/Opinion/ Whose IP is it anyway?
18/10/2007 | Filed under Discover > Opinion
As brands rely more on digital to fulfil their need to communicate with people, Rob Corradi asks: are agencies getting a raw deal over ownership of intellectual property?
With so much digital activity these days, offering something unique is key to standing out. Great design and involving content is all very well, but it’s the ideas they’re born from, and their execution, that adds the real value.
With so much digital activity these days, offering something unique is key to standing out. Great design and involving content is all very well, but it’s the ideas they’re born from, and their execution, that adds the real value.
What’s clear to anyone who has had faith in digital, is that where we are today was inevitable. The media landscape is now irrevocably different, with press circulation and viewing figures down year on year, people preferring to shop online and everyone blogging and Twittering about everything they do and see. Connecting with these people and holding their interest requires greater thought and effort to achieve, and digital is all-important.
Savvy brands are now putting digital at the heart of their strategies, and looking to agencies such as Preloaded to help them achieve that. The rather broad request of coming up with “the next big thing” is creatively intensive and time consuming. However, many clients struggle with the concept of paying for that thinking. As a result, the time and effort gone into the idea and concept development often falls off the budget radar. But if the “big idea” is what will make their brand stand out from everyone else, then surely its value should be recognised?
The blame
Digital agencies have traditionally sold what they do as a service that delivers a finished product, with cost based on the number of days taken to design and build it. Rarely is there any costing included for what makes it special. Agencies are often too quick to buckle under client pressure to hand over everything. Conversely, clients are too keen to assert their right to everything whether they’re likely to need it or not, let alone use it. Stop to consider how ideas for online might be exploited on other platforms once it’s handed over, say as a TV show or an above the line advertising campaign. And once they have the code, what’s to stop a client passing on proprietary code you delivered to them to the next agency that they work with, denting your competitive edge?
Who’s to blame for this situation? It’s easy to blame the client – they’re just ensuring they extract the best possible value from the agencies they work with. A share of the problem has to be laid at the door of the digital companies for allowing it. Participating in unpaid pitches, under-pricing to win work, over-delivering because we creatives do tend to get carried away, all play their part in devaluing what we do. More significantly, contractually signing everything away to be used “in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter invented throughout the universe in perpetuity” gives the client the right to do what they like without paying a further penny to you. Anyone would be mad to sign that, but many do. The option of navigating the murky waters of intellectual property rights is just too scary, and God forbid, the client might go elsewhere with their business.
The reality is we’re not on our own. PACT was responsible a few years back for brokering fair terms of trade between independent programme makers and the main UK broadcasters. Indies now retain rights in the programmes they make, while the broadcasters can broadcast the shows an agreed number of times before needing to renegotiate. PACT is attempting to do the same for digital types.
In the meantime, we can take steps to protect ourselves. Sites such as www.own-it.org offer valuable information to protect your IP, get advice and download contract templates that benefit both parties. If we spent reading up on our rights, and how to argue for them, the happier and more professional we’ll be. Maybe then, clients will pay that little extra for all the great ideas they wish to exploit further, rather than assuming the automatic right to do so.
I’m a creative, so I’m bound to argue that an innovative idea is worth more than my ability to crank out design variations in Photoshop. The thing is, it’s not just me that thinks so. The recently launched Cracking Ideas, an initiative started by the UK Intellectual Property Office, aims to teach children the importance of ownership of ideas. Maybe by the time these kids are working in our industry, things will have changed. If not, rest assured that this new generation of creatives will be fighting tooth and nail to realise the value of their ideas.
Rob Corradi is creative director and co-founder of BAFTA-winning agency Preloaded, a digital marketing and content production company.
