Impression Management

No Comments

It’s said that you get only one chance to make a (good) first impression. One might think that no one would understand this more than a public relations agency.

Earlier today, I was browsing the web sites of a dozen Canadian public relations agencies. Eleven of these web sites not only failed to make a good first impression but they also failed to practice what these agencies preach to their own clients.

• Only three sites had pictures of their key employees. The portraits on one of these sites were amateurishly done: it’s painfully obvious that each person used whatever picture they had handy of themselves from snapshot to computer screenshot to out-of-focus cell phone photo.

Continue reading →

Monkeying Around

No Comments

One of the things commercial photographers complain about is the low barrier for entry into the photography business. Today, anyone and their cat can buy a digital camera and immediately call themselves a “professional photographer”.

The reason for this is technology. The hi-tech stuff packed inside today’s cameras is amazing. But technology is just a tool and not an end point. No one looks at a photo and exclaims, “Wow, look at that focus!” or “Gee, that picture has a great white balance!”
Continue reading →

Good purpose for corporate journalism

No Comments

This may be old news to some but ten months ago, public relations firm Edelman published its annual Goodpurpose survey that studies the relationship between consumer attitudes and corporate social purpose.

For those who are fans of the TV game show Jeopardy!, I’ll phrase it in the form of a question: How does a company’s community involvement affect consumer behaviour?

Some of the key findings from the survey:
Continue reading →

Intellectually Smart

No Comments

Nine weeks ago, Nortel sold 6,000 of its patents for about $4.5 billion. Three weeks ago, Google paid $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility’s 17,000-plus patents. Google bought 1,000-plus patents from IBM in July and another 1,000-plus patents from IBM again this month.

Now, Kodak is looking to sell its digital imaging patents which may be worth $2 billion to $3 billion. This is more than the current value of the entire Kodak company which has a market value of about $210 millon. Kodak’s intellectual property is worth more than the company itself.

Intellectual property rights are the currency of the 21st century.

– Lesley Ellen Harris, “Digital Property: Currency of the 21st Century”

Like the Kodak situation, the copyright in a photo can be worth more than the photograph itself. Copyright has real value. But only if you’re smart about it.

 

Check Please

No Comments

Earlier today, the Western Canada Lottery Corporation released this handout photo of a $40 million winner:

Maybe I’m being too critical but someone at the Lottery Corporation doesn’t know how to fill out a cheque properly.

Sure, it’s just a ceremonial cheque being used as a photo prop (which is much better than using the actual little cheque). But why not take an extra minute and do it right?
Continue reading →

Apple of their eye

No Comments

In a 1989 interview, Steve Jobs was asked, “Where do great products come from?”

His response included:

I think really great products come from melding two points of view – the technology point of view and the customer point of view. You need both. You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them.
(…)
It sounds logical to ask customers what they want and then give it to them. But they rarely wind up getting what they really want that way.

Commercial and corporate photographers need to think the same way. Successful business photography comes from knowing what the client really needs and then building a good photo from there.
Continue reading →

Goldilocks and the three prices

No Comments

The usual way for a commercial photographer to quote a job is to provide the client with a price for the requested photo assignment. But another method is to provide the potential client with a few variations of their proposed assignment along with the corresponding price for each variation.

Wedding photographers have always done this. For example, a wedding photographer might quote: $6,500 for full-day coverage plus a large album and a DVD; $3,500 for half-day coverage and one album; $1,500 for two hours coverage and an album of small prints.
Continue reading →

css.php