You hit up a stock photography website and begin keying in crafty queries like “team collaborating”, “woman on laptop”, or “friends having dinner”… it all starts out innocently enough. But you’ve been down this road before and here you are again, spending hours on this mind-numbing exercise of making a weak, off brand, image fit your powerful concept.
As a tool to get you in the neighborhood, stock photography has a role, but to sell you the right house in that neighborhood, it is a poor agent. Realize that once you have made the crucial decisions for your creative campaign or initiative stylistically; it is only the beginning of a set of decisions that will create a unique and own-able experience.
It is now time to align on talented resources, including a director of photography who understands the nuances of bringing together the right talent including subjects, settings, lighting, wardrobe, makeup and even video to capture your story.
This well-honed process also includes the appropriate preproduction meetings and a strategic roadmap to capture any and all assets that will inform your library, so you can unfurl your story or campaign efficiently and logically with your brand’s own personality firmly at the wheel.
Especially key to your campaign is the image library and how generous a photo shoot can be to provide enough images to remain flexible for your overall needs.
In summary, stock can serve its purpose for comps and ad lobs, but for authentic, on-brand campaigns, nothing works like a custom photo library.
