Think of an ad agency’s work as a delicious hamburger prepared to specifically meet your tastes. The final ad campaign, with its creative concept, visuals, and messaging, is like a beautifully presented burger, ready for you to enjoy. Now, imagine that the open files are like the recipe, the raw ingredients, and the chef’s secret techniques. It’s the full behind-the-scenes process that makes the finished dish so special.
When you order the burger, you get the meal, but not the recipe. It’s the same when you commission a creative agency to create artwork or an ad campaign. You pay for the finished product, the burger on your plate and not for the step-by-step instructions, the design software, or the assets used to make it. Just like the chef’s recipe is their intellectual property, the work created by a designer or agency is theirs too.
The Risk of Undervaluing Creativity
Now, consider what happens if a restaurant starts giving customers the recipe, the secret sauce ingredients, and the techniques to replicate their meals at home. It’s not ideal for anyone. The restaurant loses business and the customer won’t be able to follow the recipe as well as the specially trained chef.
Similarly, if a creative agency hands over open files to clients, it risks undervaluing the hard work and creativity that went into the project. It allows the client to use the tools, techniques, and assets to replicate or even modify the work without the agency’s involvement. While the client may save money in the short term, they’re missing out on the value that comes from collaboration, expertise, and ongoing support from the creative team.
Protecting Intellectual Property
At Coffee Creative, we view the process of creating designs, branding, and campaigns as a culmination of expert knowledge, skills, and years of experience. Our intellectual property, just like a chef’s secret recipe is what makes us unique. When you commission us to create work for you, you’re paying for the final product, but also for the knowledge, creativity, and time it took to bring it to life.
That’s why we include clear guidelines about intellectual property in our Terms and Conditions. Under the Intellectual Property section, we outline the importance of protecting both the work itself and the process that went into creating it. When we hand over open files, we’re not withholding anything out of greed or a desire to control the process; we’re simply protecting the integrity of our work and ensuring that we’re compensated fairly for our expertise.
The Bottom Line
As we move into 2025, we believe that protecting the integrity of creative work is essential. When you commission us, you’re not just paying for the physical assets, you’re paying for the expertise, creativity, and years of experience that go into every project. Just like a hamburger is meant to be enjoyed as is, without asking for the recipe, the work we create is meant to be appreciated in its final form, not broken down into editable components. That said, if you’d like us to open files on your project, we can definitely discuss that first before moving forward.
At Coffee Creative, we’re proud of the work we create, and we believe that fair compensation for that work, without giving away the open files, is key to maintaining the value of creative collaboration. By respecting intellectual property, we ensure that every project we work on has the time, expertise, and protection it deserves.
If you want to experience the full value of what we offer, we invite you to let us continue guiding and supporting you. After all, just like the perfect burger, a well-crafted campaign is best enjoyed as it was intended for those who know exactly how to make it.
