Hasta La Creative!

Since the economy is crumbling all around us and every agency seems to be laying people off left and right – but work is still being produced, so clearly freelancers will be hired everywhere where people were just laid off – so we thought we’d take it upon ourselves to help out… in a very AdLandish way.

The Official AdLand Advertising Tutorial: Part Seven – how to work with Freelancers Professors: Åsk Wäppling a.k.a Dabitch, Jane Goldman, Jordan Stratford, Brent Hahn, Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua, John Backman, Alec Long, Maxim van Wijk, Brandon Barr and Grant Sanders (in no particular order) after a long thread on adlist where we all shared horror stories.

Sincere how to treat your freelancer advice for those unfamiliar with sarcasm:

Chapter one: Money

Never read the small print in the Freelancers price quotes or bills, it’s just there to look pretty.

Be shocked when – in accordance with both the quote, contract and the previous bill – you’re charged for re-using an image, logo, photograph or layout that you did not buy full rights to. Insist you we’re never told. When freelancer points out that this was written in both the quote, contract and bill, and is in fact standard, get a lawyer who charges you money to explain the same exact thing. Blow the rest of this years advertising budget on that lawyer, thus preventing you to hire freelancer for more work as you originally planned.

If you hire the freelancer for a longer period on-site, say that it’s fair they get the same monthly salary as everyone else working for you in that position. Except without the pension savings, health insurance, sick days, vacation, out of work insurance and other benefits that come with a job contract. Ignore the pesky detail that the freelancer (legally) has to pay for this from salary themselves, making their salary closer to half of what everyone else is making at your company.

Create the need for extra revisions by sending text to layout lacking colons or commas.

Balk at being charged for each revision.

When your freelancer calls and ask why payment is late, simply say, “The client hasn’t paid us yet, so we can’t pay you.” It is business-logic at it’s best and you are sure to accept that reasoning from your own clients, right?

Insist that if you never the run the ad, you shouldn’t have to pay the freelancers who created it.

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—Posted by David Kiefaber

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