We’re very happy to announce that we’re launching out of private beta! We’ve been ticking away behind the scenes since late 2012: testing, reiterating and fine-tuning our solution to finding and connecting creative talent. The site is currently live in London and we’ll be expanding across the UK in summer 2013.
What we’ve come up with is a network that we truly feel we can stand behind. The Backscratchers is a handpicked, cross-disciplinary creative network, connecting innovative brands and companies with top tier freelancers for collaborations on short-term paid projects and skills exchanges. Think of it as combining the best aspects of portfolio and freelancing websites with the industry approval elements of LinkedIn.
In the few months we’ve been up, we’ve generated a community that includes freelancers and employees from places like i-D Magazine, Secret Cinema, Fallon, EMI and Stella McCartney. We’ve also had some amazing projects go through the platform, from the likes of immersive cinematic experience company Future Cinema, creative agency Capitalize, basketball star Carmelo Antony and more. Here’s a little taster of some of the things we’ve been up to:
Lineage Interactive commissioned two filmmakers to create a promo video for Carmelo Anthony, the New York Knicks and Team USA basketball legend. The video has since received 36,000 hits on YouTube.
Future Cinema commissioned four illustrations on an overnight turnaround for their sold out production of Grease, which attracted over 9,000 attendees over the course of one weekend.
We can’t wait to see what our community creates over the next few months. Keep tabs on what we’re up to on the various social networks: Facebook and Twitter. If you’re a freelancer interested in signing up, please apply here. If you’re an innovative company and would like to talk about how The Backscratchers could help your work, feel free to get in touch with us here.