Build and Discard - The Disposable EXPERTISE PARADOX

The freelance creative industry faces a crisis, intensified by the potential adoption of generative ai models in fast fashion. This article explores the in-house studio creative cycle and how freelance creatives often become casualties of the brands they help to build.

In a later article, we will explore generative AI’s potential impact. Here, we examine the flagship in-house content creation studio and how its growth ultimately leaves freelancers in precarious situations, reshaping the creative workforce of the city.

This is not a call out of any particular brand, it’s a consolidated view of a business model in fast fashion content creation.

Stage 1 : The Desire to Build

Due to growth a brand wants to build an in-house content studio, yet they lack the sufficient Creative Skills or knowledge to create the content that they need.

Likely they will have an existing small team of full timers, but not enough to establish standards to build good creative for PDP. (Product Detail Pages)

The solution is to bring in experienced Producers from the local city, with a full contact book of high value Freelance Creatives. These managers will create an attractive day rate and define a role for the freelance talent.

Armed with rudimentary brand guidelines and a Snr Manager with a vision, the freelancers will establish the baselines for the studio. These very experienced Freelance Creatives will use their skills in Styling, Lighting, Model direction etc to set the Benchmarks that resonate with the brand and the customer.

Benefits to the brand

• The freelancer with above market day rate and engaging goals will feel loyalty to the brand.

• This loyalty from the freelancer, may mean they prioritise the new brand over existing clients.

• Its likely they will discuss the brand with others creating a buzz and a desire to get on the studio books.

• The studio has the influx of skill, can be agile and learn with no risk of long term commitment.

• Full-timers are learning from the established creative talent as free training.

Stage 2 Benchmark and Maturity

Using the skills of its freelance talent the studio establishes a baseline of standards, finding what is achievable in terms of daily targets versus quality. Workflows will be tested, discarded and improved.

At this stage the studio will openly rely on freelance input in reviews, meetings and general day to day. Freelancers will feel valued for their expertise and see their suggestions put into practise, this may encourage them to feel brand loyalty.

As this stage becomes established the Studio will start to increase the daily capacity targets whilst maintaining the pay levels of Stage1.

A subtle change will also introduce the idea of a casual monitoring of creatives for productivity and efficiency. This will be positioned as ‘learning and improving’.

The Studio will benefit from increased output but without any increased cost.

Stage 3 Standardisation and Expanding the Freelance Pool

The studio will begin to solidify what it has learned from the freelancers into a clear way of working, documenting standards for PDP, and techniques to increase numbers but still hit visual brand targets.

The informal freelance input of Stage 2 will switch ownership, becoming daily and weekly reviews led by in-house full-timers. Freelancers will learn their booking situation is dependent on the daily reviews and capacity targets.

This will establish the change in tone and expectation from the studio, moving away from learning and collaboration.

Last minute bookings will emerge as the studio focuses on set capacity, intake and standardised costs. The freelancers will begin to lose the income that has previously sustained them.

The freelance pool will be expanded, with a lower day rate for the new intake. More freelancers will be competing for less bookings and will need to achieve the daily targets to stay in consideration.

Stage 4 The Cost of Commitment – Lower Rates, Higher Expectations

With a greater focus on capacity, block bookings will become the norm at the lower day rate. Having sacrificed other clients in earlier stages freelancers will face the internal pressure of accepting the rate change or being replaced.

The studio may also change the mechanism of payment for example from 30 days to 60 days.

Some of the most experienced Freelance Creatives will not accept the new rates only making themselves available for elevated content and special projects.

This change allows the studio to lower daily rate further and to introduce less experienced freelancers, on high rotation from a deep pool.

Reviews will be daily, but also happen in-set. Focus will be placed on timekeeping, phone usage, time taken off-set.

Overall headcount per set may reduce, increasing job spec, for example Photographers will be expected to take on the Art Director role using Style Guides. Stylists may become responsible for Ops tasks such Product movement at start and end of day.

Stage 5 Disposable Expertise

This stage will begin the transition into a more full time salaried workforce. Some late arrival and high achiever freelancers, on the lower pay rates, will be flipped to full time salary role.

A few early Full-timers will gain elevated roles in charge of the freelancers that trained them.

With the reduction of freelance roles the day rate may reach its lowest level only used to cover peak, last minute cancellations and illness.

The ‘best’ freelancers will be moved into areas that focus on higher levels of content, Homepage and Social imagery or new project such as Video.

Stage 6 Outsourcing – Lower Rates Beyond the Studio

The studio will increase daily targets and communicate this across the board yet fewer efficiencies will be found. The next step is that standard, low value, content creation tasks, such as Basics will be outsourced to third party content studios to cut costs.

At this stage the Studio will be almost entirely full-time or the lowest sustainable day rate with high capacity targets.

These external, third party content studios will be using low day rate freelancers, often many of the same freelancers that left at Stage4. Sweeping up multiple brands they will leverage low pay, high output.

Stage 7 The Cycle Continues – Elevating Content, Disposable Freelancer

As the confidence of the In-House studio grows, the Disposable Freelancer cycle repeats for elevated content. The brand will learn from the freelance talent, fail, learn again and set baselines. Day rates will start high, then be reduced with addition of further content outcomes.

Some freelance creatives may be flipped into full-time elevated leadership roles, so the studio can take on all elevated content process.

The Disposable Expertise Paradox

This model underlines a harsh reality: brands depend on freelancers to create and innovate, yet cannot afford to value them long-term.

This ‘disposable expertise’ approach will maximise in-house efficiency, and allows brand growth but it leaves the creative workforce in an unsustainable cycle of knowledge drain and undervaluation.

At each stage of the process freelance creatives will face increased job insecurity and lower pay rates.

As the studio grows creatives, often at an early stages of their career will gravitate towards the studio. The market becomes saturated and the day rate for all will decrease until top tier talent leave the industry.

Is this a sustainable model for the future of creativity, or will it drive top talent away from an industry they helped build?

Soon we will look at the potential impact of ai image generation as it becomes integrated into the content creation industry.