Let’s all work for free

How many industries provide their services for free in the hope that someone may decide to pay for their services?

Would you ask three different accountants to process your books and only pay for the one that you think did the best job? How about ordering four different dishes from a restaurant with the intention of only paying for the one you enjoyed the most?

We’re often asked to submit design work for free as part of a pitching process. It’s a strange concept for us because we understand that design is not just a visual medium but one where a thorough understanding of the strategy, market, proposition, target audience and success criteria (amongst others) are fundamental to any solution developed.

Design is a process that results in a creative solution. However, having being involved with free pitches at other agencies over the years, very rarely is anything other than looks taken into account. It turns the whole process into a beauty parade and a lottery that devalues the work that we do.

Alarm bells always start ringing when we are asked to free pitch as we simply don’t believe that companies that ask us to do so understand the process or generally appreciate good design.

If the creative industry wants to be taken seriously then creative companies need to start acting like serious businesses. They need to explain why free pitching is bad not just for the creative agency but for the client. After all how good is the solution going to be from a creative agency that knows that they may not get paid for their work?

It’s all too easy to ask a creative agency to work for free without fully committing to any project, budget or timescale. But we think that the way to select a creative partner is simple. Talk to their clients, look at the work they’ve done and take time to understand how they work. If they show as much interest in return then you’ve got the basis for a strong, long and successful working relationship.