NTB: Graphic Design Agent
Out of context: Reply #38
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- rabattski&rabattski0
there's another thing with agents (on a side note, i think that agents use the term creative management more because the term agent sounds too small, creative management however sounds big and corporate) the reputation of such an agent is quite important. for the agent as well as for the creatives it represents. it's quite a symbiotic relationship. the agent needs creatives to make money but also to create a certain reputation that certain reputation also depends on the quality of the creatives. the creatives need an agent with a high and consistent reputation in order to get the jobs. in the end the creatives does make the agent. if you as an agent have the best, let's say, illustrators and have a good selfpromotion then it could very well work. but you have to start somewhere. no one knows you if you start out. it's something that has to grow. during that period there isn't that much work. so as a creative you have to believe in the future of that agent.
what i notice around me in the last couple of years is that there is more network based agencies (not agents) and it's really project based. i've done quite some projects with a group of freelancers. where that group would differ per project. what was that tv show (cartoon) where they would assemble a specific task force everytime to get the job done? anyways, such a group would always include a project manager slash traffic manager. that is far more interesting than a regular agency or working thru an agent. regular agencies are less flexible and expensive. working thru an agent is most of the time very solo based, you are called in to do one thing. you know, just the website, just an illustration etc. when you work thru a network based agency than there's the whole project. from scratch to finish. which for me is more interesting. i do think that in the future that will grow and regular agencies, as well as agents, will have trouble to survive. there's this one agency in amsterdam, i think it's strawberry frog (or the other one) that has a small core and only works network based.