Round-table discussion or charity work

Dear freelancers, we have narrowed our anniversary celebration ideas down to two... we could do one or both depending on you. What are your thoughts? Would you participate in either?

OPTION A: Round-table discussion 
Fraser suggested a round-table event at De Kring in Amsterdam to discuss. 'What do agencies look for from freelancers and freelance agencies, and what are the industry trends in using freelancers?' The initial idea was for it to be one of those discussions that appears in print, in Adformatie and other magazines, but this might be difficult as the magazine is a lot smaller now. We could even expand it to a day with more than one round-table, a freelancing seminar day. If we had enough interest and participants. Are you interested in being on the panels or attending? What would you like to discuss or learn more about?

OPTION B: Charity work 
We wrote this article about free freelancing for charities. A 10 year anniversary special idea would be 10 freelancers volunteering 10 hours (or more) free for charity. Could you volunteer your time? We would promote you online and in press releases with your skills and portfolio, so you get publicity as well as good karma.

10 years with the best English copywriters

The Collective is proud to announce that we have now reached our 10th anniversary. We started out exclusively representing English creatives, but as we grew internationally, so did our nationalities. Now we boast 110 of the best creative freelancers from across Europe… copywriters, art directors, designers, online specialists and transcreators... you can find them all with The Collective.

We’ll be celebrating our anniversary year by focusing each newsletter on one of the 10 different specialties in our portfolio of creatives. This month it’s the turn of English copywriting, the discipline that has been our core business since the beginning.

Native-English copywriters
Here are 10 benefits of using a native-English copywriter through The Collective:
1. Quality is what counts… you can’t afford any mistakes when hiring a freelancer. We have agency-experienced copywriters who you can trust to get your brief right the first time.
2. Specialist writers… from healthcare to financial. Whatever your client’s discipline, we have a specialist with experience of writing for it.
3. Copy or concepts… whether you need a conceptual copywriter for an ad campaign or a long copy writer for a brochure or a website, we have experienced experts in all areas.
4. English copywriters that speak your language… our copywriters are based across Europe and many speak the local language so can do transcreation from that language into English.
5. Go native... copywriters should only do copywriting in their native language. Don’t be tempted to get English copy written by a non-native speaker… the results speak for themselves.
6. Tried and tested… we have been using the same core of copywriters for the last 10 years and they provide a service that can be trusted for quality, creativity and timing.
7. Portfolio vs personality… we only represent nice people. This might sound strange, but you can’t judge how a freelancer is to work with from the portfolio alone. How they are to work with is just as important.
8. Onsite without the flight… We have copywriters in most of the major cities and they can work onsite in your office at short notice, often without the costs of a flight or a hotel
9. Service at speed… we know the deadline for copy is usually yesterday, so we offer a fast service, searching our network to find the copywriter who can deliver the quickest. 10. We do the leg work… for you to call around and find the right copywriter, who’s available now, takes up a lot of your valuable time. Let us take the strain and leave you free to do your job.

When you need an English copywriter, think of The Collective.

2012!

Happy New Year everyone!
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration.
It's back to work now here in Holland and there are jobs coming in already.
Let's hope it's a great year for everyone!

The Collective Team.

Christmas Wishes!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Buon Natale! Vrolijk Kerstfeest! Joyeux Noel! Froehliche Weihnachten! Gledileg Jol! Gajan Kristnaskon! Vesele Vanoce! Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan!.... ah you get the idea.
We hope you have a lovely relaxing time with you family, and failing that, a lot to drink!
See you next year.

The Collective Team.

Back To Work - Party Invite Reminder

On the beach or in the office?

Last week we sent an email to our clients (Rain not Spain) to inform them that The Collective is open for business all summer long.

To help us to help our clients, please let us know if you have any holiday plans.
And wherever you are, you can follow our summer headlines campaign on Twitter or Facebook!

The Collective Team.

Facebook!

Dear All,

We are pleased to announce, that recently we have opened a Facebook Page!

Check it!

The Collective Team.

Jack Stafford show

Jack Stafford, Collective founder, is having a concert to mark the closing of his suit shop and his last show before a 4-month tour of New Zealand and Australia. You are all welcome to attend. It's the last gathering at Vijzelstraat 67 before The Collective move. Saturday 12th February. 8 until late. Show at 10pm. Bring your own drinks. Friends are welcome!

Breaking News!

Dear Freelancers!

On the 24th of February, The Collective will be moving to our new office at:

Keizersgracht 205, 1016 DS Amsterdam.

On the 24th itself and afterwards you can still reach us on the same phone number as now:

020-320 5319.

The invitation for a drink will follow soon!

Kinky Christmas Album

Dear freelancers,

Do you like to listen to the Kinks'?
Listen to Jack and his new cover album!
Once again... Have a lovely Christmas!

The Collective Team.

Happy holidays from The Collective team!

Dear Creatives,

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2011!

Jack, Justyna, Sandra & Wilma.

Network Drinks

You are invited on the upcoming networking drinks on Thursday 30th of September at DuintjerCS building, Vijzelstraat 72, 7th floor. Jack Stafford will perform as troubadour at the next DOMIBO drinks, organised by Carmen Flagiello. The theme is DuintjerCS meets de buurt/de buurt meets DuintjerCS. Please join us from 18:00.

Amsterdam goes World Cup crazy!

On Amsterdam's Museumplein, 80,000 people celebrated as the
Netherlands beat Uruguay in the World Cup semi-final. Click on
heading to share the joy.

The Collective Drinks Thursday, the 1st of July 2010

The next Collective networking drinks will be held on Thursday 1 july at our usual location in the shop “The Jack Stafford Collection” (beneath our office) at Vijzelstraat 67. Please join us from 18:00.

CALL FOR PERMANENT JOB OF DESIGN MANAGER

One of our clients is looking for a Design Manager.

Reporting to the Head of Corporate Branding, the successful candidate will be an experienced, highly motivated, individual with a strong track record in corporate design management and will play a pivotal role in providing creative direction to the development of clients brand identity. As well as managing a budget for the product area, the post holder will be responsible for managing products through from initial concept to artwork, while ensuring that levels of quality and innovation are maintained.

Main responsibilities
* Develop and produce concepts, designs, and art direction for corporate projects
* Deliver practical, hands-on, design for a wide variety communication materials (annual reports, corporate magazine, events and other applications)
* Devise creative strategies and direction for design management
* Co-develop, manage, implement and monitor global visual identity guidelines
* Set-up a brand/design portal throughout the whole company
* Manage freelancers, printers and design agencies

Minimum requirements
* Excellent portfolio demonstrating in-depth experience and ability to manage, develop and monitor corporate identity/company house style and relevant guidelines at corporate and product level
* Proven design management and skills
* Superior hands-on design skills and creativity
* Ability to work on own initiative, thrive in a dynamic and high performance environment and deal effectively with deadline pressure
* Highly proficient in using Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator
* Experience with print coordination and purchase negotiations
* A team player with a clear understanding of the role, position and boundaries of design in a corporate environment
* Job ratio is 65% design activities and 35% management activities

About client
Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, they are a Global Fortune 500 company and are consistently ranked as one of the leaders on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. With operations in more than 80 countries, our 55,000 people around the world are committed to excellence and delivering Tomorrow's Answers Today(tm).

If you are interested in this permanent job, please contact sandra@thecollective or wilma@thecollective.net.

Happy Easter

The Collective would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter!

The Collective Drinks Thursday, the 25th of March 2010

The Collective would appreciate it if you could r.s.v.p to Caitlyn de Wild at; caitlyn@thecollective.net by the 18th of March 2010. We look forward to seeing you all there on the 25th of March 2010.

GREAT SPACE AT A GREAT PLACE

As you know, we have a shop underneath our office and we are looking to put it to more use. We are open to suggestions, ideas and co-ventures. Maybe you have something we can sell in the shop, hang in it, launch in it or just exhibit. If so, please get in touch.

Congrats to Miriam Young for completing the New York City Marathon

Proving she’s got the stamina and commitment needed for long-haul projects, copywriter Miriam Young ran the New York City Marathon on the 1st of November 2009, finishing in 5 hours 32 minutes. “Not a bad first attempt for the girl who used to take taxis between pubs!”

The Golden Age postponed

Sorry.

Our Return To The Golden Age party was

due to take place on September 24th.

But we have had to rearrange it.

The party will now take place on October 15th.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Collective

You are invited to return to the Golden Age

Come and see some Jonathan Brown collages!

10 things you can do to get more freelance work

In these depressed times we're all looking for more work. Here are 10 ways to help you get more freelance assignments from The Collective...

1. Say hello

Come by The Collective. There's no substitute for meeting you to keep you top of mind. Bring chocolates or flowers or both. Or just email us regularly if it’s too far to come.

2. Collective drinks

We are having drinks in the shop on Thursday 28th May. Show your face, meet other freelancers and stay in the loop.

3. Availability

Tell us when you get a big job and you're unavailable. Then tell us you've just finished, did a great job and are now available again.

4. Update your profile

Is your profile on The Collective website amazing? If it's not as good as it could be you're selling yourself short. Even if it’s already great, it still needs to be refreshed periodically

5. Answer your phone

Most jobs need to be done at short notice and most freelancers still don't answer their phones straight away. Some people have lost work because of this.

6. Promote yourself

If you have time on your hands, send us your promotional ideas. We're helping Erik and Raoul contact some clients directly because they came to us with a proposal.

7. Promote The Collective

The more work we get the more work you get. We had the idea to send a postcard to all agencies in the summer saying that we're available when they're on holiday. If you come up with another good idea then you'll be the first person we recommend to get work that comes from it.

8. Blog it

Did you win a award? An important pitch? If you’ve done something amazing in the advertising world, we can write about you on our blog and in our newsletter.

9. Show your portfolio

If there’s an agency you want to show your portfolio to, let us know and we'll arrange a meeting for you.

10. Surprise us

You're the creative, think of something that we haven't.

AND IN OTHER NEWS....

House of Orange, the photography agency, will organize a print sale next week Wednesday (20th May) of all their photographers, with small prices as low as € 20,-

17.00 – 21.00

WHY NOT

Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 28-30

1012 RZ Amsterdam

QUARTERLY DRINKS

Our next “borrel” will take place at the good old Collective pad on the Vijzelstraat 67. Not in the office but downstairs in the shop. Please join us May 28th from 17.00 till 19.00. See you then!

Partying the recession away

On Friday 26th of February, The Collective hosted
a Recession Party on the top floor of the Duintjer CS
building in Amsterdam.

We chose the top floor so that anybody who wanted
to end it all as a consequence of economic armageddon
could do so in spectacular manner.

But there was no danger of that as, due to the cheap
drinks spiked with the finest drugs known to Casper,
everyone was soon behaving as though it was 2007
all over again.

Even better, The Collective got to know many of the
creative people who have office space in the Duintjer.

And the evening was such a success that the Duintjer
has asked The Collective to host another party as soon
as possible.

So keep checking out thecollective.net for party details!

Shop space available for ideas, projects and products

As you know, we have a shop underneath our office and we are looking to put it to more uses. We are open to suggestions, ideas and co-ventures for part of it. Maybe you have something we can sell in the shop, hang it in, launch in it or just exhibit. If so, please get in touch.