Media Innovator Awards 2019

, Creative Allies Ltd Creative Allies Ltd: Best Freelance Creative Network 2019 - England Jun19234 A pioneer in themarket, Creative Allies Ltd is the North’s first creative freelance network. PavanWard talks us through this innovative concept and how it is driving change in today’s mediamarket. Established by creatives, for creatives, Creative Allies welcomes members from every creative discipline including Photography, Creative Directors, Videographers, Stylists, Editors, Make-up and many others. Pavan discusses how the network came to be and its ongoing focus on driving the region’s media market forward towards innovation. “Since our inception, at Creative Allies our mission has always been to represent the best creativity in the North through ensuring we interview each creative we invite to join our network. We carried out intensive research last summer with freelancers and leading advertising agencies in the North to test the proposition and ensure this insight was plugged into our model. “What we found was that agencies wanted to be reassured they were booking the best freelance creative talent. As such, we established Creative Allies to ensure they get this and also make it easy for them to book. Freelancers wanted to get paid on time and feel part of a team, and as such we pay them within 14 days and invite them to bi-monthly gatherings and ensure they feel part of something verses being a lone operator and they also collaborate with each other.” Having established a concept, Creative Allies interviewed over 300 people and invited 135 to join at launch in April and have since signed up more, taking the total to almost 200. Pavan is keen to showcase how the firm promotes its freelance allies and offers them the chance to work with a wide range of clients. “As part of our focus on supporting our allies and offering them the best exposure possible, we promote them on our website and also through our social media channels. Now that we have launched the business we have a programme of social media under the umbrella of ‘Meet the Allies’, where we profile our creatives and get them noticed within the industry. “As such, we give all of our freelancers a place to showcase their work. This is particularly important in today’s market, as exposure is vital, and many do not even have a website, so this is a great way for them to be seen. We also take away the pain of admin from them so that they can focus on doing what they do best - being a creative.” Continuing to outline Creative Allies’ services, Pavan discusses how the firm benefits its clients and offers an example of the quality support it offers. “For our clients, we provide creative services. We have designed a website which is easy to navigate for clients and freelancers. Clients can view portfolios for all our creatives and then we give them a log in to access the back end of the freelancer’s profile where they can view their availability and day rate. They simply highlight the days they want to book and then this generates an enquiry to the Creative Allies team who then confirm everything with both the freelancer and client. “As a team, we are on hand to offer advice to clients to help them find the right creative for their needs. We have recently worked directly with Leeds Grammar School, helping them with a campaign. After digesting their brief, we selected a number of creatives from our network to fulfil the brief. This included videography, photography, design, artwork, stylist for the shoot and a Creative Director to come up with the overarching campaign idea. This is just one example of the excellence we deliver for our clients.” Looking ahead, Pavan foresees even greater success for this flourishing, youthful and dynamic company. “At Creative Allies, we are still relatively new to the market, and as such We are keen to learn, listen and evolve. Our vision is to make the model work the best it can in the North. We would then like to branch in to other areas of the country where there is a high penetration of freelancers that would benefit from being part of our network. This wouldn’t happen until year 3 and following more research. “Additionally, we are also keen to collaborate with universities and colleges in the future and launch a Junior Allies Academy whereby we ask top creatives on our network to mentor up and coming creative talent. The Founder’s children were lucky to find jobs in the creative industry because we introduced them to the right people. Not every child has that opportunity, therefore we are keen to help the younger generation of creatives get some experience from industry leading creatives on our network. “Ultimately, Creative Allies will remain committed to revolutionising the creative industry throughout 2019 and further into the future, for the benefit of both clients and freelancers.” Company: Creative Allies Ltd Name: Pavan Ward Address: 1 Aire Street, Leeds, LS1 4PR Telephone Number: 07545246419 Web Address: creativeallies.co.uk