Just a fun video:
Working with news photographers at your event
If you’re planning a corporate event or any other type of event that you hope will attract the news media, then you may need some tips on how to work with the news or press photographers who will attend.
While the six media relations tips provided in that linked article may sound obvious, many companies, both big and small, can get it very wrong. It was no secret that Canada’s previous federal Conservative government was horrendously bad at running press conferences and photo ops.
“Photojournalists are not there to make your client look bad or good. We are there to represent the truth to the best of our ability and strive to maintain objectivity at all costs,” advised [Amber] Bracken [President of the News Photographers Association of Canada]. “At the same time, we also strive to capture the world beautifully, your client included.”
You need non-partisan press photographers to cover your event or photo opportunity so your company might earn the media blessing. Editorial photography published by news outlets is the most credible type of information. People trust what they see in a newspaper or magazine.
Similarly, most public relations photography and press release photography should also be editorial in nature and contain human interest. The best way to achieve this is to hire a photographer who has a journalism background and who has worked for a news publication.
Creating memorable photos for marketing
Researchers at MIT recently published a study and online demo about trying to understand and predict image memorability. The study used 60,000 images and a few thousand participants.
A goal of this research was “[u]nderstanding why certain things are memorable…” so that it might someday be possible to create better images thereby “allowing people to consume information more efficiently.” (If you’re a photographer, please stop laughing at this.)
Researchers found that the most memorable pictures usually included – wait for it – faces or other human body parts. The least memorable pictures were those of generic scenes, especially landscapes and other types of nature. The researchers called their results a “trend.” Most photographers know that this “trend” has been around for almost 180 years.
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Optimism Bias
Almost everyone exhibits some degree of “optimism bias.” This means we tend to underestimate the time, cost and effort needed to complete a certain task and we overestimate our chances of success.
Optimism is great, it helps us move forward. But optimism doesn’t wait for all the facts to come in. So sometimes you need to be aware of possible optimism bias.
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Platform Photography
Canada’s 2015 federal election is days away and each party has released its platform. Let’s compare them from a photographer’s point of view.
The Obvious
• Green Party platform is 44 pages and 5.8 MB in file size.
• NDP brochure is 81 pages and 5.1 MB in size.
• Liberal Party platform is 88 pages and 10.6 MB.
• Conservative Party brochure is 159 pages and 37.4 MB.
That alone might be very telling.
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Prize-winning news coverage
Yesterday at 5:50am (Eastern Time), it was announced that a Canadian scientist from Queen’s University, in Ontario, had co-won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics. By 6:20am, or maybe even earlier, news media were calling Queen’s University media relations people to request handout pictures of the new Nobel Laureate.
Queen’s University was prepared and news media around the world had a portrait of the university professor emeritus on their web sites shortly thereafter.
The Nobel Prize-winning professor did his research at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Sudbury, Ontario. News media called the lab early in the morning for handout pictures of the scientist and of its research facilities.
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Another cheap stock picture fail
A Canadian federal election will happen in about six weeks. In its campaigning, the Conservative Party apparently likes to use cheap stock pictures in its marketing.
On at least four occasions, those stock pictures, and stock video, had nothing to do with Canada or with what the political party was trying to promote. All the photos were shot in other countries.
No one at the Conservative Party probably gave any thought to using cheap stock pictures other than “they’re cheap!” The pictures have now backfired and the party has become an even bigger punchline.
The wealthy Conservative Party could’ve hired Canadian photographers to shoot timely pictures of real Canadian subjects in Canada. The party could’ve stood behind its words by supporting Canadian small business. It could have led by example. But the Conservatives decided it wasn’t worth it.
Sadly, this is not the first time a political party has done this.
Every business should know this by now: cheap stock pictures don’t work, they do not create a unique message, they’re boring to look at. Oh wait. Maybe that is the message of the Conservative Party.
When you cut corners by using cheap stock photos, you fool no one but yourselves. Stock pictures are worthless when you’re trying to build credibility and trust.
