For several years now, there has been a decrease in this type of request in agency selection processes. Clients and agencies have realized that speculative work is detrimental to both parties and should not be part of a selection process.
What does “speculative work” mean?
“Speculative work” refers to any work that is normally paid (creative, strategic, media planning, insights, ideas, etc.) but is requested for free or at a rate below market value as part of an agency selection process.
Why should it be avoided?
- Poor evaluation metric: Speculative work does not offer a true measure of an agency’s skills and potential.
- At the expense of better indicators: Selection criteria based on speculative work often overlook more relevant indicators such as experience, past results, and expertise.
- Risk of idea appropriation: Ideas and concepts submitted speculatively can be used without appropriate compensation or recognition.
- Generates excessive and underestimated costs and time: The time and resources invested by the agency in speculative work are often considerable and underestimated.
- Increased costs for the client: Final costs can rise as agencies seek to offset the resources invested in unpaid speculative work.
- Can be detrimental to the agency’s current clients: Agencies often have to divert resources from their current clients to respond to speculative requests.
- Limits the number of submissions received: The practice of speculative work discourages quality agencies from participating, thereby reducing the number and quality of submissions received.
