The Match.com of creative agencies?

Have you read about The ideaLists? It’s an open-source creative agency that exists online only, and it operates very similarly to a dating website (uh, not that I have any experience with that)—creatives submit ideas, and clients can browse the ideas to find one they’d like to back.

“Founded by Adam Glickman, a former publisher of Tokion Magazine who most recently worked at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, The Idealists seeks to create a marketplace for ideas,” writes Brian Morrissey of Adweek magazine. “The invite-only site allows creatives searching for backers to submit ideas. By the same token, companies on the hunt for inspiration can submit requests.”

Screen shot of The ideaLists homepage. The site is still in beta.

Who would sign up for such a site? That’s exactly what Ed White of Boards magazine asked Glickman in a recent Q&A:

“The hope is to create new connections and new opportunities by inviting in a cross section of industries on a global level,” Glickman said. “So now if you work in New York fashion and need to tap into the LA production world, that’s a possibility. If you are head of marketing at a record label and decide you want to promote your next single via a video game rather than a music video, you can tap into this community. If you are a highly talented developer in Sao Paulo or Singapore, now you can share you ideas with clients here in the US.

“And I should add,” he continued, “all the above examples came from industry pros telling me how they intend to use the site, I didn’t make those up myself.”

It will be interesting to see how this experiment turns out, don’t you think?

2 Comments

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Posted 01/25/2010 at 11:23 am | Permalink

This could be a very successful venture, although it relies on people acting in a trustworthy fashion. What would stop someone from lifting an idea and using it without attribution?

- Kristina Feliciano
  
  Posted 01/26/2010 at 10:07 am | Permalink
  
  Hi, Maggie. Actually, the writer for Boards magazine asked Adam Glickman that very question. Here’s what Adam said in the article:
  
  We have put precautions in place to protect IP. Should members choose, they can keep certain parts of their idea or brief confidential until a particular user is specifically authorized to view it. There are non-disclosure agreements built into the site that a viewer must sign before being allowed to see the more confidential aspects of an idea. In addition, we require user registration and track individuals using the site. Thus, we maintain a record of who has seen what that could be discoverable in legal proceedings. It is worth mentioning this is more protection than IP currently receives when it comes to discussing across a table in closed meetings.
  
  That said, it should be understood that unrealized ideas are quite hard to legally protect. Therefore, if your idea is so valuable you couldn’t bear to see it taken, then you shouldn’t post it on The ideaLists.
  
  I’ll also add two cents more on the topic since it’s the first question creatives tend to ask me about the site: in today’s information-driven world, we are all absorbing the same cultural memes. With this in mind, any idea you might have, it’s a pretty good bet five other people have a similar one. At that point it becomes all about the one who executes first while the other four say: “Oh I had a similar idea once but…” By posting here, at least you can be first to lay claim to an idea in a controlled, semi-pubic forum.
  
  One more note: should a company want to create their own enclosed idea sharing network rather than share with ours, we are offering white labeling services and already in discussions with a few companies to build ideaLists for them… And in future site updates, we will allow members to create their own groups within the site, only sharing with those invited in.

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