agency-pitch-mockups

Agency pitch mockups

Rapid visuals for a new-business pitch deck: campaign hero, product tiles, key-visual explorations, quote slides — all client-branded, all clearly-labeled-as-mockup, all iterable in under an hour before the pitch.

Brief + locked direction → full pitch-deck asset set. Speed first (pitch windows are brutal), reusability second (if you win, these become production inputs), clarity third (nobody should confuse a mockup for shipped work).

When to Use

• Net-new business pitch, 48-hour turnaround
• Mid-pitch concept swap — client leaned toward direction 3, need assets tonight
• Multiple concepts per pitch (A/B/C) — each needs its own hero + 3 tiles
• Internal review deck for a signed client's next campaign
• Pre-approval creative exploration before any photo/video production spend

Do not use for finished deliverables — pitch mockups are intentionally aspirational and mockup-flagged. For final assets after win, use agency-multi-brand-pack or project-specific production workflows.

Prerequisites

Ask the user (one message):

1. Client slug + brand file — path to clients/<slug>/brand.md (output of agency-brand-scoping). If missing, run brand-scoping first.
2. Pitch concept(s) — one tagline or idea per concept (e.g. "Banking that waits for you")
3. Deliverable breakdown — how many heroes, tiles, quote slides per concept? Default: 1 hero + 3 tiles + 2 quote slides
4. Pitch date — drives whether we run cheap drafts or go straight to finals
5. Confidentiality — NDA status; affects Drive folder + any watermark choice
6. Mockup labeling — visible "MOCKUP" watermark, subtle footer, or none? (default: subtle footer for external pitches)

If the user hasn't locked a direction yet, stop and route them to agency-brand-scoping first. Don't pitch on guesses.

How to Run

1. LOAD BRAND    → read clients/<slug>/brand.md + brand-system.json
2. PLAN          → table of every asset with prompt + aspect + model
3. ESTIMATE      → gen-ai pricing on the full manifest (target < $5)
4. DRAFT PASS    → run at draft quality (gemini-3.1-flash-image / recraftv4) for fast iteration
5. CLIENT REVIEW → internal pitch-team review on the draft set
6. FINALIZE      → upgrade approved concepts to flagship models
7. WATERMARK     → add subtle "MOCKUP" footer where required
8. DELIVER       → organized folder + approved upload/link + deck-ready filenames

Rules:

• Always draft-then-upgrade. 80% of pitch iterations die in internal review — don't pay flagship prices twice.
• Every prompt cites the brand file. ` on every generate / batch.
• Pitch mockups should be obviously mockups unless the client expects production-level polish. Padded aspect ratios, generic text ("HEADLINE HERE"), or visible mockup tags reduce the "why isn't this the final?" conversation.
• Never use real competitor brand marks, real logos you don't have rights to, or recognizable faces. Stock-lookalike issues kill pitch trust.

Quick Reference

{
  "client_slug": "acme-fintech",
  "concept": "waits-for-you",
  "phase": "draft",
  "brand_system": "clients/acme-fintech/brand-system.json",
  "defaults": {
    "model": "recraftv4"
  },
  "variants": {
    "asset": ["hero", "tile-01", "tile-02", "tile-03", "quote-01", "quote-02"]
  },
  "mockup_footer": "MOCKUP — For internal review only"
}

Quick Reference

Procedure

• Draft at 1/5 the cost of finals. Approve concepts on cheap drafts, upgrade 2-3 winners only.
• One concept per folder. pitches/concept-a/, pitches/concept-b/ — never mix.
• Watermark external pitches. Subtle MOCKUP footer on every image; use a deck/editor overlay, ImageMagick, or ffmpeg if available.
• Reuse hero as tile input. gen-ai generate -m recraftv4 -i pitch/hero.webp --prompt "square crop variant" keeps concept coherent.
• Never show the client 6 options with 3 winners. Curate to 2-3 strong concepts max before the pitch.
• Keep filenames deck-ready. hero.webp, tile-01.webp — not gen_01H2XYZ.webp.
• Lock the prompt file per concept. pitches/<concept>/prompts.json — when you win, production starts here.

Pitfalls

• Over-polished mockups that the client expects you to deliver for pitch prices — add mockup footer + use draft models
• **Skipping ` — palette drift mid-manifest, deck looks incoherent
• Cross-client prompt contamination — don't copy prompts from another client's repo without stripping brand specifics
• Using real faces / real brand marks — rights issues; use descriptors ("a founder in their 30s") and generic marks
• Missing rights documentation — if the pitch wins, you'll need to reproduce these with clean provenance; save results.json per run
• No gen-ai pricing before a 50-variant concept explosion — pitch budgets don't absorb $40 surprises

Verification

Run gen-ai whoami to confirm authentication, then re-run the failed command with --debug.

Step 1: Plan the asset set

Present a table before spending:

Estimate the manifest. If under $5, proceed. If over, cut the draft resolution or concept count.

Step 2: Draft manifest + run

CLIENT="acme-fintech"
CONCEPT="waits-for-you"
OUT="clients/$CLIENT/pitches/$CONCEPT/drafts"
mkdir -p "$OUT"

cat > /tmp/pitch-$CLIENT-$CONCEPT.json <<EOF
{
  "defaults": {
    "model": "recraftv4"
  },
  "jobs": [
    { "id": "hero",       "prompt": "$CLIENT hero, concept: banking that waits for you — editorial, cinematic, headline overlay area left-third", "aspectRatio": "16:9" },
    { "id": "tile-01",    "prompt": "$CLIENT product tile — clean product render, brand palette",           "aspectRatio": "1:1" },
    { "id": "tile-02",    "prompt": "$CLIENT audience tile — founder at desk, moody lighting, documentary", "aspectRatio": "1:1" },
    { "id": "tile-03",    "prompt": "$CLIENT benefit tile — abstract waiting metaphor, minimal composition", "aspectRatio": "1:1" },
    { "id": "quote-01",   "prompt": "quote slide, large editorial headline 'Finally a bank that moves like I do.', brand palette, minimal background", "aspectRatio": "16:9", "model": "ideogram-v3" },
    { "id": "quote-02",   "prompt": "quote slide, large editorial headline 'Built for founders who don't wait.', brand palette, minimal background",   "aspectRatio": "16:9", "model": "ideogram-v3" }
  ]
}
EOF

gen-ai batch run /tmp/pitch-$CLIENT-$CONCEPT.json -c 4 -o "$OUT"

Review internally. For approved concepts, re-run the subset with model: flux-2-pro and output to pitches/$CONCEPT/finals/.

Cost & time

Compare to production-phase cost after win: single campaign set with final photography-grade generations runs $20-100+.

See also

• workflows/agency-brand-scoping/ — lock direction + brand.md before pitching
• workflows/agency-multi-brand-pack/ — retainer production across clients
• workflows/agency-client-handoff/ — package final deliverables post-win
• gen-ai-use — if the pitch needs a sizzle reel
• gen-ai-workflows.md §9 (Pitch mockups) — source recipe
• gen-ai-batch.md — manifest + concurrency tuning