We can, however be your weapon, your Winston Wolfe or your fearless friend with benefits.
NOR DO WE ANSWER TO THE TERM “FREELANCER.”
No offense, but we’ve got too much experience for that.
May the Universe
bless advertising
agencies.
They’re trying to hang on. But it’s not easy. Clients, you like your in-house people. Fair enough. Agencies, you’ve had to cut to be lean, because clients like their in-house people. By definition, there’s just not much juice left in lean.
May the Universe bless advertising agencies.
Clients, agencies, we are here to help you.
ENTER THE HOUSE.
We work with clients direct as a strategy/creative alternative to their in-house resources.
We work with agencies directly when their strategy/creative department needs juice.
We're also not going to tell you the names of everyone under our roof. Because they also work elsewhere, even brand-side, and they hang at The House because it allows them to flow. When people are exceptional at what they do, and the energy is right, working is flow. And flow is very, very powerful.
WELCOME. COME IN.
CREATIVE
BRIEF
STRATEGY
Business strategy and creative strategy. Insights in context of culture, trend and organizational vision. Ideas that create money, sustainability and influence.
SESSIONS
Strategic market planning
Marketing plan development
“How to Think” problem solving protocols
DECKS AND HANDOUTS
Investor presentations
Fund-raising presentations
New business pitches
COACHING
New business pitches
Presentation training
In-house professional development
ORGANIZATIONAL MENTORING
Meeting leadership
Agency review support
Marketing consigliere services
How much is it worth to you? That's our compensation structure. Research says people actually don’t like choices or negotiation, so, as a default, see below. Suffice to say we keep our overhead low so we can pass the savings on to you.
HOW
EMOTIONAL RESCUE
RETAINER
PROJECTS
Award-Winning, experienced people on a monthly basis.
Three days of ideas you need right now.
Strategic and conceptual thinking for your campaigns.
TIMESHEETS
PROJECTS
EMOTIONAL RESCUE
Three days of ideas you need right now.
Strategic and conceptual thinking for your campaigns.
Retainer
We currently will accept retainers between $7,500 - $10,000/month. Any bigger or smaller, that’s just not what we’re doing right now. Our primary deliverable is counsel: business strategy, marketing strategy, creative strategy, creative ideas and creative expressions to include art direction and writing. Production is extra. Every retainer has a different mix, maybe even a different mix each month. Think of it like having award-winning experienced people on staff without the award-winning experienced salaries. If you want more of us, and some do, we can talk about that.
TIMESHEETS
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Retainer
PROJECTS
Award-Winning, experienced people on a monthly basis.
Strategic and conceptual thinking for your campaigns.
EMOTIONAL RESCUE
Are you in need of a knight in shining armor that rides across the desert in a fine Arab charger? We can do that. Say you’re an agency with a new biz pitch coming up, and have no real strategy or creative because your people are too busy. We got you. Or, you’re a brand and your in-house team just laid an egg, your board presentation is a week away and heads will roll if you don’t present something worthy of your boss’s boss’s boss. No sweat.
It’s called a three-day RESCUE. We call in our friends – heavy hitters themselves – make sure there are no conflicts or NDA issues, and deliver what you need with the code of silence of a John Wick.
Is it expensive? Well, it depends on how you look at it: $10,000 a day, three day minimum. You own any idea we present or graphic we produce that we can legitimately transfer our IP rights to. (We obviously can’t transfer rights we don’t own, such as illustrators, talent or photography outside of the paid participants in your little fire drill. And thank you to Mick for your editorial inspiration.) To recap: we work long hours, source experienced people you probably couldn’t access yourself, pay them to drop everything and help you, without attached strings. Can we get a lot done in three days? Yes.
Is it worth your emotional rescue?
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Retainer
EMOTIONAL RESCUE
Award-Winning, experienced people on a monthly basis.
Three days of ideas you need right now.
PROJECTS
The best campaigns in the world didn’t happen just because the agency was good, they happened because the agency was good and the client was brave. Are you brave? Then we’re in. Also, does what you’re selling compromise the environment, degrade people or otherwise advance evil? Then we’re out.
We work primarily at the strategic and conceptual levels, and then often work with internal departments to extend those expressions to channels. We also do take things all the way, but be warned – we’re perfectionists, and all the way is a journey to meticulously great, not just socially acceptable.
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A Tutorial
PROJECTS
Untitled Document
Want to join The Family that hangs out at The House?
YES. CONSIDER ME FOR CREATIVE/STRATEGY ASSIGNMENTS. I BRING A LOT TO THE TABLE. I WANT TO FLOW.
Send us a few words on what, exactly, you’re bringing to our table and how you’re willing to collaborate. Send us a link to samples of your best work and the kind of work you like to do. We’re not looking for you to be full-time. We’d like to get to know you if you’re a great thinker, doer and if you’re in it for the right reasons.
YES. MY ORGANIZATION IS INTERESTED IN A CONVERSATION. WE COULD USE FAMILY LIKE YOU.
Send us your contact information and just a few words on what you’re looking for. Let’s talk. Agency or Brand, we’ll do right by what you need and keep our relationship confidential unless you say it’s OK to tell others. Currently, about half our clients are agencies, half are brands with robust in-house departments.
pencil video
TIMESHEETS
Just so you know, we don’t do time sheets. We won’t. Don’t even ask. With decades of experience, we believe the “hour of work” is the thing that gets in the way of everything that can be good about the work, the relationship and an individual’s sense of worth. We just agree to do it right, regardless of how much time it takes, within the boundaries of sanity. We’ve all been in the business long enough to know what something is valued, and how long it takes to do it. There have been times when the hours required to finish an assignment ballooned, because situations changed or scope changed. In those cases, the client offered more money, because it was the right thing to do. There have also been cases where we said, “Ah, this really didn’t take much” and charged less. Crazy, heh? Honesty and fairness, what a concept.
CREATIVE BRIEF
Briefs should be brief. Yes. Sure. Attention deficit disorder as it correlates with creative people and CEOs and all, and creative folks’ preference to say one thing. OK, but perhaps you don’t know what you don’t know… Consider this irony: The volume of information that the brief writer must wade through requires the ability to prioritize landfill based on prospect motivation, neuromarketing, cultural influence and whether something can be efficiently expressed creatively or not. Briefs are not made for engineers, for organizational politics or to cover one’s ass. Briefs are not published online, printed in magazines or made into press releases. Briefs are made to direct and inspire conceptual thinking. Briefs remind writers, art directors, videographers, media strategists, content specialists and anyone whose job it is to aid and abet communications that their job is actually persuasion. Briefs, when done well, aren’t just about insights. Nor are they a listing of features and benefits. They are magic spells. Their purpose is to conjure greatness; they are alchemy that can alter the very notion of truth in the collective. They require time and presentation, due diligence and divination. If you think briefs are just a piece of paper with facts, well, then move along. Nothing to see here…