We spent two full days working on a pitch deck (for a pitch deck project, how meta) last week. Worth the time? If we win the work, very much so. If not, it’s always good to refine your messaging and put it in front of decisionmakers—get those reps in. A week after we submitted the pitch, Noah shared this newsletter from
that resonated with the Three Point Four Media crew: “My Pitch Deck Hot Take, I think they’re a waste of time.”Day works in Hollywood, so a different industry but three points he made felt very relevant to the work we do that I want to expand on here:
Pitch decks are limiting: The limiting factor is very real. A deck is a splashy PDF without much space. Yes, it’s good to be clear and declarative; cut the fat, put the idea down. But with decks, a lot of the who we are and thoughtfulness is lost in translation. We’ll often send notes about the deck, to give the potential client additional context—especially if they’ll be circulating the deck to colleagues of theirs we have not met. Just last week I spoke with the client about the deck after we submitted it; because the format is so limiting I had to share additional details, which they appreciated.
Pitch decks are too long: The first time I worked on a pitch deck at [redacted agency] I was shocked by the number of slides. Can’t we just tell these people what we’re going to do for them in, say, 17 slides instead of 63? Decks are too long. [bangs gavel]
Pitch decks don’t stand on their own: We’re good storytellers here at Three Point Four and we assemble succinct and convincing pitch decks, but—to borrow a maxim I heard at various big agencies all the time—it’s tough when you’re “just throwing it over the fence.” Sure, the day-to-day contact knows what you do and will hopefully vouch for you, but a 20-slide Keynote, regardless of how good it is, is not going to stand on its own.
How do our dedicated Loop readers feel about the monolith that is The Deck? Oh, and while I have you, please check out our capabilities deck.
Onto the links.
An article
This Texas Monthly article is exactly what I love about—and want from—magazines: a deeply reported story of a subject I never even considered, told through the lens of a fascinating character. Lauren Larson profiles legendary rodeo doctor (a real thing) Tandy Freeman (incredible name) and the cowboys he cares for. This story is as much about sports and the American health care system as it is cowboys and gnarly injuries.
But even with comprehensive safety standards across rodeo organizations, athletes who do get injured have little support compared with those in other sports. Many bull riders, particularly less established competitors, do not have contracts that provide financial security in the event of an injury; their salaries are not guaranteed, as are those of National Football League players and many other professional athletes. And few rodeo athletes have full insurance coverage, instead relying on often porous contracts offered by specific events. Some injuries can be catastrophically expensive. Freeman remembers when bull-riding superstar Jerome Davis, then 25 years old, became paralyzed from the chest down while competing in 1998. “He had twenty thousand dollars’ worth of coverage that was burned before he got to the intensive care unit.”
The photos are incredible, too.
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A book
Finally reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I should have read when Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer for it in 2011. Read if you like: The music industry, caricatures of music executives, New York City, punks, rotating narrators, stories about aging.
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Another data point for the four-day work week
We’re longtime advocates of the four-day work week here at Three Point Four Media. Get your work done, turn it in on time, keep clients happy, and use Fridays as a buffer. We don’t need to have our 9am meeting on Fridays—that can wait until Monday. Paul Skallas (aka Lindy Man) is yet another American to join the growing four-day work week crowd:
We actually don’t have a 2-day weekend, we have a one day weekend. That day is Saturday. Think about it. By Friday, you’re already burnt out from work, maybe you go out, but you’re rushing, dragging the weight of the week behind you. And Sunday? By the afternoon, work starts creeping into your head, taking over. Saturday is all we have to live another life. If you look around, most of us have enough stuff in our lives, what is a real luxury is to extend our depth of living. 3 day weekends are actually what weekends are supposed to feel like.
Welcome to the club, Lindy Man.
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A run
Nice TPF jaunt around the piers in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sunny, 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, perfect view of Manhattan—doesn’t get much better. Noah nearly killed me, but I survived to enjoy a martini in Brooklyn with the extended Three Point Four Media universe and write this newsletter.
Thanks for following along. Lots of good work in the hopper that we’ll be rolling out later in September and Q4.