Hook, line & sinker/ luring waters

Only a few years old and this baby can swim. Kiwi creative collective The Pond has quickly grown in less than three years to represent more than 30 creative directors, art directors, copywriters, specialist writers, designers and digital creatives, who work with agencies and design companies. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, The Pond has attracted new business and talent as far away as Chicago and Amsterdam. CREATIVE talks to co-founder Sue Worthington to see what it's all about.

CREATIVE: How did The Pond come about?

SUE: Leighton Howl and I were working together as freelancers. He'd just come back from the UK -- where the freelance market was more advanced -- and knew it was only a matter of time before we'd see more people wanting to contract here. And we got to thinking; there had to be a better way for creatives to remain self-employed yet still be highly creative and earn a regular income.
That's what led us to our ‘find creative independence' positioning -- to clearly define our position to the industry.

CREATIVE: How does it work?

SUE: One of the things particularly important to clients is our transparency and ease of use. We have a website to showcase everyone's portfolios and profiles, as well as a centralised booking system, which makes it simple for agencies to connect with the best contract creatives. We do the booking, bartering and billing so members can get on with what they do best (being creative). Like Stephen Richardson, who designed this edition's cover, he works as a designer through us yet has time to work on his fashion label Richard...son.

CREATIVE: Your website looks like it's undergone some radical changes...

SUE: Nothing's easy is it? Clients wanted us to better showcase the skills and experience of creatives and make the online experience more intuitive, so that's what we did. Site content has been restructured to make searches more robust. The improved search is faster and more focused giving agencies more ways to find the right creative for the job. Portfolios have been expanded, meaning more work, more supporting information to make an informed decision and no more annoying pop-ups. And, a content management system has been integrated to keep the site fresh and loads new members details within 24 hours of joining. The site is now a real desktop tool for creative directors.

CREATIVE: So does The Pond solely represent creatives?

SUE: The Pond is a pure creative resource. We felt if we put creativity first and foremost, we could change some of the pre-conceived industry notions that out-sourcing talent meant compromising quality. There's no media department or suits - it's a creative collective run by creatives (Sue has been a CD for years, while Leighton has done his time in big agencies). We know what makes good creative and how to manage creative talent. How clients use that talent is up to them. We book individuals, teams, or manage whole over flow projects...hourly, daily, monthly.

CREATIVE: Is The Pond truly open to sourcing talent outside of the advertising and design industries? What are the benefits of this?

SUE: For sure. Not long ago we ran an event whereby everyone was asked to invite one or two creatives outside of the advertising and design industry. Since then three BroTown animators (currently in its last season) have joined. We've also recruited more unique specialist designers, i.e. fashion, music and publication to name a few areas. By taking on design members who are more ‘cutting edge than commercial' clients get access to fresh talent with creative folios that are 'now'. Everyone's doing something, for example Ryan Marx designs record labels while Hadleigh Averill and Matt Campbell exhibit their art.
All this has to be healthy for our industry. We believe creatives involved in all aspects of creativity - and not just 9 till 5 in an agency - are more rounded and can contribute in more innovative ways.

CREATIVE: Where do you source talent?

SUE: It's often been quite surprising how members have come to us. Our 'talkability' has reached as far as New York agencies, which is where one of our members, Amanda Gould, first heard about us. Through blog sites and general word of mouth we've become the first port of call for creative expats returning to New Zealand. If you dig deeply into a lot of our members' profiles, you'll see over two thirds of them have global experience and have worked in markets from Africa, Eastern Europe, America and Sweden. At the end of the day, New Zealand is a small place and the creative industry is even smaller - word soon gets around.

CREATIVE: Can any creative join?

SUE: Not really. Our main point of difference, particularly from recruiters, is that we operate a closed-door policy, meaning we vet all potential members for creativity and professionalism. They have to be at least midweight level and have their heads screwed on the right way, because clients don't have the time for handholding. On that note, we also represent creatives with over 20 years experience who enjoy strategy and act more like creative consultants. These members have a depth of knowledge across many industries, and they have opinions.

We don't want to be ‘exclusive' for the sake of it but we do want to maintain creative standards and we like industry experience -- something that's important to both members and clients.

CREATIVE: Maintaining creative standards, sounds like you must be cracking the whip?

SUE: (Laughing) Yes and no. It's more about exposing members to new industries and new people, something we do by matching members in interesting ways. We'll deliberately put opposites together to mix it up if we think that is what will get the best results, for example seniors with mid-weights, introverts with extroverts or graphic designers with writers. By doing so we've found their creativity has managed to continually evolve. They've been able to stay fresh, which is something that is difficult when you are in the same office, working with the same people and on the same briefs every day.

CREATIVE: What are some of the other positive spin-offs?

SUE: Our members get to leverage the power of The Pond brand and our website - two things that are difficult to manage as a freelancer. We do a tonne of marketing to support our members too, things like 'Writer's Block', a DM piece promoting specialist writers that won at AWARD. There's also the opportunity to network with other creatives and get pragmatic support as a self-employed individual. When members join we always ask them what they want to achieve by being a part of The Pond. We're here to support our members' creative aspirations, whatever they might be. By giving them this freedom we find we get the best creative from them.

CREATIVE: What are some examples of recent members' work we might know of?

SUE: Well, where do I start! Brogen Averill, Amanda Gould, Gerry Marychurch and Gareth Rice re-branded the John Hancock Observatory (94th floor of the Hancock building) in Chicago. The project included over 150 different briefs, covering design, advertising, merchandise and signage. Phil Parsonage and Richard Gourley completed a billboard campaign for Unitec. And, lastly Stephen Richardson just completed a series of illustrations for Metro Magazine.

CREATIVE: Why would a company in say the US use The Pond when it's so far away?

SUE: Well, what we've found is that geography is pretty much irrelevant thanks to things like Skype. But generally speaking there's been a lot of global interest in New Zealand creative. Being on the other side of the world, New Zealanders are used to always having to go somewhere to get anywhere. We're seen as original thinkers and our isolation means we are little influenced by the world at large. I think the success of local ad and design agencies on the global stage, by the awards they win, is proof of this.
Add to this our favourable exchange rate and suddenly we've got increased interest not only from the US but also Australia and even Dubai.

CREATIVE: You talk about the collective in terms of finding creative independence...

SUE: That's right. For our members finding creative independence is about working when they want, where they want and still being able to pursue other creative interests. When members join we ask them what they want to achieve and initiate a plan to help them achieve it. Sure they can do this as freelancers but it's a bit more hit and miss without an infrastructure that saves them valuable time and gets their work in front of so many people. It's a perception thing too; we've found people working collectively tend to generate more credibility than if they work alone.

For our clients (advertising, design, digital agencies and media), they also look for creative independence. They're highly competitive and are always looking for the next big idea for their client. These big ideas are now coming from a new generation of creatives. By tapping into The Pond's specialist talent, we can help our clients deliver the best creativity and value back to their clients.

CREATIVE: The Pond can manage one-off projects or sensitive ones such as The National Party election campaign. Why do you think The Pond has an advantage when working in these grey areas?

SUE: These niche projects come from unique clients in unique circumstances. The National Party project came through the media company, that had the media but no strategy or creative. They came to us because they thought we were the only company who could resource a tight team with a love for politics. We went through all our members and found three people who had worked in the government sector and on past elections. They also supported The National Party. Of course confidentiality was key and we had to manage it very carefully. In the end the project ran well, the creative was on strategy and helped The National Party keep their nose well ahead of the opposition.

CREATIVE: Given the current economic climate, do you think more clients will look to places like The Pond for creatives?

SUE: For sure. Agencies have started to realise they need to become leaner, faster and more flexible. By tapping into The Pond's resources, some have shifted their fixed staffing costs to a variable one without compromising quality or continuity of service. We work with over 70 clients both locally and internationally, so we have a unique overview of the creative marketplace. Our prediction is agencies will carry 70 percent full-time and 30 percent contract in the future. Why? Because marketing budgets and briefs are widening requiring more specialist creative resource i.e. online entertainment, social networking campaigns and specialist industry writers/creatives for websites and content creation. The lines between advertising, design and digital continue to blur which reinforces our theory -- so everyone can now do what they thought they couldn't.

CREATIVE: Does The Pond plan to expand into Australia?

SUE: Yes, hopefully sometime this year, depending on the recession and what happens in the Australian market. To some extent this has been happening organically as members have gone across, either for good or for work. Australia's creative work has really taken off in the last ten years so we feel a new model, which supports creative people, respects experience and delivers high-end creativity should be welcomed. Oh, and with flying across ‘the ditch' soon to be classified as domestic travel, working in Sydney and Melbourne will be just like working in Wellington or Christchurch.

thepond.co.nz