Some companies use only custom, original creative—including photography—in their marketing. Others, like those who might be just getting started, may rely on the wide availability of stock artwork. Both can be used successfully.
If you’re making the move from stock to original photography, the experience of that first photo shoot can be surprising. A lot of planning happens before a photographer is even contacted. Here’s an idea of the process we go through.
Planning the photo shoot
1. Agency and client discuss the project. Many questions need to be answered at this stage, such as: How does this fit into the overall marketing plan? What is the objective of the shoot? How should it serve the brand? What is the project timeline?
2. Consider how the photos will be used. Think as far ahead as you can: Are these photos to be used for one project or special campaign only? Or do they need to fit into a larger brand library with the potential to be used many times in the coming weeks or months? Planning the size and resolution of the final images helps at this stage, too, because the requirements for a trade show booth, print ad or website are all different.
3. Define the shot list. This is often done in tandem with number four. Now’s the time to nail down the details of what you’re shooting. The quantity and scope of the shots you need will determine how many days it will take, and as a result, how much it will cost. The photographer will provide an estimate for their time after they know what the details of the shoot will be.
4. Choose a photographer. Each photographer has his or her own style and technical specialty, even though many are good at flexing and adapting to meet their client’s needs and vision. You want to select the photographer who can best achieve the brand’s or campaign’s style. Other considerations are budget (each photographer sets his/her own pricing), location (do you need to travel to the shoot? If so, should you take a photographer with you or find one in the local market?), and the working relationship with the photographer.
5. Determine and arrange for outside resources. Do you need to hire a model? Will the shoot be done on location—if yes, it’s good to give the photographer a chance to scout it before the shoot—or at the photographer’s studio? What products need to be brought in for the shoot? Are any other props needed?
6. Schedule the shoot. Grab a pen, sync your phone, mark it on your calendar!
7. Cover your legal bases. Each model—and this includes employees—needs to sign a talent release allowing you to use their image in your materials. The photographer will often handle this, but be sure to talk about it.
Ready, set, shoot!
8. Get the team together. Many people are often on hand at the photo shoot. From the agency, we’ll have the account’s creative and/or art director there to lead the shoot and direct the photographer according to the objective and creative vision. Depending on the project needs, an account director and/or account executive will be there or stop by. And there will usually be a representative from the client’s team there, such as a project leader (perhaps the marketing manager) and/or a product expert.
9. Review the shoot plan. The day starts with a review of the shot list (see #3), so that everyone can work as efficiently as possible. For example, planning here might account for ways to shoot multiple products from the same angle, which minimizes changes to the camera and lighting setup that take precious time to make.
After that, the shooting begins!
After the shoot
10. Receive and review images. We’ll receive the images from the photographer within a few days of the completed photo shoot. Our creative team will pore through the images to select the best ones to use in the campaign.
11. Process images. Selected images then go to the creative team for placement in the layout or directly to our Photoshop guru to process and perfect.
It doesn’t always fit with the budget or the timeline, but when you can make it work, shooting original photography for the brand and campaign can offer many advantages over stock photography. Not only does it give you complete creative control over the resulting image, but you never have to worry that you’re going to open a magazine or click a link and see the same image you used for your software ad in an ad for popcorn.
Stranger things have happened.
Further reading:
The Creatives vs. the Suits
Branding with Hammer and Rupert
A day in the life of an AE
Tags: Advertising, Branding, clients, How to, Marketing, photo shoot
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Tuesday, November 1 at midnight was the kick-off for this year’s National Novel Writing Month, known as “NaNoWriMo.” It is being talked about a lot on several forums and blogs that I frequent. Excitement is definitely in the air.
So you say you’ve never heard of it before? Wonder what it is and how you can participate?
NaNoWriMo the world’s largest writing challenge and nonprofit literary crusade. Participants pledge to write 50,000 words in a month, starting from scratch and reaching “The End” by November 30. So what’s the point? “The 50,000-word challenge has a wonderful way of opening up your imagination and unleashing creativity,” says NaNoWriMo Founder and Executive Director (and 12-time NaNoWriMo winner) Chris Baty. “When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both. Also, it’s a great excuse for not doing any dishes for a month.”
More than 650 regional volunteers in more than 60 countries will hold write-ins, hosting writers in coffee shops, bookstores, and libraries. Write-ins offer a supportive environment and surprisingly effective peer pressure, turning the usually solitary act of writing into a community experience.
It’s a great reason to pick up that manuscript that you started on a few years ago, or start capturing on paper (or screen) all those thoughts you have been having in your mind about the next book opportunity. You can light a fire under yourself and “just do it.”
I will be picking up where I left off on my book a few years ago. I’m not sure I will reach the goal of 50,000 words, but it’s exciting to give it a go.
What will you be writing about? Let me know in the comments. Happy writing!
Stats about NaNoWriMo:
Founded by: Freelance writer Chris Baty and 20 other over-caffeinated yahoos in 1999.
Now run by: The Office of Letters and Light, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Oakland.
Annual participant totals:
1999: 21 participants
2000: 140 participants
2001: 5,000 participants
2002: 13,500 participants
2003: 25,500 participants
2004: 42,000 participants
2005: 59,000 participants
2006: 79,813 participants
2007: 101,510 participants
2008: 119,301participants
2009: 167,150 participants
2010: 200,500 participants
Writing a blog instead of a book? This writer suggests putting your 50,000 words into 50 blog posts!
Tags: copywriting, current events, fiction, fun, How to, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, nonfiction, writing
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For those of you who have been around the world of advertising for more than a decade, you may remember the age-old agency battle, Good vs. Evil, or as I like to remember it, The Creatives vs. The Suits.
Some may say I am biased, coming up on the creative side of agency life, but back in the day, Account Service was often deemed (somewhat inaccurately) the “nay-sayer” to all things creative. And any original thinking they might have had lived in a box filled with restrictive strategy and oppressive client-driven input — the direct opposite of what we as creative felt creativity should actually be. We wanted creative license, we longed to create without inhibition, we dreamt of advertising that annihilated boundaries and soared beyond the cannon fodder that lived on the pages of the magazines our “know-it-all” clients deemed worthy of selling their infinite products. We were better than that. We were creative, after all.
And then one day, for reasons still unknown, I was invited to attend my first brand discovery session. To my surprise, I was more than intrigued by the amount of information I suddenly had at my fingertips. Usable facts? Articulated data? Admittedly, it left me wanting more. I read and reread strategy briefs; I found time to talk to our clients; I engaged in focus group testing, and I learned all I could about the desired target audiences and their many varying requirements and differences.
And suddenly, I saw a light, albeit dim at first but nonetheless there: an understanding so profound that I was humbled by it. The idea that advertising founded in real customer insight, built under actual brand strategy, can make my job easier — and dare we say better? Yes, we can, and it still does, as understanding brand strategy is one of the most important facets of the actual creative process.
Today, our best creative work is rooted deeply within and around brand strategy. It is my goal every day to get our creative teams fully immersed with the client, the brand discovery, and the brand strategy from inception to completion. Our best creative is built from a truly “integrative platform.” Integrative can be defined as combining and coordinating diverse elements into a whole. And I guess we could safely say that Account Service and Creative are about as diverse as elements can be.
The point is this: listen to your entire team, get involved early in strategy, work together to create, because you just never know where that next big idea may come from — and yes, it could very well be from a Suit.
Just for grins, check out this “Footage of an Account Service vs. Creative argument,” via Bryan Mohr.
Sums it all up quite nicely.
Tags: Advertising, Branding, clients, Communication, Design, How to, Marketing, strategy, testing
Posted in Creative | 2 Comments »
I have a confession to make.
I have a love/loathe relationship with business books.
I love them because they provide inspiration and insight, and I usually glean at least a few words of wisdom that I can file away in my cerebral cortex for later use.
I loathe them because, more often than not, they’re just a rehash of the same themes with catchy titles and colorful covers. (To this day I have no idea how Who Moved My Cheese moved so many people and so many millions of copies.)
For me, buying the book is part of the process, and I do enjoy browsing the old-school bricks and mortar booksellers. But most times, I’ll end up buying online or downloading instantly to my iPhone/Kindle app.
One recent Amazon.com purchase included Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries From the Rest of Us by Erik Calonius. The author is a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Fortune, so the book is well organized and thoroughly researched.
Calonius divides the conversation into (you guessed it) 10 chapters, and uses some oft-cited visionaries to argue his case: Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, etc. But he also adds other lesser-known names to the mix, such as Italian physicist Carlo Rubbia who was not only a gifted scientist, but also a true visionary in his own right.
According to the author, all visionaries share similar character traits, including intuition, courage, conviction, and, yes, more than their fair share of luck.
One of the most interesting sections of the book is where Calonius talks about conscious versus subconscious thinking. According to philosopher Dan Dennett, our subconscious mind is the “President,” while our conscious mind is the “Press Secretary”.
In other words, the subconscious is the one calling the shots while the conscious mind is merely reporting the executive decisions. I guess that explains those flashes of genius that always seem to strike when we least expect it (like, say, in the shower).
The final chapter is titled “Can You Learn Vision?” Of course, he answers the question with a question: “What are the lessons of the visionaries that we can ponder and put to use for ourselves?”
So, he doesn’t really give us the answer, but he did challenge me to really think about the way I think—both consciously and subconsciously.
As much as I like to poke fun at business books, there is usually a quote or two that I end up pinning on my office wall. I leave you with two wall-worthy excerpts from this particular one:
Courage and commitment separate the visionary from the dreamer.
Visionaries almost always work at the edge of our understanding, where information is scarce or nonexistent and where intuitive decisions are often the only choice.
Now. Go forth and be visionary.
Related posts:
Podcasts: Why you should be listening (for those who fall in the “I loathe business books” category)
Brands and your business in 2011
The Future of Publishing (according to Penguin)
Tags: book review, business, Commentary, Communication, Erik Calonius
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A grocery store in Charlotte, NC, is hoping that its steak-scented billboard will drive customers to its stores. Waves of charcoal and pepper will tempt drivers, particularly during morning and evening rush hours. Clever!
Tags: Advertising, billboard, Design, fun, Media, outdoor
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On Sunday, May 23, “Lost” aired its final episode. Around 13.5 million people tuned in. I was one of them.
I knew going into it that the last “Lost” episode would last 2 ½ hours. What I didn’t know was that 45 minutes of it would be commercials. Now, I work in advertising, and I take an active interest in TV advertising. But I prefer my series-ending finales uninterrupted by sales pitches, thank you very much.
To get around the problem, I programmed my DVR to record it, and tuned in about 20 minutes after the actual start time so I could fast-forward through the commercials. When I realized my 20-minute delay wasn’t going to cut it, I began hitting “Pause” during breaks, just to avoid sitting through even a second of commercials.
Weird and pathological? Maybe. But I have a feeling I’m far from the only one who does this. And this makes the folks who spend millions of dollars on TV advertising nervous. Some brands are dealing with it better than others. Case in point: At one point during the “Lost” finale, I stopped fast-forwarding my DVR to watch a commercial – on purpose. The ad in question came from Target and their agency, Wieden and Kennedy.
In a stroke of inspired brilliance, W&K hired “Lost” director Jack Bender to create three 15-second spots that incorporated settings and themes from “Lost” into their ads. So when viewers who, like me, were fast-forwarding suddenly caught a glimpse of a “Lost” tableau – a swirling smoke monster, or a boar barreling through the jungle – we quickly hit “Play” on our DVRs thinking the show was back on.
A dirty trick? It would have been, if the ads weren’t so darn great. Watch them here.
Not only did the Target ads delight “Lost” viewers; they’re a hit on the Internet, too. In the days following the show, they received all kinds of attention and accolades.
Meanwhile, the “Lost” finale itself was panned by critics and viewers. As an advertiser, when you manage to outperform the programming you’re supporting, you’re doing something right. I expect that we’ll see a lot more advertisers trying to blur the line between TV commercials and the entertainment they’re interrupting in the future. And if they’re successful, TV viewers like me may cease to see TV ads as such a disruptive pain in the neck after all.
Tags: Commentary, current events, fun
Posted in Advertising, Creative | 1 Comment »
Would Mr. Pollock have been able to survive today’s “office politics” and summon his talent at will?
Was he really the creative genius of his generation, or just some lucky schlub with a lousy temper and a propensity for booze, who simply stumbled upon creative brilliance?
Considering Pollock’s qualifications
Paul Jackson Pollock, an American painter, became a major influence in the abstract expressionist movement of the 1940s and throughout his brief, but brilliant, painting career. A reclusive artist, an alcoholic, and known in most circles to have a volatile personality, Pollock was not born to greatness. Yet still, an unflinching dedication to the exploration of his craft perpetuated Pollock to achieve creative brilliance on the world’s stage.
He established what’s known today as the “drip technique”: a process of pouring and/or dripping resin-based liquefied paints onto a flat surface, then manipulating the mixture with a stick rather than brush. This technique is widely considered the origin of the term “action painting.”
Pollock’s ingenuity and brilliance quite literally turned the art community upside-down and opened the door to an entirely new method of creating art — as well as viewing it.
Pollock: good candidate for an art director?
Well, we can certainly say that his work inspired our world with creativity and vision. And for what it’s worth, I believe Pollock was the real deal creatively.
If Mr. Pollock were alive today and in search of an Art Director position, I would gladly hire him. Beyond the personal flaws (and yes, we all have a few), his raw talent and unbridled tenacity to push design and technique beyond the norm are attributes that any good Art Director should possess. A willingness to go out into the ether and explore the unexplored is more than daunting, and Pollock did so with both passion and grace.
I believe that if we can understand and capture even a Lilliputian portion of Pollock’s spirit (sans some of his more obvious flaws), it would enlighten and help us all to reach that elusive greatness dwelling deep within.
Do you agree?
Fodder for our next conversation, copywriting: William Faulkner and Jack Kerouac – bloated windbags or advertising prodigies?
Photo above is from http://jacksonpollock.com.
Tags: Advertising, art, Commentary, Creative, Design, fun, Jackson Pollock, Marketing
Posted in Creative | 2 Comments »
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May 17, 2012—The faces of MB
