The buzzwords of brand and image often relate to logos and color swatches. By extension every image or photograph should be part of that thinking process as well. To quote Sidney Lumet, in his book Making Movies,, “ There are no small decisions in moviemaking”, which applies very well to photography and marketing. If the images you have selected do to not fit with your overall marketing message and brand then they are not the right images.

This is especially true when licensing stock. If you are selecting images for uses that will have high brand value, like the cover of an annual report or strategic marketing brochures touting your organizations uniqueness, how exclusive is that image to your company? Are you certain that your competitor may not be using the same images as well? Or worse another unrelated company that’s messaging may be counter to your own.

Custom photography offers a risk of it’s own, uncertain outcomes and of course the cost of production. Working with a photographer at the outset of your marketing strategy rather than just at the end, will offer better results. A photograph that is unique for your organization with your brand, your image, and your face at the core. Exclusivity for your industry or for the duration of your marketing plan, gives you the peace of mind that your unique message is only yours.

As many organizations have moved design decisions in-house from agencies, they often lose that important strategic thinking that connects concepts and plans to outcomes. In the past year I have been offering this additional service to some of my clients. Through more efficient communication and brainstorming we have been able to create more effective images that solve their visual communication problem. Creating unique and strategic images for their marketing efforts.

1.) Pre Qualify: Have a solid idea of your photography project. Will it require a skilled photography technician? Are people skills a requirement? Are you looking for specific style? Or a more generic approach? Are you looking for a photographer that has “big production” experience or some one who can shoot on the fly? Pre Qualifying the photographer is essential before you start your search. Are you looking for someone with years of experience or an emerging artist? Have they worked on similar projects? What about similar clients? If you are comparing photographers are you comparing apples to apples?
2.) Scope: Know the specific requirements for the project? In my practice we price photography based on the projects scope. We consider how the image(s) will be used, in what media, for how long and in what region. All photographs are licensed using these basic elements. The value of the Projects license is one key component to price. The others may include the number of setups, the amount of time involved and the number of finished images to be delivered. Any change to the projects scope can impact the price dramatically.
3.) Production Responsibility: Knowing prior to contacting a photographer, what aspects of the project you want them to be responsible for is critical. We break down the key components to the Pre Production, Shooting and Post Production stages. Are the locations provided? Or will the photographer have to find them? What about permits? What about the subject(s) or talent? Will stylists be required? Will the project require extensive retouching? What about travel? We have some clients who take care of all aspects of production and others that hire my practice to take care of production services at reasonable fees. It really depends on the project. I am a big believer in getting the photography team involved at the earliest stage possible in a project. Not only does it help with communication and understanding of your goals and strategy, but often time results in solutions to problems that can be avoided and in many cases saves money or other resources.

By the time I get a call and a request for proposal (RFP), I expect that my client or their client has done this homework. I also assume that I am being considered for the project because of my previous experience, my portfolio of images and for my professional services.

My first query to clients is their budget. If you do the prequalification process effectively, we should be well matched for your project and your budget. If this is the case, let’s cut to the chase. Your budget and scope should be in alignment, otherwise something has to give, and most photographers are pretty good at realigning a scope and budget and still delivering a quality project.

The key is to be realistic on your scope and budget. To communicate with all the stakeholders throughout the process and to respect each other’s business practices in a professional manner. Your grandmothers Golden Rule applies here treat other professionals, as you want to be treated.

I know these days that client’s, especially visually unsophisticated clients, want a “clear picture” of what the agency is pitching and to what they are “buying”. The look, the feel, the taste but there are downsides and some liability concerns.

The first is that clients fall in love with the comp, so much so that I have actually convinced Art Directors to, “just buy the stock.” Why fight the emotional connection a client has for a stock photo. The downside for the client when buying stock especially for brand building, is that their competitor across town may have fallen in love with the same stock image. (This happens more often then you think.)

The next issue is that a client loves the comp and wants it “copied.” There is no percentage amount of changes that makes it safe to copy. Copying is copying. You can be inspired. You can be encouraged by an approach. Even the underlying concept or idea may be taken, but let us be a little more creative than copying. Again if the client loves it that much, buy the stock.

Finally the magic. If you are like me, and you love advertising and design and you wonder where the magic has gone? It might be because we are not trying hard enough. We blame the budget’s, we blame the time deadlines, we blame our clients. Those all of course play a factor, but I blame laziness and the fact that we as a community of creatives fall back on safe.

Don’t take this the wrong way, I have a clip file, I call mine “sparks,” a collection of cards, magazine pages, ad’s, things I find on the street, my daughters iPad drawings, snapshots I make on my walk to work, movie notes, dream notes, favorite music video’s. Of course this is where I go to to get “fired” up for an idea.

But I miss the day’s when art director’s sent me marker comps. The perfect script to build something new on. Something we could collaborate on together. To deliver to the client something better than they could see in their minds eye.

Hell, if you are going to use photos in comps and you want me to shoot the job, at least ask me for pictures from my archives, at least then I know the image I am competing with.

“*F*©king with the magic”” to quote Mel Karmazin (then CEO of Viacom when talking about Google.)