Creative people are perceived as "urban madmen": why don't you work on state projects for free

In the creative and marketing segment of Facebook, probably not a month goes by without a scandal over some new product that has been released. And if this product was created as part of a state project (or is based on a patriotic motive), the number of experts increases many times over.

Therefore, when Andriy Fedoriv published on his page the first illustrations of the large-scale project “Travel Ukraine”, created for the State Agency for Tourism Development, it became clear that we were in for a “very interesting discussion”.

I have been working in the creative industry for over 20 years. During this time, my team SEVENTEAM (ex-Studio7) and I have developed many projects with a social component for Ukrainian and global brands.

In 2007, we were lucky enough to develop the Ukraine. For Snowlovers campaign, which promoted the possibilities of winter tourism in Ukraine for foreign consumers. That is why I have my own professional opinion about the work provided by the State Agency.

But I still have a rule not to publicly discuss the works of colleagues in the shop. It makes no sense if you have not read the brief and do not understand the components of the task. Moreover, I believe that any product, with proper funding and the right approach, can be made a successful project. But in this case, I would like to talk not about the quality of the design, but about business, about the economics of the process, about the mutual responsibility of the parties for the result.

When I learned that the Ministry of Culture ordered this project from Fedoriv Agency (it actually did not order it), I was very happy. It seemed to me that Ukraine had its own conditional Artemy Lebedev, who would teach the state machine the main thing: creativity and design are business. It is expensive. Creativity creates added value. This is not an expense, but a conscious investment, and you have to pay for it.

Later, I talked with one of the co-authors of the project, the head of the Visit Ukraine tourist association, Anton Taranenko. I learned that the project was again carried out with a zero budget, that is, for free. Of course, it is everyone's right to decide how much to do the work. And for a specific person or a separate company, this is probably normal. But such an approach is very harmful to the entire industry.

Let's analyze why it is bad to work for free for state projects that have a budget.

1. The project balance between the customer and the contractor is violated. If the customer does not pay for the project, then his goal turns into the goal of the contractor. And here it is usually radically different. No commercial brand has ever built a business on the statuettes of advertising festivals. Unless it is a creative agency.
2. This stimulates corruption and reduces the value of the work of creatives. State programs are well financed from the state budget. Weak contractors are hired for projects, unheard-of estimates are claimed, and as a result, officials "saw" money internally. They perceive creatives as city lunatics who draw websites and logos. Their value is poorly perceived. And then they are proud of this fact in their cases, emphasizing: "Budget 0.00 UAH".
3. The absence of contractual obligations reduces the level of responsibility of the parties for the result. If the customer does not hire a contractor for work officially, does not bind him to obligations and financial sanctions by contract, no one is responsible for the result. As soon as the goals of the project begin to differ from those that the customer stated at the beginning, the contractor will lose motivation to do quality work. He may even leave the project altogether, not understanding why he needs to implement someone else's goals. The customer also ceases to be interested in the quality of the project, because he did not buy it. The value of the contractor's work to him is zero. As a result, we are waiting for a complete fiasco.

But there are always exceptions to every rule. In the state and cultural spheres, there are projects that can and should be supported by the creative industry on a volunteer basis. These are museums, partly theaters, independent music and books, art projects, unique personalities and historical events. These are the projects that may be financed from the state budget, but not at all in the volumes that are necessary for the preservation and dissemination of knowledge.

Therefore, let's "sell the elephant", and not do their work for state people at the cost of the well-being of our families and our companies. The official must finally start respecting the work of creatives. But without respect for the creatives themselves for their work, this will not happen. There is no other way to civilized relations in business.