Are UK agencies willing to put freelancers on trophy clients? (Live Issue/Freelancing).(United Kingdom, Will Farquhar, Ian Ducker)(Brief Article)

The creatives Will Farquhar and Ian Ducker are perfectly clear about their intentions following their departure from Leagas Delaney this week. The two, famous for their work on the BBC and Adidas, are continuing their 21-year partnership on a freelance basis, and are hoping that they can help change the reputation of freelancing in the UK market.

"In the US, the culture is very different. Freelances are seen as the creme de la creme by agencies, who hire them to work alongside an existing team to enhance its offering," Farquhar says. "Here, it's not necessarily seen as being a credible career path for people. We want to try and change that."

Farquhar and Ducker aim to work solely for agencies, dropping into creative departments to work on the types of accounts they've been used to working on. Indeed, Leagas' loss of its place on the BBC roster 18 months ago, as well as last year's Barclays and Adidas account moves, were the main impetus for their departure.

They have no desire -- yet -- to explore the possibilities of winning their own clients, or even hooking up .with new start-ups such as Rapley Smith & Jones, the ad agency started in January, which relies on outsourced help for the creative product.

"Creative departments are essential to an agency's success, and I don't believe that they can simply be bolted on afterwards," Farquhar adds.

But will agencies be ready to publicly accept freelances on the kind of trophy clients that Ducker and Farquhar are aiming for? It's no secret that agencies regularly rope in creatives to ...