Comments on: Fewer Advertising Jobs, But Greater Opportunity?

By: Bob Minihan

Bob Minihan — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:36:47 +0000

1) The business goes up and down.
2) It sucks laying people off.
3) I believe in a staffing model that uses a core team that knows the clients, augmented by smart, fast talented freelancers when needed.

By: BRUNDLEFLY

BRUNDLEFLY — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:12:33 +0000

One of the great things about working in a creative, evolving profession is that the good people always adapt. But the process isn’t easy, or painless, or pretty.

Even if I don’t lose my job within a matter of weeks, I’m not sure I want it anymore. Haven’t produced a single thing in over a year, and yet I work every weekend.

My job is dead. I’m just tending to the body. From where I sit, freelance looks like an opportunity to circulate, expand the network, and maybe hook up with the next interesting thing. Sign me up. (Just give me my severance check first.)

By: MattM

MattM — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:45:29 +0000

So the good news: recessions are the single best time to be a freelancer. In SF during the dot com bust, it was a freelancer’s dream.

The bad news: with so many freelancers in the pool, rates drop dramatically. I’m making a day rate of about 40% less than I was 2 years ago and any time I stick to my guns on rate, I don’t get the job.

By: Ben Bloom

Ben Bloom — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:34:18 +0000

From the perspective of a project-based consultancy like my former employer (Razorfish), having salaried talent available across projects is a competitive differentiator- so if they are freelancers you really can’t stop them from working for a competing agency, or on working on a pitch you hope you could win. It might be worth it to guarantee yourself that advantage.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:41:01 +0000

All truths, boss. Agencies will always need their “core team.” Talented people who are intimate with their clients’ brands are why there are agencies at all. My only question is whether or not we have seen a permanent shift away from the glory days of that model. I suspect we’re in for some combination of the typical AOR as we know it and more free agency.

By: The Boss Sez

The Boss Sez — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:58:48 +0000

There’s no doubt that crazy talented people can do enormous things for a pitch.

But for the ongoing work, the challenge is “institutional memory”. Getting a fresh crop of brilliant people up to speed on things my on staff people have spent two years learning, takes up a fair amount of my time that could be spent making some other piece of work great.

There’s only so much you can squeeze into a brief, and it’s why CDs loath letting the great people go. It’s not just how good they are; it’s what they know.