The rise of the Crunch Collectives

More and more people are starting up their own businesses. For some its because they've been laid off, others are just fulfilling an ambition to be their own boss. But the rise of the independent practitioner in the marketing and creative industry has given rise to a phenomenon so suited to the times it could change the face of the sector and signal the demise of the mid-size full service agency.
Crunch Collectives are loosely associated groups of professionals with complementary skills. They come together in whichever combination is required to meet the client brief; their overheads are low and dispersed, so the client is only paying the costs associated with the specific project and not, for example, funding the fixed costs of an agency team irrelevant to his or her current requirements. Designers, PRs, Strategists, SEOs, Event Production Specialists, Photographers - they are all collaborating and combining to provide a perfect skills match for a client's project with a great value proposition and the ability to switch their service off and on as required.
Full service agencies - beware the Crunch Collectives.