Over the past few years I have seen and heard of a large number of creative agencies across the UK closing down. Falling foul of the economy; the perils of their own growth and crashes; or simply seeing the work they normally have dry up seemingly out of nowhere.
As a result, the freelance pool is expanding faster than the work can keep up with. That is how it feels at times. But there is something new forming in the place of creative agencies that appears to have some legs. Co-operatives of freelancers.
Where does the big work go?
Agencies have always had a problem. Overheads. The cost of running an agency can be very steep. Depending of course on how many staff are full-time employed, office space, bills and other costs of running an agency like the enormous monthly Adobe tools fees.
But agencies have always been rather good at gaining the work that I’m sure many freelancers would love to get. The big projects.
You know the ones. They often contain multiple parts, such as a rebrand, plus a website, as well as brand print and campaign collateral. Maybe naming, copywriting, content creation. All in the one large-scale job. One freelancer alone can’t handle all of this. But an agency who employs multiple designers with a range of specialities, content and copy people, marketers, and project managers can.
The new model taking on agencies
The thing about freelancers is that they are incredibly agile. Much more so than an agency can hope to be. The other thing that I have noticed since becoming a full-time freelancer in 2025 is that creative freelancers are very happy and willing to collaborate. In fact, instead of feeling like competition, it can feel like a community. All supporting each other either with words of encouragement, leads, or at the very least a empathetic ear for when times are hard.
But it goes a step further. What I am seeing now in the industry more and more is small groups of freelancers coming together in a semi-formal manner to create a co-operative. Working alongside each other to pitch for and work on larger scale projects as if they were one entity, whilst retaining complete independence.
It’s not a new concept. People have been doing this for a long time. Though perhaps now, in this strange economic climate, it is happening at a grander scale.
Why does the co-operative model work?
For me, I think the collectives are working because they remain very agile. Each person operates independently. They retain their own work loads. They have their specialisms. Then, at the right moment and for the right project, they collaborate and act as a team.
Perhaps two out of four freelancers in a co-operative are working on a new website; one designer, one developer. The next month, maybe all four people can work on the same project. Utilising branding, copywriting, web design and development all together. The next, they are all working on their own individual projects and so on.
Everyone gets a good share, everyone supports each other, everyone wins.
What does this mean for creative agencies?
Short answer for you, I have no idea. I don’t run an agency. Never have. I’ve worked in a few of them over the years. In some cases not envying the owners having to continuously bring enough work in to keep a whole team gainfully employed. Myself falling foul to a down turn in work and being made redundant from an agency. It stung at the time. But it also lead me to where I am now.
My feeling is that for agencies of a certain scale, things may continue to get more difficult. If agencies aren’t closing down, they’re slimming down. Redundancies are being made left, right and centre. It’s a concern. But maybe, just maybe, it’s an opportunity.
Personally, I think we will see more freelancers congregating to form co-operatives, or whatever you want to call them. I think it can make a lot of sense, especially where the skills of individuals compliment the others. Just like you get in an agency. But more agile. Form the team you need for each project, nothing more, nothing less. Clients get a team, which they seem to like to have, the freelancers get the work. As a bonus, they get to work alongside their creative friends to deliver said work.
So, my question is, who’s up for forming a co-operative? 👀