A Comparison of Creative Services
Modern marketing relies on increasing volumes of timely, high-quality creative, but hiring more designers or outsourcing to agencies and freelancers is inflexible, slow, and expensive.
Learn how to elevate your design game on demand, on budget, and at scale.
Creative is the key to differentiation and growth
The quality of the creative determines up to 75% of marketing performance. But, with multiple campaigns, channels, and formats, and the need to test assets to learn what works: How can companies keep up with the design demand while ensuring consistency and quality? There are 3 common approaches:
In-house Creative Teams
Pros
- Greater control of the creative process and easy integration of design and business strategy
- Deep understanding of the brand identity to deliver genuine design work
- Focus on creative strategy beyond design production
Cons
- Higher costs including salaries, benefits, and overhead expenses
- Limited breadth of creative capabilities and lack of access to the latest design technology
- Recruitment challenges to find, manage, and retain talent, and risk of design operations disruption if they leave
Agencies
Pros
- Face-to-face collaboration and direct input into the design process
- Established reputation within an industry when looking for a trusted partner
- High specialization and track record of successful projects in their area of expertise
Cons
- Limited control of the creative team and design operations, and lack of flexibility to adapt to changing creative needs or scope
- Longer turnaround times due to inefficient project management and limited resources
- Locked-in retainer contract with higher bills to compensate for excessive operating costs
Freelancers
Pros
- Direct communication with the designer on a project-by-project basis
- Flexibility to respond to changes in scope or direction
- Lower cost depending on the breadth of skills and the number of freelancers required
Cons
- Limited accountability —and availability— to meet deadlines and deliver top-quality work
- Limited range of creative skills, implying a network of freelancers to account for every required capability
- Time-consuming onboarding where you have to start over with every request
Superside is the better way
to get creative done
Superside offers Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS), a unique combination of (1) globally distributed team of world-class creative talent, (2) online platform for easy briefing, communication, and review, and (3) flexible design subscription model.
We can replace most agencies and freelancers —or work with them— to help you:
- Expand design capacity on demand
- Test campaign creative concepts at scale
- Access an unparalleled breadth of creative capabilities
- Ensure timely delivery of reliable design in as little as 24 hours
- Adjust flexibly to your changing creative needs and budget
Top-quality Creative
We hire the top 1% of creative talent, no matter where they live, for consistent quality and diverse perspectives and skills. What agency has 400+ amazing designers?
Speed
Our online platform makes it easy to kick off, manage, and review creative projects, and we work while you sleep to deliver fast 12, 24, and 48+ hour turnarounds
Flexibility & Scale
We can adapt to any scale and creative needs thanks to our design subscription model, modular team structure, and unparalleled breadth of capabilities
Cost-efficiency
We use tech to orchestrate, automate, and streamline design operations. Our no-wastage operating model allows us to pass on the savings to our customers
9.6
Average rating from customers70%
Faster turnaround time than agencies20x
Faster than hiring in-house30%
Reduced average cost vs alternativesSuperside alternatives
We want you to choose the best design service for your unique needs, even if it's not us
Happy with the comparison?
See Superside in action
Get a demo and discover how 450+ ambitious companies and 2,500 energized fans use Superside to free themselves from the shackles of limited budgets, broken processes and stretched in-house teams.