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Desperate for business, should creative work be free?

About a week and a half ago, I made a presentation to a small agency about social media. By the end of the presentation, they felt that social media could greatly benefit their client. They felt confident enough in my abilities to request that I work up strategy, do some brainstorming with them and finally present a social media campaign to their client. I estimated about 40-60 hours of work. Sounds great, right? Wrong. The agency proposed all this work would be done for free and if the client chose to integrate social media into their existing campaign, then of course,  I would be awarded the work. For sure, my 20 years plus in advertising working up tactical plans, creating programs, concepting campaigns, managing teams, building brands, and all that other stuff certainly had a strong track record and was well worth something. As I am relatively new in the social media genre (clearly the reason for "free" offer),  and clearly knowing my years of experience would be valuable, I counter offered a compromise, a reduced rate.  I never heard back nor did I not accept the work for free offer. 

I bring up this story as it seems this is the way advertising is going these days. Somehow, in all our desperation to win business, agencies are giving away our most precious product, creativity. Last week Adweek published an article about the much talked about Zappos pitch where the RFP was posted to Adweek. Basically, what it boils down to, was that over 80 agencies responded and over 20 were selected to present creative to Zappo's. Imagine those lousy odds of winning and still, 80 agencies were willing to give it all away for free. If I was a betting girl, I'd say, that's a real long shot. And hey, it wasn't even for that big of a purse. More interesting was Michael Wolfson's blog post commenting on his agency's Zappos submission, the RFP process as a whole and the heated debate that has erupted on Adweek and his blog in response to his stance.  I say, kudos to him and his agency, Ignited, for not being afraid to take a stand in hopes of swinging the pendulum to a more respectful and trustful way of doing business.

No other professional business gives their work away for free. (see well worth it, could go viral video) We are to blame. Only by working together and establishing new rules, and a "just say no" attitude, will we ever be able to regain the respect of our client and be a true partner to them. Hell, I did. Now who has the courage to join me?