They didn't approach Fabergé with a sales pitch out of the blue. I wouldn't expect a NDA for that. But Fabergé did ask them to come up with a pitch to relaunch their brand - I wouldn't come up with it and present it without some kind of document saying that they can't take the idea and run with it with someone else.

The pitch is a product. I would bill them for it.

It may not be that simple to pull it off. If you are the smaller fish in competition with IBM and IBM offers to do a pitch without charging for it (which they can afford), it's unlikely you would get paid for it.

Having some sort of agreement about IP, on the other hand, is possible but enforcing it would be costly any way. There's no easy solution.

I agree there is no easy solution, but, still, you have to set your limits somewhere.

When you are a small outfit, you cannot afford to work for free and you must make it perfectly clear to your prospects. If they can't respect that, you shouldn't try to serve them.

It's very easy to win a contract and then be completely crushed by your client. Believe me: I have seen it happen a couple times.