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If you have ever attempted to find collaborative partners in the so-called creative sector you may have been surprised at the response you got.


Real life reactions we’ve personally received include the following jaw dropping shockers:


“We don’t like creatives getting involved in new business”.

 

“Yes, we’d like you in invest in our agency, but we don’t want you in our agency”.


“Gosh, we wouldn’t know what to do with the £100,000 new business grant that you are happy to share with us”.

“We’d really like to take on the international airline account you are happy to share with us, but not if you are involved”.


“If you insist on taking the lead creative role on any account wins you secure that will really upset our in-house creative team. It’s a risk we cannot take”.

“ I can’t see how interest in paper that plays video will generate any creative business. Surely most companies already have a creative agency in tow”.

 

“ It would be beneath our creative dignity to present the paper that plays video at an initial credentials meeting.

The potential client will think we are widget suppliers”.


“ We don’t care if your idea attracted 1,000 new business enquiries from SMEs looking for a new agency. We have our own new business strategy”.
 

“The Internet is a flash in the pan, so we don’t want to get involved in the digital sector”.
 

“ We can’t see how a referral deal with the world’s largest management consultancy / print group / innovation group / etc will generate any business for the agency”.

And the typical freelancer response: “ I don’t understand why I should give you work if you give me work. Nobody else is doing this, so why should I?”.

And when it finally comes to discussing money:“ Gosh, nobody has ever asked us what their potential earnings could be if they acted as our agency’s affiliates”To which a typical response is: “Your profit share will be revenue times the square root of today’s temperature, times the number of socks you have washed this week”

 

No surprise that Dutch University Business Studies academics have discovered that the so-called creative sector is the most resistant to working collaboratively for the simple reason that most creatives think they are smarter than other creatives and cannot see the benefits. In other words creatives are incredibly uncreative in how they work.

 

This is in stark contrast to accountants and lawyers whose practices are deliberately structured around partners referring and sharing work.

If you are interested in any of the collaborative, funding or barter-based working opportunities listed here, why not get in touch. While others in your industry continue to keep their heads firmly buried in the sand, you can take full advantage of the exciting new opportunities on offer on this website.

Happy hunting!

Nicolas Schwabach
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