[thelist] Re: Client Relations Re: 'design by..' line

[Martin]

isaac forman wrote on 5/7/00 2:45 am

>I've seen footer credits used by decently sized local agencies, el cheapo
>designers, and multi-million dollar agencies alike. 
But for multi-million dollar clients? 

>I think that the sign 
>of an
>amateur site is the counter (especially the freebie counter), and the stolen,
>animated email gif... 
+1 on that one...

>I do not consider a small, subtle footer credit
>unprofessional.
True but many, many clients won't give it to you. Most of their agencies
work under anonymity, and some of them subcontract and the client
doesn't even know everyone who's working on their sites.

This goes for all sorts of agencies. Look at http://www.handbag.com.
*All* their content is written by http://www.stickycontent.co.uk

When I was freelancing and struggling, I got *lots* of CGI work on
the basis of no credits more than an X-header in the emails my
scripts pushed out.

In some cases it worked like this:
Tradition ad agency promises client moon on a stick, including
a web site. Client agrees. Agency goes out of meeting and says 'oh
shit'. Calls creative web agency (cos that's what they understand).
Creative agency promises moon on stick including a lot of backend
work. Ad agency agrees. Creative web agency comes out of meeting
and says 'oh shit' and calls me. I get no credit, but get the job done
and get paid at a reasonable rate. Because I'm reliable and get the
job done without spoiling the creative agency's gig, I get a regular
stream of work.

Remember - your customer is the one who pays you.

What I've seen a lot of is when an agency goes to pitch, they're asked
who their competitors are. Not giving them = no work.

Cheers
Martin