October 27, 2006 @ 6:19 AM
I’ve just returned from Seattle where I met with 6 other bloggers and Getty Images, the world’s largest stock photography company. It was my first opportunity like this since launching my blog in January. Describing the guest list as “humbling” would be an understatement.
Robert Scoble - PodTech.net, Buzz Bruggeman - Buzznovations, Marshall Kirkpatrick - TechCrunch, Thomas Hawk - Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection, Kristopher Tate - Zooomr and Latthanapon “Ponzi” Indharasophang - Lockergnome
A huge “thank you” to Getty Images and Edelman PR for including me.
It was awesome.
From the schedule, I’d expected to be spending some real time with my sleeves rolled up, checking out some of the exciting initiatives Getty currently has under development. The day turned out to be a little more “press-junkety” and a little less “hands on testing” than I’d anticipated. Getting to provide feedback at this level to a company whose brand I’m so familiar with (as a designer) was an amazing opportunity however.
The day began with opening remarks from Getty’s top Executives. The contrast between Johnathan Klein (Co-founder and CEO of Getty Images) and Bruce Livingstone (Founder and CEO of iStockphoto) was startling, but it was also immediately clear to me that these two gentlemen were cut from the same cloth (if perhaps a few decades apart).
Questions and discussion revolved around the changing nature of both: digital image consumption, and Getty’s strategy with this year’s acquisition of iStockphoto.
Robert suggests companies like flickr and zooomr are providing talented independents like Thomas Hawk a “foot in the door” with commercial and editorial consumers, potentially shaving some margin from Getty. Robert and Buzz both offered advice on how Getty Images, the largest and most prestigious provider of photographic imagery in the world, could continue to innovate by being more like photo-sharing sites.
Kudos to Getty for being open to such feedback, but personally I don’t think social web apps and monetizing traffic are silver bullets for every market challenge. It’s clear that Getty will have to innovate to maintain its dominance and continue to grow, but I would be looking at the kinds of things Channel9 is doing (rather than companies like flickr and zooomr) to create evangelists within it’s customer base.
Even with recent events, I can’t imagine Getty diluting their brand by going after too many additional revenue streams (read: turning into a Veer). At least I hope they don’t. To me this is Getty’s Brand. Not this. Plus, iStockphoto already has the potential to capture these additional streams built in, and they’re already doing it for less and in some cases better, than Veer.
So how can Getty innovate? I see Getty’s key areas for innovation in the streamlining of licensing, contracts, workflow - really making every aspect of company more usable for Creatives, Journalists and contributing photographers. Not as sexy a solution perhaps as Web 2.0, but for people working under tight deadlines, and who compete by the quality of their work, it doesn’t need to be.
We did get to see some very exciting things Getty’s working on, but I can’t talk about those quite yet. 
A tour of the facility included the server room, housing the entire image collection. An amazing sight. Visiting their Creative department brought back the excitement and energy of working in such an environment. The floors and walls were simply littered with thumbnails, comps, stacks of photos… Imagine having their entire collection at your disposal. That’s what the designers and editors of Getty’s Edit Magazine have at their finger tips everyday.
After an exhausting day, I had an opportunity to have a few beers with Bruce Livingstone. He shared some inspiring stories with me of how he got to be where is now. “It was never the plan”, he said. What came through with each anecdote were his singular passion, talent and charisma. He’s controversial, but whether you like him or not, you can’t help but respect his genuineness.
Speaking of photo-sharing, if you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to get yourself a zooomr account (server may be down). More on them very soon…
Comments
Very cool Mark! You were in my neck of the woods (we do work with Edelman, AND Getty's office is block from my house!). I bet it was exciting to get such an up-close peak at things to come in Gettyland. I hope they don't turn into another Veer. If they do, I fingers crossed that they at least make their merch affordable. Sheesh!
Cool man. Well, considering I browse Getty every day for inspiration and image usage, I've got one gripe off the top of my head. Getty feels more like a hungry powerhouse that buys up every stock house known to man. I usually end up finding the same image twice in one search, the only difference being it is owned by different companies (that Getty has aquired)...a little less consumption and more smart search results.
I think you hit the nail on the head that Getty already has a size 14 foot in the door with their acquisition of iStockPhoto (a bargain at $50 million). They should concentrate on being a workhorse for in-the-trenches designers and leave the social networking aspect to sites built for that purpose.
Dude, you were out here in Fremont and you didn't give us a call. Where's the love. Okay just kidding, but next teim you better call.Glad you had a good time meeting with Getty. I have friends that are loving it now and it looks like they've gotten all their ducks back in a row.
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