In the second of our looks at future agency models, I thought we would take a look at one which seems to be making a few waves; Victors and Spoils. A heady crescendo of creativity and crowdsourcing, Victors and Spoils’ aim is to be an agency..
that offers the strategic direction, engagement and relationship management that agencies deliver today, but one that also delivers the engagement, cultural relevance, results and return on investment that crowdsourcing {if managed and directed well} can deliver.
Although it fits with the wikipedia definition of CrowdSourcing, namely the “outsourcing of otherwise contracted work to a large group or community”, it doesn’t necessarily feel massively different to how most agencies use freelancers. In this case, the term “crowdsourcing” is applied to the use of freelancers which helps to reduce agency costs, create interesting stories, and helps position this business as a future agency. It almost doesn’t feel like “crowdsourcing” when you do it within a business area like advertising, but I still think it’s a fantastic model.
In practice, however, what Victors and Spoils are incredibly good at is making this feel like a real community. I have signed up “to trial” the agency and see what happens, as they are looking for strategists and planners as well as artistic creatives. My experience has been superb so far in terms of the agency contact points I have had to date. They certainly seem to have the experience and knowledge to build this agency to future greatness. However, it will be interesting to see how long freelancers stay with them, what their turn over will be of reliable freelancers e.g. the ones you know can deliver the brief, and what happens when they simply don’t get a great response. Is there a fall back plan?
The other question I also have is, what is it that clients will find interesting about this model? I think its probably the fact that there isn’t necessarily an agency style, so all briefs are new briefs, but if you look at great creative work it often represents a unique style to the agency or creative.
There are of course other crowdsourcing agencies, but it feels to me that although agencies like blur do compete, Victors and Spoils has the better community forming around it and will potentially be the (ahem) victor.
Link Here to Victors and Spoils.
Link Here to blur
Original Post: http://digigen.co.uk/2010/12/16/future-agency-models-the-crowdsourcing-agency-victors-and-spoils/
