Creative Success (Part II)

How to land a BIG ACCOUNT

During my career as a professional photographer, I've been very fortunate to work with some of the industries most talented and creative people. I posed my on-going question to Tommy Steele - Former Creative Director of Capital Records, and currently, Creative Director of Design at Team One Advertising. I've altered the question slightly because a creative director's
responsibility is to the agency first and then, ultimately to the client. My question was - How do you choose an artist for a Big Account?

Here's what Tommy had to say:

"Over the past 20+ years the way I choose an artist for a specific project has changed slightly. When I first began my career, photographers, illustrators, and artist representatives would contact me directly. Since I began my career in the entertainment industry, I had to be conscious that the people hiring me were very image-oriented. The work I did had to represent them as a musical artist and as a brand. I would select a commercial artist based on the portfolio they submitted, the confidence they instilled in me, my belief they could do the work and deliver the project on time and within budget. I was looking for artists first, who just happened to be photographers, illustrators, and designers. On several projects the work was a collaborative effort with the client, designer and commercial artist. As my projects grew so did my responsibilities. At Capitol Records I had an art department/small agency working under me and our responsibilities were for all of Capitol's marketing needs as well as CD designs POP displays, posters, packaging, etc. There I hired an Art Buyer, largely in part to keep track of projects and budgets and to help negotiate rights and fees."

"Today I still review portfolios through the screening of the agency Art Buying Department. I could spend a lot of time reviewing portfolios and never get through all the books sent to our agency. I get quite a few emails/spam from artists and reps, which is a bit invasive. But I always look for that creative piece - a post card, a letter, a promo, or something that is
arresting or clever and shows me something different. I don't directly hire the artist, but my staff and I make recommendations to the client as to who we would like to work with. The Art Buyer at the agency negotiates the fees and usage in a 3 bid system. This provides the client with the best choice based on budget, artist ability and availability. In my opinion, if you want to get the big account - bring something unique, personal, and artistic to the party. Don't show me work I can already get from an established artist show me why you are worth the BIG ACCOUNT."

The 3Ts of Creative Success

Becoming a successful commercial artist (Illustrator, Photographer, or Designer) doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact, overnight sensations are rare. As with anything, success comes only with an investment of Time, a little bit of Talent, and a whole lot of Tenacity - the three Ts.

Recently, I was talking to one of our contributing artists – a relative “newbie” in the field. He wanted to know “how to land a big account?” Since I’ve been out of commercial photography for over 10 years I decided to get some advice on how today’s photographers are landing their dream jobs. Now, these people are busy people… so I will stream in their comments over the next few weeks.

Glen Wexler: (Don’t know who Glen is? Do a google search… unbelievably awesome photographer) There are three primary components to landing a big account: Talent; Timing; and Trust. This applies to my current work on national and international ad campaigns, and it applied in the early stages of my career creating album covers (yes, before CD’s). Please note that my three T’s are not the same as those mentioned above.

Talent is the component about your unique point of view as an artist/photographer and your ability to add this vision to the client’s marketing objectives.

Timing for most of us is about creating opportunities from marketing and promotion rather than being at the right place or knowing the right person. If your talent is appropriate for a project, the art buyer needs to be thinking of you when it is time to assign the work. There are several important aspects to marketing and promotion to create awareness of your talent: portfolio, website, sourcebook and trade ads, direct mail campaigns, photo annuals, book projects and gallery exhibitions, and many photographers work with artist representatives.

Trust is the closing element needed to land the account. The client needs to feel confident that you will meet their expectations on time and on budget. They also want to look forward to an enjoyable experience.

There is a lot more to be said on the subject. For those of you that will be in New York for PhotoPlus Expo I will be involved in a three seminars that will cover these topics in depth:

1: 11/2: There's Always room at the Top - How to Get There and Stay There

2: 11/2: Creating New Realities: Pushing the Boundaries of Photo Illustration (Presentation)

3: 11/3: How To Be Your Own Best Rep (Panel Discussion)

For more info: www.photoplusexpo.com

As Val mentions, success is typically not achieved overnight, but it certainly happens for some faster than others. At the risk of oversimplifying the matter, all three components need to be in play.

The longer you are in the business your reputation becomes an increasingly important factor. The precedents you set will impact the course of your career. Your images you show will create your brand, your pricing establishes your worth, and your track record in meeting, or better yet exceeding, the client’s expectations develops confidence and loyalty.

After years of developing a reputation, I am fortunate to get much of my work from word of mouth or directly from my website but it is also important to maintain an ongoing industry presence. I am also embarking on a new opportunity promoting my new book “The Secret Life of Cows”. Although, not available until early next year, I, along with my manager, have been traveling the country promoting it. Some of the images can be seen on my website, and yes Val, I’ll send you a signed copy soon.

Next week read Tommy Steele’s perspective. (Former Creative Director of Capital Records and currently Creative Director of Design at Team One Advertising)

Quit Your Belly-achin'!

Not Willing to Compete?

Get Out of the Race!

I recently read this blog The Bill Gates Mystery: An Open Letter From Piño Granata. Basically. Piño is asking Bill to "step up" and do something for the art community if he's going to monopolize the creative world.

I feel a strong need to comment.

I’m not going to defend Bill Gates or, for that matter, the heirs of J. Paul Getty – also mentioned in the letter. These are smart investors who see a huge opportunity in the stock industry. Yes, consolidation has happened in the industry. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Great companies often disappear when their industry changes. I saw many companies vanish into thin air during the dot com. Remember MetaCreations? Or, how about LivePicture? Great artists disappear too! Where is Kai Krause?

History has taught us that one (whether a corporation or an individual) must be willing and able to adapt to one’s new environment. This is a lesson that the U.S. auto industry has been learning for years.

Like Artists, Stock Photo agencies also need to re-evaluate themselves. If the competition is tough, consider a change in strategy. Just like back in the day when the Stock Photo business emerged, photographers screamed "the sky is falling." The sky never fell. Then, enter royalty-free stock photos. Once again, photographers screamed "the sky is falling." I looked out my window this morning and the sky was still there. This fear needs to stop.

Seriously. Technology has changed our businesses in many ways. No longer are image buyers beholden to stock houses - charging "bookoo bucks" for an image search, then having to wait for special delivery only to sift through someone elses hand chosen selections of their perception of what the buyer is looking for... In the old days, 2 - 3 days later could quite possibly result in yet another image search. Today, the same buyer jumps on the web - finds their image - downloads it and is off to the next project. Amazing! Today’s art buyer has choices and they are in charge. The web allows them to quickly search for best price, best selection, best fill-in-the-blank. They can browse collections from all around the world from the comfort of their home. Many stock agencies will even "put the word out" to their network of creatives to see if they can locate a specific image for a customer.

Investors are just now learning of the stock industry. That should tell you something. Desktop publishing has opened up new opportunities for a photographer to sell images to untapped markets, to untold millions of new buyers. This industry will grow because “a picture is worth a thousand words” and to us photographers, pictures are worth thousand’s of dollars.

I’m personally excited about the future of the Stock industry as both an entrepreneur and a photographer.

FREE Investment Advice for Artists

By Val Gelineau, CEO and CoFounder PhotoSpin, Inc.

The best investment you can make is to invest in yourself and this goes for artists just as much as anyone. I, too, was given this advice early in my career as a photographer by my long time friend and former business manager, Errol Gerson. If you attended Art Center College of Design in the 80’s and 90’s you may remember Errol as a business instructor. If you graduated from Art Center you definitely attended his class prior to graduation. He was famous for the "invest in yourself" quote. He hammered home the fact that you should constantly be investing in your portfolio by continuously creating new content and better work. If there's one thing in this industry that has not changed it is this: invest in yourself to make money in the Stock Market.Now, the Stock Market I’m referring to is the photos, illustrations and fonts Stock Market. GD:USA's recent surveys indicate art buyers are spending more of their annual budget on stock imagery. Proof that this is a great time for artists and illustrators to pursue Stock opportunities, both Rights Managed and Royalty Free.Unfortunately, I've heard many of the reasons why people do not pursue these opportunities: * No time. According to the AC Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day or 28 hours/week. * The market is saturated. Every agency including the Big Three (Getty, Corbis and Jupiter Images) are always looking for great work and new artists. * Fear of rejection. One of my personal favorites. Welcome to being an artist, get used to rejection. * No money. Valid but not acceptable. If you already own the equipment, digital art is simply an investment in time. This goes back to investing in yourself. Think about it as expanding your creative ability. Create your own projects. It takes time to become a great artist. One of the great things about creative work is that you can be fully employed, self employed, or simply a free lancer. Which means you can easily join the 9% of the adult working population, close to 10 million Americans - now in the process of starting their own business (Inc./Gallup survey: "Americans at Work.")Be honest with yourself. Do you really want to be a photographer, an illustrator or an artist? If you do - lose all of the excuses and do what great athletes do... Just Do It!

You are your greatest resource! Invest in yourself.