Friday, April 17, 2009

Lifetime Revenue Streams

Rob Haggert, over at A Photo Editor, has a great article up, entitled "Why Would You Quit Working with a Freelancer", that I posted a lengthy comment on, and the thread and comments are well worth a read. That said, what I wrote is a good standalone piece, so I've re-edited it, and am posting the thoughts here as well, since several projects have kept me tied up these past two weeks and have precluded me from having the bandwidth to write much of late.

So, enjoy, and I hope you make it over to Rob's blog to read more.

(Continued after the Jump)

There is an expectation is that our success rate must be greater than that of a surgeon in order to remain in business. There is no margin for error, even though a life is not on the line, just a blank space on a page in a publication.

I strive to meet - and exceed - client expectations, whether it is an editorial client or a corporate client. Often the "one for thee, one for me" approach caused the "one for me" to be the better image that the client used, even though it was not the assignment. Note - the "one for thee" comes first, then you can experiment.

Doug Menuez's recounting of the Business Week panel comments also is spot on. A photo editor only gets so many "the shoot didn't turn out" excuses before their judgement about what makes a good photographer gets called into question, and they are soon sidelined, or let go.

What makes a good photographer, first, and foremost, from a clients' perspective is one that can produce AN image, on time, and for the agreed upon budget. When that image meets basic quality standards, they might get a call again. When that image is better than average, they float to the top of the call sheet, and when that image is exceptional, they not only are the first to get calls all the time, they get flown around because there is significant value in a guarantee (or as close as you can get to one) of a great image regardless of the circumstances you throw at the photographer.

Case in point - I have one editorial client who is always calling me to make images that are a huge challenge. Small cubicles, mini offices with no decor and white walls, people in basement office space, and so on - you get the idea. Often they are cover images, but sometimes, inside ones. Every so often, I kid her and say "geez, when am I going to get an easy assignment", and her response is usually something akin to "I give you the hard ones because I know I will get good photos...", and while I certainly appreciate the vote of confidence, sometimes I think I might just like to walk in and knock it out, but, in the end, pushing those limits, and creating a silk purse out of a sows' ear is appreciated by this photo editor, and, in the end, keeps me working.

One of the messages I try to convey to colleagues is the lost revenue stick (carrot?) regarding a lost assignment:

1) You spend a great deal of effort making a prospective client aware of your work

2) You convince a prospective client to hire you for an assignment

3) You do a great job, and earn $2k for the shoot

4) Client calls you next month. you earn $1,500k or $2,500k on that job.

5) Over the life of this ONE client, you can earn tens of thousands of dollars, just from one consistently satisfied client.

6) One consistently satisfied client will recommend you to several other people over the course of their career, thus, one client can be the root cause of upwards of $100k in revenue, over your photographic career.

Now, if I told you that any given job that you would do for that client would cause that client to (at first) think twice about hiring you or (after a second screw up) not hire you, and thus, that single $2k assignment wasn't actually a $2k assignment, but rather a $100k lifetime revenue stream, how seriously would you take the assignment? Would you take extra cameras and lighting equipment "just in case"? Would you have a backup laptop? How many safeguards would you put in place to ensure that each and EVERY assignment went off without a hitch?


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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Associated Press and the NFL

It's official. The NFL sent out a message to the 32 club owners' Public Relations Departments, announcing the change. A particularly interesting passage from the memo that went out reads:

In addition to covering every NFL game and numerous other NFL events, AP will provide the league and its 32 clubs with full use of all AP NFL photos for editorial, marketing, and charitable use free of charge. AP also will coordinate the annual team headshot process.

Clubs will need to credential AP in a manner similar to Getty in years past.

So, AP will be getting more, (and presumably better) credentials, no doubt. This will give them (potentially) better access and a leg up on competition with Reuters, Agence France Presse, and so on. But, at what price? How much editorial integrity will be sacrificed by the AP in exchange for this commercial deal?

As we noted previously (NFL and the Wayward Getty Images, 4/9/09) , the AP carried images of the NBA brawl, but Getty's site, which originally had similar coverage up, were instructed (asked?) to remove them by the NBA. How will the future "black eyes" on the NFL be covered by the (now supposedly?) independent press that is the AP? The next "Michael Vick incident"? Another "wardrobe malfunction?" And what will happen to the AP guarantees if the players get locked out in two years for contractual reasons?

There is a lot to ponder in this new deal, and I surely expect much more to come. The full memo is after the jump, less the redacted e-mails and names.
(Continued after the Jump)

MEMORANDUM


TO: Club Public Relations Directors, Club Internet Directors

FROM: XXXXX, XXXXX

DATE: April 15, 2009

SUBJECT: NFL / Associated Press Agreement

We are pleased to report that the NFL has entered into an exclusive new commercial licensing agreement with The Associated Press for all NFL photos. Beginning this month and continuing through at least the 2011 season, AP will provide the services previously handled by Getty Images.

AP will serve as the NFL’s exclusive commercial photo distributor – the only entity authorized to sell NFL photos to NFL business partners and licensees. AP also will have the exclusive right to license NFL-owned historical photos for commercial use. AP is also willing to manage and license images owned by individual photographers, but it will be the decision of the individual photographer who owns the copyright on whether to work with AP. (AP will continue to license NFL editorial photos non-exclusively as it has in the past).

In addition to covering every NFL game and numerous other NFL events, AP will provide the league and its 32 clubs with full use of all AP NFL photos for editorial, marketing, and charitable use free of charge. AP also will coordinate the annual team headshot process.

Clubs will need to credential AP in a manner similar to Getty in years past. A recommendation with regard to specific numbers will be communicated in the months ahead.

The AP is one of the preeminent global news gathering organizations in the world and we believe that the services provided to clubs and the league will be outstanding. We appreciate the work that Getty did these last five seasons and we are confident that AP will service the clubs in a first-class manner going forward.

You will receive an e-mail shortly from AP with login information for its web site where you will be able to download photos. The e-mail will include instructions you can send to other members of your staff that also require access to AP’s web site.
We will follow up with Public Relations directors in the days ahead to provide additional information regarding specifications for headshots (the process will be similar to the one used in previous years).

To the extent that your team photographer is currently a Getty contributing photographer or if you receive questions from other contributing photographers, please have them contact XXXXX at AP (XXXXX@ap.org) for information about becoming an AP contributing photographer.

If you have any questions, please contact XXXXXXXX (PR), XXXXXXXX (Digital Media), or XXXXXX (AP –XXXXXX@ap.org).


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