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A Few Words About
Working on Spec...
In the ad agency business there is a famous story
about an agency guy meeting with a new business prospect.
The prospect comes to the agency to get the new business
pitch. The agency guy shows him a number of campaigns the
agency did for other clients. The prospect was impressed
by the work and couldn't wait to see what the agency had
in mind for his account. Then the agency guy said,
"Let's go to lunch." The prospect says, "I
thought you were going to give me your agency
presentation for our account before we went to
lunch." The agency guy says, "I just did."
Nevertheless, there will be times when it seems
appropriate to do spec work. This is always a judgement
call and no one can second guess your decision. However,
there is always the potential, or apparent potential for
getting ripped off. When I was a freelancer, my motto
quickly became, I would rather starve to death than work
for free. This should become your motto, if you want to
stay in business. Do not give away your services unless
you do so for reasons that will benefit you.
Leaving aside the fail safe of not doing any spec work,
we end up in a situation where we can easily sympathize
with the music and movie industry concern over digital
recording media. The minute you put a spec site on disk
and hand it over to a client or give them the URL, you
know exactly how the record people feel about pirating.
In the past, spec work meant showing handmade comps for
an ad or brochure, not the final art. So, while the
client could theoretically steal the idea, by itself the
idea was not the total solution to their problem, it
still had to be implemented. Besides, we all know the
typical client doesn't have the foggiest notion of what
to do with our ideas anyway. And, even if they stole it,
we know that we have ten more good ideas where that one
came from and a hundred more we didn't even have time to
think of. That is the creative person's revenge and
secret weapon.
Showing a completed web site is a different ball game.
It's easy to duplicate and easy to steal. But there are
steps you can take to protect yourself.
5 Ways to Handle Spec Work
1. Do not show your site on live media.
Use a dead piece of paper that the client can see but not
use. Use it as a talking piece and a sales tool, not to
do the selling for you. Tell him what happens when you
click on the buttons. Tell him what will be on the other
pages. Talk the talk, but don't walk the walk until you
get the money.
2. Treat your web site like a comp-- make it a shell of
the real thing. Stay in creative control. Gray out the
photos, greek in all but headlines, code only partial
pages, partial tables, etc. You should only have to give
them a taste. That's all you want to do anyway. You have
to leave them wanting more so they'll sign on. Do not
spend more than 10% of the total project time doing the
comp. Anything more will be unprofitable.
3. Take your cue from the agency story and only show the
work of other clients as examples of what you are capable
of. "We'll use the same creative problem solving
approach to create a unique site specially designed to
meet your needs." Sell your success
stories. What was the problem the client had, how did you
solve it?
4. Make the spec site conditional upon their signing an
agreement to compensate you if they use the material in
any way. The agreement should state a liquidated damages
amount that they will pay you. Many ad agencies do this.
A lawyer should be able to take your rough draft and make
it legal for $150-$200 or less.
5. In the event of the very worst case scenario, what do
you do? Add the site they ripped off from you to your
portfolio of links. What the heck, you created it didn't
you?
Bob Schmidt
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