Independent agencies are the final refuge for creative misfits, according to leading indie executives like The Hallway鈥檚 chief creative officer Simon Lee and founder of Bear Meets Eagle on Fire Micah Walker.
鈥淎s I watch our industry shrinking and people going off to work at brands, I fear there will be no home for the misfits anymore,鈥 Simon said.
鈥淢aybe indies are the last bastion of the creative misfit, and in that sense, they have a really important role to play.鈥
Simon鈥檚 comments were made as part of a roundtable of independent agencies hosted by 天美棋牌, which also featured Micah, Taboo ECD Charlotte Adjordan, Sick Dog Wolf Man creative director Jess Wheeler, and Emotive managing partner Michael Hogg.
Micah suggests that many indies are created off the back of frustration.
鈥淚t's not a super happy industry on the whole and I think the people that tend to get most frustrated are those that care the most and are the most creatively driven,鈥 Micah said.
鈥淲hen the industry starts to sweat the rarest edges of its talent, the misfits and the characters come to the conclusion that they can either get paid the same amount to take the same shit somewhere else or they can go somewhere they actually feel their creativity is valued.鈥
Micah noted that the industry鈥檚 issue of leaking talent is driven, in part, by motivated creatives deciding they would rather work internally for a brand. As Simon sees it, they鈥檙e misfits clamouring for a home.
鈥淚n any industry, there are sailors and pirates. I look at the networks as big ships with lots of sailors, where everyone's got their role and they work smoothly,鈥 he said.
鈥淲hat an indie gives you is the chance to be a pirate. It can be exciting when you're a pirate; you can find yourself at the helm of a Spanish galleon and looting loads of gold. But you can also end up stuck on a desert island, and then the sink or swim thing is really there.
鈥淵ou have to be cool with that and to have the energy and drive to get back and chase the next Galleon. Some people make the choice and realise, 鈥榓ctually, I'm more of a sailor鈥, and then there's the pirate lifers.鈥
Simon has been with indies for most of his working life, spending 17 years of his two decade career with independent agencies. Sick Dog Wolf Man鈥檚 Jess related to Simon鈥檚 pirate analogy. While not a founder, Jess鈥 career has also mainly been spent in smaller, scrappier places.
鈥淭he things people criticised me for in my corporate career became exactly what independent agencies wanted,鈥 Jess said.
鈥淚 was a typical creative outside of work and looking to break from the corporate monotony. But escaping into advertising wasn鈥檛 everything 鈥 you realise there's another version of what you were trying to escape from in the first place.
鈥淏eing in indies worked for me because I was always a bit of a black sheep or a disruptive student.鈥
Taboo Group鈥檚 newly-minted executive creative director, Charlotte Adorjan, is an indie newcomer by comparison, having spent most of her agency career in networks.
鈥淲hat I've found just in the last six weeks,鈥 Charlotte said, 鈥渋s joy in the agility of indies, compared to the heaviness of a network sitting on your shoulders. There鈥檚 a freshness and lightness of touch; you can just have an idea one day and then make it tomorrow.
鈥淎s a creative person, not having that quick turnaround and the heavy weight of men in suits in offices far, far away, telling you no has been just a massive breath of fresh air.
鈥淭aboo were born 24 years ago on the streets, and they鈥檙e still talking to people on the streets. I love that because big holding company guys sitting in boardrooms haven't got their sail to the wind. They're sitting there with their spreadsheets going, 鈥榃here's the next buck coming from?鈥欌
Micah noted that being branded 鈥榠ndependent鈥 isn鈥檛 a cure-all - a cluttered market means some pirates will end up on sinking ships.
鈥淚t's important to understand,鈥 Micah said, 鈥渢hat some indies are just new or smaller versions of the same thing, and some are something else. I think it's good for the industry, and then the reality is just you sink or swim.鈥
Emotive鈥檚 Michael Hogg agrees. 鈥淵ou can look at that as healthy, which I think is generally for the industry,鈥 he said, 鈥渙r you can equally look at it as an opportunity for it to be unhealthy.鈥
He鈥檚 never worked at a big network, 鈥渕ainly because I don't ever feel like I'd fit in; it never appealed to me.鈥 It鈥檚 a life-changing choice to have agency over the work you do and the people you do it with, he added.
鈥淢aking shit is personal and choosing the people you work with is personal.鈥