The End of Client Service - OpenAd

Could this be the model for future agencies across the Globe? OpenAd, self-described as the "world's biggest creative department" appears to be one of the first, completely digital online ad agencies.

The site boasts a global network of creatives that spans over 122 countries and has over 8,500 individuals in total. How does it work? Simply become a member with the site (free) and hold a pitch (essentially write a brief) to distribute to creatives. After your brief has been written, it is submitted to the global network and ideas come back within a matter of days.

In terms of costs, the site asks you to verify what type of client you work for, the approximate budget of your campaign, a full-buyout or partial buyout of the ideas you receive, what mediums, etc. From there, it calculates what the cost will be (in Euro's) based on the menu of options that you've chosen.

For example, I decided to represent a small client ($1M or less campaign budget) and asked OpenAd to produce 1 print execution and 1 radio spot (full buyout on both). The cost for these ideas (when they were developed) would have been approximately $8-10K Euro's. Not exactly competitive, but when you are simply developing one-off executions it could be interesting to work with a creative department of 8,500, rather than just 1 or 2.

While this might seem a bit risky for larger clients, I would think that it would be a no-brainer for creatives to register. Creatives simply submit their books and are selected by the site to become active members. They can choose the briefs they want to work on and develop work on their own. If the client buys it, they get paid (along with the site).

What does this mean for current, traditional agencies? For starters, it could mean that in-house creatives have more of an opportunity to sell their own ideas rather than focus on your clients. As well, whose to stop a client from giving OpenAd a one off brief just to see what comes back? Even worse, what if they are amazed with the work that was done in less time (and maybe) for less money?

Even though the traditional model will remain for years to come, smaller companies that cannot afford the services of larger agencies may turn to sites like OpenAd to develop their campaigns for them. If anything, it's a larger, global network of creatives who want to do work for you - today.