The IdeaLists

As a matchmaking platform, it's not our business to discuss publicly what happens once matches get made. But as the year comes to a close, we wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the more interesting things that took place.

• Our user base doubled to just under 3,000 professional users. We've noticed an exciting meritocracy take shape as members that are talented, engaged and enthused are awarded work again and again. We look forward to working closer with this group next year.
• Our client base grew by 10x as companies became increasingly comfortable with using this new kind of service. Clients we're honored to work with this year include everything from big brands like Nike and Disaronno to small indie record labels like iASO. We always envisioned a one-size-fits-all platform that could be used by large and small companies alike, so we're really glad to see this now happening.
• Over 10 million dollars in opportunities passed through the network this year. Examples included websites to album packaging to full-time jobs. And as the marketplace for online video grows by leaps and bounds, film and video projects have really taken off. Everything from cute little fashion films for Kate Spade to broadcast commercials. Like this spot for Boost Mobile—created against a challenging budget and timeline by the superhero-esque production company Caviar Content (who swept in to deliver a great ad for the client while building the reel for their new director—win/win). Or Sephora, who needed to reach across the Pacific to create a Tokyo-based docu-style series with only 5 days to prep. IdeaLists members Syn Studio stepped up to produce a three-part beauty series (currently in post). It's these make-the-impossible-happen stories that we are most proud of.
• Meanwhile, we found ourselves increasingly busy with part-time and full-time job recruitment, particularly for advertising agencies in their ever-increasing searches for new, specialized skills. Agencies using the site ran the gamut from big shots like BBH and Media Arts Lab to amazing, fast growing shops like Gin Lane, Mr. Youth and ALLDAYEVERYDAY. Truth is, this side of the business isn’t as automated as project posts so we’ve been selective about the opportunities that go through the site. That said, we managed to make matches for positions ranging from executive staff at social media agencies to handbag designers at apparel brands. Feel free to be in touch if your having a hard time finding great talent to add to you team.
• Something we haven’t talked about much but have been quietly working on: a few very interesting and serendipitous ideas have been pitched unsolicited and sold via the site. We can tell you more once work is released, but one case study we can share is the odd story of Dogboarding, a film created by our favorite directors Daniels. Daniels originally created the short film for us on behalf of Coke. But due to the risqué subject matter, our (awesome) Coke client couldn’t use it and graciously agreed to let IdeaLists buy it back. The film was shared with our friends at Sony whose new band Foster the People were interested in reediting it as an online video. And with that, an idea that didn’t survive a client’s cut found new life, resulting in a million views in under a week and putting both the band and directors on top of the years breakthrough talent lists.
• And finally, a failure: The Group functionality we added to the site at the beginning of the year never really seemed to take off. Interestingly, larger networks like Facebook and Google+ seem to be coming to similar conclusions—people simply don't want to parse information within separate networks. So it's most likely this will disappear in the New Year, replaced with some new tricks we're concocting in exchange.

In 2012 look for more site upgrades and services as we continue to refine the offering—expanding on what works well and tweaking the parts that could be better. And if you like what were doing, please spread the word. A marketplace like ours only works as well as the members using it.