Ideas flow on OpenAd

OpenAd, a new "virtual" ad agency hopes to create the agency of the future by linking a pool of 7,000 creatives from around the world with potential clients, reports the International Herald Tribune.

The creatives don't actually work directly for OpenAd. Instead, the agency (which has roots in Slovenia) acts as an internet broker, forging deals with clients in the hopes of bringing the world of Web 2.0 to the advertising business.

OpenAd works by inviting marketers to post creative briefs, outlining potential assignments on its website, for which marketers are charged $3,000 to $100,000, depending on the scale of the resulting ad campaign. OpenAd then collects 22.5 percent as a commission.

Several OpenAd members, including Lastminute.com, an Internet travel site, and Ontrac|Global, a London-based provider of technology consulting services, have used the site to generate ideas for ads.