Media Perspective: Clutching at straws can sometimes pay off for incumbents.(advertising agencies)

Have you witnessed anything more pathetically deranged in the last fortnight than the sight of Tony Blair bounding on to the Brighton podium to the sound of Sham 69's punk anthem If the Kids are United?

The poor old boy is deluded if he reckons that one went down well with the electorate. Mainly because it was so fake - if he pulled that tune straight out of his 7-inch collection, rather than had it foisted on him by some spin master, then I'm Donald Sinden. And also because playing any song with the word 'united' in it only serves to emphasise that Blair's party isn't.

It's not just Blair, and many other public figures, who walk around in this deluded state. It often seems that agencies repitching for business are similarly befuddled. Snap out of it, you want to say to them, you've got no bloody chance. The business is moving, accept it. Light a cigar, pour the brandy and avoid the three months of pitching for no end result.

Yet for emotional and practical reasons (from the welfare of staff working on a piece of business through to the mind-numbing mortgage repayments faced by the agency chief executive) incumbent agencies are inclined to roll their sleeves up and give it a jolly good go.

And, shock horror, there are signs this approach is reaping dividends.

This week, ZenithOptimedia successfully defended its lead status on the Lloyds TSB media account, beating off Naked Communications for a communications planning brief. This ...