Why we don't serve "free samples" - the Michelin Star rule of employer branding

Imagine walking into a three-star Michelin restaurant. You sit down, the sommelier pours your water and the waiter hands you the tasting menu.

Before ordering, you look at the waiter and say: "I know you have three stars, but I'd like the chef to cook the first three courses for free so I can see if I actually like your style. If I do, I'll pay for the rest of the meal."

You’d be politely, but firmly, asked to leave.

Why? Because when you book a table at that level, you agree to the price before you eat the food. The Michelin Guide has already done the vetting for you. You aren’t paying for a trial run, you’re paying for the chef's expertise, their sourcing of the finest ingredients and the years of rigorous discipline that earned them those stars in the first place.

At WeLove9am, we operate on the exact same principle.

Our Michelin Guide

In January 2026, our team swept the board at the RAD Awards, the ultimate benchmark of excellence in the employer branding industry. We didn’t just win; we took home Best Creative Idea, and Work of the Year.

Those awards are our Michelin stars. They’re the objective proof that our methodology, led by of course yours truly and the agency glue that is Dulcie Graves – produces the most effective, creative and authentic employer branding in the world.

Yet, the industry still has a persistent, frustrating habit of asking for free samples.

The pitch we walked away from

Recently, we were invited to pitch for the employer brand of a global energy giant. It was an exciting brief, they’re entering a massive new market in South America and need to build their employer brand from absolute scratch.

But nestled in the pitch document was a familiar, unreasonable request. They asked invited agencies to present fully formed campaign ideas, creative territories and tone of voice concepts for this new market during this selection session. They explicitly stated they wanted to see the ideas, not just the process. All unpaid. All before any formal partnership had begun.

We politely declined.

Why free spec work is bad for the client

It isn’t just about protecting our time or our value, though that’s important. We walked away because asking for creative concepts before conducting the research forces an agency to do the one thing we never do….. guess.

To create an authentic campaign for a new territory, you can’t just sit in a room in the UK and brainstorm catchy headlines. You have to understand the market dynamics, the cultural nuances and the talent supply. You have to find the "glue" that will make people in that specific region want to work for that specific company.

If we’d presented a creative concept at that pitch, it would’ve been a beautiful lie. It would’ve been a subjective beauty parade of colours, images and fonts, not a strategic solution to their talent attraction problem.

Raising the bar

We respect our clients' brands too much to gamble with their budgets on unresearched "spec work." And frankly, we have 55 years of combined leadership experience and a shelf full of 2026 RAD Awards that prove we don’t need to audition our creative capabilities.

We’re incredibly passionate about what we do. We love diving deep into a company's culture and building award-winning campaigns that genuinely transform their recruitment. But we only do it when the partnership is built on mutual respect for the craft.

If you’re looking for an agency to throw together some quick concepts to impress a boardroom, we aren't the right fit.

But if you’re ready to book the table, trust the process and invest in a strategic masterpiece... dinner is served…. (chef 9am style)