It used to be that creative quality and price were diametrically opposed. The more you paid, the better quality you could get and visa versa. It was an "or" relationship. You could get quality or price. Certainly, that's been the way the current advertising and design world works.
What we're seeing is the opposite. Two things are happening. First, in our projects and in projects like Unilever's Peperami's crowdsourced scripts project on Ideabounty, talent rises to the top and wins. Our contention has been that in truly free markets, the best work produced by the most talented people rises to the top. It's not blocked by internal politics or hierarchical competition that can smother the best ideas inside big organizations. And, it's only accelerating, any of the most talented creatives and strategists are starting to play around and do work on the the new digital networks that are emerging.
We've also found that in an apple to apple comparison with the projects we're working on clients typically save 75% in their creative fees for the same quality. That's right. Projects that used to cost $100,000 now can cost $25,000 (or $1,000,000 is now $250,000) for the same quality. This shift downward in the cost of creative execution doesn't lessen the need for great strategic and creative direction. This still has to happen to ensure that the work meets the client's objectives. The real savings comes from flattening the organizational chart and getting rid of all of the extra steps between the people producing the creative and strategic ideas. We're seeing that with the same strategic and creative direction results are very similar.
Clients are telling us they want to leverage the power of "and." They say they're tired of what they've been getting. They're looking for new ways to work and want to try new models of working. They want the best creative work and the best price.
Comments