Company: OpenAd

Based: London

Website : www.openad.net

Clients : 52 clients and 10,000+ creatives registered online

Who are you?

Katarina Skoberne, founding partner and managing director of OpenAd, which began trading in 2004.

What do you do?

OpenAd is about democratising access to creative people who can produce things such as advertising and marketing as well as logos and brand design for companies worldwide. Essentially, we make it easier for organisations to get into contact with the people who can produce your campaign.

What does this mean in practice?

We have a network of over 10,000 creative people registered online from over 125 different countries. Clients can either post a brief detailing their campaign or purchase directly from our existing gallery. If a client posts a brief then they can expect to have a range of ideas posted in a very short space of time. They can then pick the one which they think is most suitable for their company and go ahead and launch their campaign.

What size company suits you?

We can work with companies of any size. We have worked with some very large advertising agencies and household names from the high street, but we also work with small and medium-sized businesses that might not have been able to afford to pay for advertising and marketing services previously.

Why should I care?

We are the only company of its kind and as such we have no competition. Typically, in order to produce a campaign you need to go through an advertising agency, which cannot always meet the timeframe that you require. Also, it can be too expensive and beyond the reach of many smaller companies. Therefore, what we are doing is democratising access to advertising creatives for companies and vice versa. We can also provide effective advertising to a brief very quickly. Recently we received a call from a client on a Friday that needed a campaign to be produced in less than two weeks. We had a brief published online by the following day which by Monday had received over one hundred responses. A design was chosen later that week and was up and running by the Thursday of the following week.

What can you do that I cannot do for myself?

We can put you in touch with a worldwide network of advertising and marketing creatives who can produce logos, TV adverts or poster campaigns to very short deadlines. You will be able to look through a selection of potential work and select the best one for you.

What mistakes will you prevent me from making?

We have a team of people here who ensure that the work is both of a professional standard and that it avoids any legal complications, such as copyright infringement, before you buy it. Also, having access to a global network has major advantages as you are able to see how you are perceived by a wide range of creative people that work in the advertising industry. This can help you to more clearly define your brand and your message, which is very important, especially if you are considering expansion overseas.

Give me an example

Imagine you were considering making a move into a large country such as India where there are language and cultural differences. A poorly chosen campaign could damage you. However, on your OpenAd brief you could cite that you only wished to take contributions from that country and as we have many people from there this would be no problem. As the proposals came in you would get an idea of how the advertising creatives in that country viewed your business by seeing their creatives.

Why should I trust you?

We have worked with some of the world’s biggest advertising agencies and have delivered for them, but we have also worked with many smaller companies. We also have a customer service centre which operates 24/7.

What will it cost me?

Prices start from £1,000 per month depending on the size of company and the nature of the project. Essentially you buy a package which covers everything in your campaign.