CREATIVE RETAINERs

This agreement is best served for the client who needs ongoing marketing and content creation help over a long period of time. Agencies offer creative retainers just like any other retainer. It’s an upfront payment at a reduced rate for monthly (or quarterly) ongoing work.

WHAT ARE CREATIVE RETAINERS?

A creative retainer is an agreement between your business and Chaos Theory that allows you access to our billable hours for a set period of time at a discounted rate. In simple terms, you, the client, pay us to act as your in-house creative department for a set period of time and for pre-determined hours. A creative retainer gives you first rights to a wide range of professional creative services we offer without the overhead associated with a permanent employee on your end. Our goal with a retainer is to have an agreement that’s good for both parties and if it’s not good for both, it’s not good for either.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF A CREATIVE RETAINER?

Typically our creative projects are bid on a per-project or per line item basis. We calculate our expenses on day rates and hourly rates, per the industry standard, but bill turn-key prices because we want to deliver our creative agency packages to clients for exactly what we said we would. A retainer allows us to do that. We really do think it’s all about relationships, and we know what it’s like to think you're getting a project for one price and then get billed for another. Go Retainers.

By getting a creative retainer, our agency will provide exactly how many hours of work we provided. Having a retainer will provide you with first rights to our entire design staff. This means our agency gets to your jobs more quickly. Plus, since our agreement is for a set number of hours, we can offer creative at a discounted rate. The more hours you commit to, the lower your hourly rate. With a creative retainer, House of Sticks retains a pre-determined number of hours exclusively for you. Digital agencies like it because, if you have rush work or an unplanned need, our creative associates can respond immediately. Depending on the terms of your retainer, members of our team are at your disposal. It’s really like having us in-house. Retainers are awesome for agencies and the client.

If you have multiple small projects, we eliminate the need to seek estimates, manage multiple contracts, and pay multiple invoices. Basically, you are pre-purchasing the time to accomplish the work you need. A retainer makes it easier for your business to go faster. It's typical for people to need stuff on impulse, retainers make that possible with monthly service terms.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT?

Since you are essentially pre-purchasing time, by having a retainer, we will provide the number of hours we worked on your projects each month. Typically, the number of hours in the retainer agreement isn't perfect right off the bat, so to find the right balance for both of us we make the first 3 months somewhat variable and then base the remainder of the contract figures on our history. If your need increases our program scales so your team stills gets great digital agency service at an expected rate.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T USE THE EXACT AMOUNT OF HOURS?

If clients go over the budgeted number of hours we will alert you and give you an estimate for the project at our retainer partner rate, which is normally about 20% lower, BEFORE doing the work. If clients do not use all the budgeted hours, we do not roll them over so as to avoid giving our team an amount of work on any given month that wasn’t predetermined to be feasible.

WHAT TYPES OF SERVICES DO I GET WITH A RETAINER?

This will be detailed in your Retainer Terms but could include research, writing, editing, storyboarding, video editing, VFX creation, motion graphics, color correction, compositing, photo retouching, and some others. Full-Service Production is not offered in Retainers.

WHAT SERVICES ARE NOT INCLUDED?

We don't offer services that highly variable expenses associated with them, which is why Full Production on set is not covered. Our Creative Director will consult with you before beginning work to identify any fees or costs that may be billed in addition to your creative retainer agreement. Dental stuff is not covered in any monthly contract. Ever. FYI. You should see a dentist about that…

QUESTIONS?

If you have more questions about retainers feel free to ask!