, thought driven rationale, not just visuals.

The early ideas we produced (included within this post) demonstrate that depth. They weren’t final logos, they were strategic starting points and because the work was paid, we could commit the right level of senior thinking to it. That benefits everyone.

Respecting the value of creative expertise

• No one asks a solicitor to draft legal documents “on spec”.
 No one asks an architect to draw up plans for free to win a project. Branding should be no different. Design is commercial thinking made visible.
  It influences:
• Market perception
• Investor confidence
• Recruitment quality
• Sales performance
• Long-term brand equity.

That’s not something to gamble with.

It’s about partnership, not performance

When a client invests, even modestly. in an initial phase, something important happens. There is:

• Commitment
• Alignment
• Accountability
• Mutual respect.

And that creates better work.

The TIOXIDE project is a good example. The business needed to reflect premium heritage, global scale, and independent ambition, all at once. That complexity required clarity and discipline. You don’t get that from a free pitch. You get that from a considered process.

Our position (Politely but firmly)

• At VIA Creative, we’re always happy to:Share relevant case studies
• Walk through our process
• Discuss strategy and positioning
• Demonstrate our thinking.

But when it comes to generating new creative concepts, we believe that work deserves proper investment. Not because we’re precious but because we’re serious about outcomes.

Final thought

If you want surface-level ideas, free pitches can give you plenty. If you want a brand that will carry weight in boardrooms, global markets and industrial environments for the next 10–20 years, it needs structure, experience and proper creative commitment. That doesn’t start with free design work, it starts with valuing the process from day one.

If you're serious about your brand and need a strategic agency to help shape the right outcomes for it, then drop me an email to see how our creative processes can help deliver the right solution for you.

dave@viacreative.co.uk

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