THE MARKETING POWER OF PICTURES
| Published date | 01 November 1988 |
| Date | 01 November 1988 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057527 |
| Pages | 17-18 |
| Author | Alberto Sciama |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
THE MARKETING POWER OF PICTURES
by Alberto
Sciama
Pictor International Ltd
Introduction
It is hard to deny the marketing power of a picture. The right one can catch the attention, tell a story and
create an image. It can excite, titillate, seduce and, above all else,
sell.
You can fill an advertisement or a brochure with relevant copy, beautifully written and wholly relevant to the
target market — but how do you tempt the right people to read it? How do you let them know at a glance
that your subject will be of interest to them? How do you make it stand out from all the others? You can
attend as many industry exhibitions as you like, and take as many of your top executives as you can spare,
but how will you make your stand noticeable? How will you catch the attention of the passers-by, dazed as
they are by the proliferation of messages around them?
In both these cases, and in many more, the answer is that you find the right picture or image. And you use
it imaginatively.
Photographers, of course, have not been slow to realise
the power which they can wield. The star names can
charge very high fees, as can the top models they work
with.
Indeed all the recognised ones are very expensive,
and anyone wanting to use their services must be very
sure of their requirements before handing out
commissions.
The photographic industry has consequently been able
to build up something of a mystique. Advertising
agencies are sometimes made to feel that they are
"cutting corners" if they don't spend enormous sums
on location trips — taking teams of photographers,
stylists, models, hairdressers, make-up artists and the
rest of the entourage to the most expensive corners of
the globe.
The question which every marketing man should ask
himself before he makes any decisions is — do I actually
need a photographer at all? Does the picture I need
already exist somewhere, and if so why don't
I
just track
it down and save myself — or my client — a great deal
of time and expense?
Certainly there are times when this sort of expenditure
is unavoidable — fashion shots for example — but quite
frequently the results are not that different from work
that has already been brought back from the lands of
white beaches, blue seas and swaying palm trees.
The world is full of stunning pictures: landscapes,
seascapes, cloud formations, storms, mountains, cities,
idiosyncratic people — the raw material is in ample
supply. Top class pictures are being taken every minute,
by photographers who are in exactly the right places
at exactly the right times.
If the entire creative entourage is sent off to Tahiti for
a week, there is no guarantee that it won't be cloudy,
that the photographer won't get food poisoning or the
models sunburnt. What you can be sure of, however,
is that other top photographers have been to Tahiti
before, and some of them have been there on days
when the sky was the most perfect blue it could ever
be.
They will also have witnessed carnivals, native
dancing,
sunsets, sunrises, waterfalls, gardens in bloom
and other emotive images for which tropical islands are
renowned.
If you need a picture of a storm at sea what are you
going to do? Pay a photographer to stay at sea until a
picturesque storm turns up? Or send him out in a
helicopter, chasing the bad weather? Obviously it makes
sense to find out what storm pictures have been taken
already.
So how does the marketing man with a pictorial need
find out what is already available before commissioning
a completely new set of pictures?
The answer lies with the photographic library.
The concept of picture libraries couldn't be more simple.
Photographers submit their pictures — or in some cases
are specially commissioned to produce particular shots.
Work which is of a sufficiently high standard is then
filed.
A client — who could be after beach shots for a holiday
brochure, happy family shots for a pack, or illustrations
for a magazine — contacts the library and briefs the
researchers on his requirements. The more precise the
brief, the less likely he will be disappointed by the
selection he is sent.
Ten years ago the scope of the libraries was limited
largely to providing scenes for the tops of chocolate
boxes and greetings cards. That has all changed now.
Top photographers have realised how much more they
can make by placing their pictures with a library. We
are now being asked to supply material for every
conceivable use, right up to big-budget advertising
campaigns. Action shots of athletes, for instance —
whether on skis, windsurfers or hang-gliders — can
often be used as the basis for a major advertisement,
at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original and
exclusive material.
IMDS
November/December
1988
17
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