Pay-what-you-want ad agency

If magazines, restaurants and hotels can turn to pay-as-you-want pricing schemes to help them survive the recession, why not an ad agency? Sure enough, Agency Nil offers a variety of freelance branding, media and advertising services without any set price, leaving it instead up to clients to decide how much to pay. Clients begin by submitting a work request form with Agency Nil. Drawing from its pool of recent grads and between-jobs business and advertising professionals, the agency gets the work done by the deadline requested. It’s then up to the client to decide how much the work is worth—the only charges required to be paid are those agreed upon ahead of time for travel, proprietary research tools and production. If a client decides not to pay anything, “it’s not likely that we will do work for you in the future,” Agency Nil explains; then again, “we’ve yet to have that happen, ever.” Revisions and further work are arranged once a client has valued and agreed to pay for the first assignment. Some industry professionals may protest that starting with a price of zero is sure to devalue the work ad agencies provide—much the way some designers have balked at efforts to crowdsource graphic design. But Hank Leber, the recent Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter grad who founded Agency Nil, begs to differ: “This isn’t about undercutting anyone. It’s about supply and demand—honestly, I think this should’ve happened a long time ago,” he explains in the AdFreak blog. “The system has been terribly lopsided for a while now, and I hope this can be the start of a breaking point in the industry on some level. It won’t depress the market—the price will still come up and down, and work will get done just the same. Except now, it won’t be based on a set amount of hours to fill or stay under, and work can get done for work’s sake. For quality’s sake. For the client’s sake.” How Leber’s model evolves over time remains to be seen. Meanwhile, it may just be what it takes to survive—and help countless out-of-work professionals survive—the current economic mess. One to watch, try out or emulate in your own neck of the woods…? Spotted by: Chris Rollason