“We hit two birds with one stone”
Vicoland’s innovative Vico model is gaining media attention as it enables freelancers to form expert teams, empowering agencies and enterprises to deliver complex projects with agility.
Although Vicoland has so far refrained from a major PR offensive, public interest is already high. Media outlets such as Forbes and Brand Eins have covered the concept, and Vicoland founder Hans-Ulrich von Freyberg and CEO Marco Seiler gave their first major interview to HORIZONT.
They are old acquaintances of the marketing and media trade journal, as both are among the pioneers of the digital agency world. Seiler founded Syzygy back in 1995, and von Freyberg followed in 2000 with Cocomore. Although both agencies are headquartered in Frankfurt, the two founders' paths did not cross for a long time – until Seiler came on board at Vicoland last year. What attracted him to the task? 'The question of what the working models of the future will look like, and what role the human cloud will play in companies' performance processes, is absolutely central,' he says in the interview. After his time at Syzygy, he returned to study, focusing on work and organisational psychology. 'In the process, I took a particularly close look at agency workforces,' Seiler reports. ‘The central issue for all of them is how to find and retain skilled workers. Temporary teams and virtual companies play an important role in this.'
And what is the reason for freelancers organising themselves on Vicoland? They are in demand in the digital market anyway. “Most of them are very well utilised,” von Freyberg confirms to HORIZONT. 'But as a self-employed person, you’re a lone wolf and can’t take on big projects by yourself.' The idea behind Vicoland is that, as members of virtual companies, freelancers can work on large, complex projects. 'This way, we kill two birds with one stone,' says the Vicoland founder. 'Agencies can access good people again, and freelancers can take on attractive projects independently.'
This concept also impressed the American market research company Forrester Research. Last year, it ranked Vicoland among the top seven international providers in the Freelance Talent Marketplace Landscape. Why? Quote from the report: ‘Vicoland goes one step further and allows the formation of expert teams through the Vicoland platform. This enables not only individual freelancers, but also entire teams of experts, to be contracted.”