Digital agency snaps up online photographers
Well- followed artists employed to make big social media splash
People don’t go to brand pages ... to simply look at the brand’s product. They can do that easily on the website or in a catalogue. They want to be engaged.
MAURICE LI CREATOR OF STAY+ WANDER, A DIGITAL AGENCY FOCUSING ON ‘ NATIVE ADVERTISING’
Traditionally, photographers have sold their images. Now, they are selling their reach.
Former commercial photographer Maurice Li has built a business model for photographers with strong social media followings in which advertisers can buy libraries of custom photos while tapping into the photographers’ pools of online followers on sites such as Instagram and Twitter.
The idea
Li, 39, formerly a venture capital firm business plan analyst, became a commercial photographer after he developed a Twitter following posting his photos of festivals and bands. He noticed that when brands first started recognizing the value of photographers with online followers, they offered product in exchange for some posts.
“Photographers were being offered shoes that cost the brand $ 10 but getting back their marketing message spread to 30,000 to 100,000 people,” said Li. “One hundred per cent of all the work I’ve ever received has come through social media.”
Li teamed up with photographer Alex Strohl to create Stay+ Wander, a digital agency that creates “native advertising” campaigns and functions as a global talent scout for photographers who are influential on social media.
The branding
“There’s a fundamental shift in the way photography is consumed,” Li said. “Brands used to hire a professional to shoot 30 pictures and use them for the rest of the year. Now, with social media, they will hardly last you two weeks. You’re going to need at least one or two photos per day to get your message across.”
Consequently, photographers need to come up with a new pricing model and a new way to licence their photos, he said.
“The problem is, most photographers can’t pivot,” Li said. “They can’t look at social media and say, ‘ That picture is only going to be valuable to that brand for 24 hours or a week.’ ”
Inexpensive or free stock photos are no longer good enough. These stilted images drive a wedge between the consumer and the brand, Li said.
“People don’t go to brand pages or brand social media accounts to simply look at the brand’s product. They can do that easily on the website or in a catalogue. They want to be engaged. It’s hard to connect to them when you have canned photography.”
Meanwhile, user- generated photos are neither dependable nor necessarily on point for an advertising campaign.
What is native advertising?
Demian Farnworth of Copy-blogger Media defines native advertising as paid content that matches a publication’s editorial standards while meeting its audience’s expectations.
In other words, Stay+ Wander develops a creative concept for a client and assembles a photographic team with the appropriate artistic style and social media following — foodies or Hong Kong architecture enthusiasts, for example. The nuance lies in finding a way for photographers to integrate the brand message, philosophy or product in a way that won’t insult or alienate their existing followers.
Everyone recognizes photographers have to make a living, Li said. “You’re not doing work that compromises your artistic integrity. The key here is always that we try to ensure the artist is allowing their craft to show through.”
Stay+ Wander typically pays the photographers by the day for a photo shoot. The photographers post their photos on their Instagram, Facebook or Twitter accounts and caption them with the brand’s hashtags or note the photos were taken while working with brand x. Later, they give the client a library of photographs for their ongoing use.
The outcome
The 10- month- old business’ first major contract was for the Canadian Tourism Commission/ Travel Alberta. They assembled a team of seven photographers with strong Instagram followings for a seven- day trip across the province. The resulting 243 photos posted on Instagram generated 39,000 comments and 2.3 million “Likes” on Instagram in the span of a week, said Li, whose own Instagram account has 81,000 followers. Strohl has 176,000 followers. Visitors to the client’s own website stayed an average of four minutes. The campaign was a finalist in the PR Daily Social Media Awards for Best Use of Instagram.
Stay+ Wander charges a day rate per photographer ranging from $ 600 to $ 2,000 for a set number of posts to social feeds and additional images to be delivered for the client’s library. It also charges a creative fee for the concept.
With minimal start- up costs, the young firm hopes to be profitable by the end of the year.