GUIDED / COLLECTIVELY GUIDED BY VOICES

There have been many murmurings about ambitious start-up Guided, London, who are eschewing the conventional agency model of, well, having a mass of people working under the same roof, for one that runs a stripped down, core team with ideas sourced from a pool of talented film makers, designers and artists etc. It's like a crowd-sourced agency, only the crowd is a bunch of hip, hand picked talents, numbering only 100 or so at a time. This video gives a pretty thorough explanation of how it's all going to work guidedcollective.com/process

Contagious sat down for a quick chat with founder Sam Reid, a man with a musical background and a scientific education, to hear a couple of his key insights. Reid started by talking about Guided's model: 'I think big networks will fragment, breaking up into smaller groups, serviced by an army of freelancers meeting their required needs project by project.'

He believes the creative people Guided collaborate with don't ultimately want to work in agencies, so this model is a way of allowing them to retain their freedom and choice. It respects the way they already work - along similar lines to how they would work with a commission - but instead they are coming to the agency with ideas, creating a two-way process.

'Besides the fact that it's not always an ideal way to work, financially it just isn't viable to get all these people under one roof, we couldn't support that. This model still gives us access to these people, and an ongoing two-way relationship - they are part of something rather than just a name on an agency's database.'

Reid also spoke about brands getting involved with events. It's something we all come across, logos slapped up left, right and centre, and you're left wondering what brands are getting out of this, where is the actual engagement? Reid questions: 'Do you want to be seen, or be part of the conversation? And remember, you can rarely own that conversation, but you can be part of it in a positive way.'

Guided's official launch was yesterday, and judging by the pictures on its blog it looks like they are settling into the new trendy Shoreditch space in East London well, although they are currently short of a 'highly creative Account Director/Client Services person who gets Guided'. If that could be you give drop them a line on hi@guidedcollective.com