Keeping Up in a Changing World . . .

By James Alexander
Special to The Stock Asylum
June 14, 2005

At Adobe we constantly ask creative professionals what they need to bring their ideas to life. Their priorities are our priorities. Their input helps shape all our solutions.

Adobe is dedicated to a simple goal: help people and businesses communicate better. Creative professional are at the heart of all we do and their world has gone through monumental change in the past decade.

It’s easy to become myopic during changing times. But, to succeed we must approach our business from the end user’s point of view. Creative professionals will determine where we go from here. Ultimately, they will decide what shape content will take and how to present it so people take notice.

They’ll also decide which licensing systems are ultimately successful.

The landscape of the stock photo business also has changed, creating exciting opportunities as well as big challenges.

One of the biggest changes -- and one of the biggest potential opportunities -- is the proliferation of new devices and the need for media that can optimize the use of those devices.

Communication bandwidth has exploded in the last few years. As soon as information is acquired, it’s immediately replaced by newer information. We literally are bombarded with multiple messages from multiple media. It seems everything is in a state of active interplay.

In the U.S. alone there are over 180 million mobile devices. Worldwide that number balloons to over a billion cell phones. In 2004 there were 22.8 billion text messages sent. It is estimated that nearly 75 billion e-mails are exchanged every day this year.

There are nearly a quarter million video walls in shopping malls and airports in North America alone. The Internet includes more than 60 million web sites, a number that grows by a million per month. Blogs multiply at a rate of 23,000 a day.

Web advertising is on the rise too. A study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that U.S. Internet advertising revenue reached a record $2.37 billion in the second quarter of 2004, surpassing even dot-com era numbers. We can anticipate much greater use of moving imagery on the Web, which means the demand for film footage will increase.

This explosion of media diversity represents an amazing opportunity for all of us -- but especially for photographers and designers. For photographers, cross-media publishing expands the whole concept of composition. After all, an image that communicates perfectly on the printed page may not translate to a cell phone screen or a Web page.

The proliferation and sophistication of mobile phones and other hand-held devices continues to drive demand for visually rich content. It also calls for a new level of creativity to deliver images reliably, anytime, anywhere. The opportunities are growing and creatives and advertisers will need quick access to images that work in this unique format.

We are also seeing a virtual re-invention of outdoor advertising that leverages plasma and LCD screen technology to create Times Square-like displays in bus shelters, elevators, sports arenas, offices, hotel lobbies, and on billboards.

While the communication world is definitely alive with new technology and new media opportunities, it is also crazy with competition. Everyone vies for our attention and most of us are on communication overload. So how do advertisers break through the din -- the clutter?

With only a nano-second to catch someone’s attention, less is always more. A visually-rich image wins out every time. Whether it appears on the Web, on a cell phone, or in a magazine -- nothing pierces the cacophony more effectively than vivid, high-impact professional photography -- unless of course, it’s customized photography targeted to a specific person.

Variable Data Publishing technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. It is no longer just about scattering my name through the body of a letter. It is about using relevant data about where I live, what I buy, what my needs and wants are.

Suppose I test drive a black Prius but leave the car dealership without buying. Well, imagine my surprise a week later when the dealer sends a beautiful full color mailer saying, “James, please give me another chance to put you in your Prius, and we'll give you a chance to win $5,000."

Right there on the front of the mailer is a photo of the actual model black Prius I road tested. When this visually rich communication arrives in my mailbox or e-mail box, that dealership has my attention.

New business opportunities for photographers and stock agencies are unlimited. Advertisers using VDP will need targeted visual images with strong emotional appeal -- images that resonate with specific target audiences. They also need to deliver this graphically-rich information in the customer’s preferred method of communication -- the mail, the web, a wireless device.

The research shows that VDP has huge growth potential because the response rate to these personalized communications is higher than any other type of advertising. That growth translates into opportunities on every front -- photo requests multiply, and photographers’ business increases.

Stock agencies have a great opportunity as well. You can differentiate your service by offering smart stock – VDP-ready collections that can be served up dynamically by zip code, area code, gender and other criteria.

Adobe has built an extended network of VDP solution providers in both software development and publishing services. We want to make a wide range of VDP solutions more accessible and affordable for companies of all sizes.

Given the current multi-media deluge, there’s a loud call for better, smarter, faster images. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a proliferation of affordable digital cameras and amateur photographers who are answering that call.

In February, Trendwatch reported that digital camera sales were way up across the board. Despite the proliferation of digital cameras, planned purchases and use of stock images were also on the rise.

The percentage of creatives planning purchases of rights-managed images in the next 12 months rose from 26 to 38. The percentage with plans to buy royalty-free images rose from 27 to 64.

Rising camera sales have not slowed the growth of stock image sales. One reason might be that, for print work, low to mid-range-priced cameras just are incapable of output that can compete with today’s high-res stock images.

However, digital cameras may compete with stock on the Internet, where the volume of images is high and resolution requirements are low. Still, Trendwatch reports that just 4 percent of publishers plan camera purchases primarily for Internet production work in the next year.

Royalty-free, low-end Internet services make it easy for newcomers and amateur photographers to enter the market and circumvent traditional channels. They introduce thousands of new images into the marketplace every week for unlimited use and for as little as $1.00 each. If you peruse pro photography blogs, you’d believe this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to the stock photography industry.

Amateur photographers will get tired of seeing their photographs used dozens of times to help companies make more money, while they collect pennies. I read a blog by one photographer who uploaded 29 images and earned $5.43.

Another change in the stock photography landscape that continues to impact our business is the consolidation of image distributors. In the past year Jupitermedia bought Comstock Images and Dynamic Graphics, Corbis took over zefaimages, and Getty bought Digital Vision and Photonica West.

For photographers, this clearly reduces potential outlets for their images and cuts into potential income. Competition was already tough and it is estimated that more than a million new images will be added to professional royalty-free collections this year. At the same time, new models including subscriptions, flat rate and limited distribution are giving buyers new lower-cost options.

Demanding clients and agencies ask that both photographers and designers work harder and faster to break through the din with rich, targeted messages that work on a whole range of communication devices.

Creatives are being asked to design for multiple media with less turnaround time, which means less time and energy to really let the creative process work. Head counts are not increasing to handle the increased demand.

What do overworked designers need to meet increasingly complex demands?

They need tools that empower so they can execute ideas quickly across a variety of publishing media. They need tools and solutions that do not get in their way. They have little time to get bogged down with details. This means they need rich and inspired stock images that address media complexity, with multiple media-friendly pricing. And they need ways to access them quickly and efficiently within their design and layout applications. That is where Adobe Stock Photo service -- our new one-stop shop of stock photography -- comes into the picture.

Adobe Stock Photo Services lets creative professionals buy images instantly from multiple providers, all in one place. We designed the service as a gateway, not gatekeeper. Our goal is to make it as inclusive as possible so everyone benefits. With hundreds of thousands of Adobe Creative Suite users and 3.6 million creative professionals using individual point products, Adobe is truly at the hub of creativity throughout the design world. No better access point exists for stock images.

Adobe Stock Photo service is not a subscription model, it is a time-saving resource for creatives within Adobe applications. It is seamlessly integrated at point-of-use. Adobe Stock Photos offers designers stock content search, management and automated licensing capabilities when and where they need them- whether they’re working in Adobe Creative Suite 2, Photoshop®, Illustrator®, InDesign®, or GoLive®.

It makes finding and working with digital photos and images easier than ever because of Adobe Bridge. The Bridge now functions as a hub for productivity, imagery and creativity, providing designers with multi-view file browsing and smooth cross-product integration.

Through the Bridge, creative pros can access Adobe Stock Photos with over 230,000 high-quality, royalty-free images from a variety of sources. Reviews of the new Creative Suite 2 and Stock Photos service have been really positive.

The Adobe Stock Photo service simplifies workflow for graphic designers so they can focus on creativity. Our powerful keyword search makes finding images or browsing for inspiration easy and fast. Adobe Stock Photos service also invites designers to download unwatermarked comps for easy editing and review in Photoshop or for direct import into InDesign.

Once designers selecte a comp and are in the final production stage, we’ve made it easy to license high-res images by centralizing usage rights so pricing, terms and conditions are consistent across our whole library of photos. Adobe Stock Photos has a built-in image management system. Metadata keeps track of searches, suppliers and copyright information so designers can recall a search quickly and conveniently.

Adobe Stock Photos service offers creatives an integrated, comprehensive design environment, eliminating steps in the workflow and promoting enhanced productivity and quality.

There are concerns because the initial offering of Adobe Stock Photos service is only for royalty-free images. Some may think we’re giving designers and advertisers yet another reason to ignore rights-managed stock.

Royalty-free does nothing to protect intellectual property because of the perpetual copyright license. On the other hand, rights-managed protects the photographer’s interests but designers find it hard to navigate through the licensing details. There isn’t an easy answer, but we’re asking the right questions.

The current trend favors royalty-free, which accounts for more than half of all stock sales, even though rights-managed still holds the lead in revenues collected. The recent financial reports show that royalty-free sales have climbed significantly more in the past two years than rights-managed sales.

The popularity of royalty-free doesn’t necessarily mean we’re committed to that model long-term. We’re also looking at the rights-managed opportunity and the possibility of automating that process.

Licensing and royalties are complex issues, but Adobe is committed to sorting it out with the stock community, professional photographers, and first and foremost, the creative professionals who license content. We are working with the Plus Coalition to develop and implement licensing standards and systems that can bring photo licensing into the 21st century.

Besides licensing royalty-free images via Adobe Stock Photos, creative professionals can access several rights-managed libraries or connect with individual assignment photographers via the Adobe Photographers Directory.

We have reached a point where the novelty of new media has worn a bit thin. People once again want, and appreciate, good design. Design is becoming a competitive differentiator for many companies. Just look at companies like Target which used design to completely reposition itself in the market. Good design requires rich, meaningful content.

Designers count on photographers for that content and they count on Adobe for tools to integrate content into designs. Working together we can provide those creative pros with the best possible experience.

Then everyone wins.

James Alexander is Director of Adobe Stock Photos.

Adobe's web site is at: http://www.adobe.com

Adobe VDP Resource center is at: http://www.adobe.com/products/vdp

Adobe Stock Photos info is at: http://www.adobe.com/adobestockphotos

Adobe's photographer directory is at: http://www.photographersdirectory.adobe.com