Buyer's Market

Generally speaking, we wanted to know what sorts of issues keep these art buyers up at night. Top of the insomnia list? Cost consultants, which clients are increasingly hiring to rein in creative budgets. More than one of our interviewees gave consultants a lukewarm performance review, leading her to speculate whether these watchdogs?brought in to save money-are actually a waste of client dollars.

While some say their clients seem to understand what original photography can do for their brands, a number of interviewees report commissioning less original photography recently, in part because of the current craze for illustration in advertising. Overall, art buyers indicate that client budgets are about the same as they've been in the recent past, with emphasis placed on stretching client dollars.

In response, many photographers are displaying a bend-over-backwards brand of flexibility. The competition is so fierce, says Julie Rosenoff Smith, manager of the art buying department at New York's EURO RSCG Worldwide, "that photographers and agents alike will say, 'Tell me where you need me to be, what you need and we'll make it work.'"

Several art buyers also sense a renewed appreciation for their contributions to the creative process, with the skills to impact the final product, not merely its budget. "It's understood that we're the ones who are handling all the people involved in the production," says Shawn Smith, director of art buying at Minneapolis' Fallon. "We understand the creative needs, the client needs and the budget. And both clients and people on the agency side are recognizing that."



Katie Husband

Art Buyer Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners, Sausalito

Key Accounts: Converse, MINI USA, Sun microsystems

Client involvement

I've noticed that clients have been interested in exerting more control over photography budgets recently?a lot of them have consultants whose job it is to watch over the creative budgets. They want to be more involved in the bidding process, which makes it more difficult for us, of course. Because any time you bring a third party into the bidding process, it makes it more difficult.

A lot of clients also have creative directors on their end, so running the photographers through the agency side is not always the end of the process. Sometimes clients come to us and present a campaign they saw and say, "We really like this photographer," whereas before we'd go to them with the recommendation. But they do come up with great ideas and most are willing to let us help them go a little further.



Art buyers in demand

There are so many photographers that it's almost overwhelming for art directors. They're bombarded every day with emails, promotional mailings-even voice mails. I've noticed that they're relying on me a lot more to help them weed through all the options and find the photographer who fits the job. They still like to go through books, but they have so much to do, and I think art buyers are more in demand because of that reason.



To-each-his-own pricing

Photographers' rates have increased recently, in part because of digital. Often we'll have photographers who have to customize the images with their own look, and those costs are always included in the bid. Photographers have also been combining usage fees along with the day rates, which can be extremely confusing. It's hard to go back and pull out certain pieces and explain to a client that it will be a certain amount if they want it for print, for example, and this much more for Internet. I find that there's no one set way [that photographers are establishing their fees]. It's becoming more "to each his own."



Fight to the finish

I'm amazed by the impact digital has had on everything. Photographers are demanding more and more control over retouching and, in many cases, they should. Photographers want to put their own look on their image, and I think it's wonderful that they're pushing the creative envelope in that way. People are always looking for the new style?for photographers who can bring a new look to the client and the campaign. And that's where the new look is right now.



Julie Rosenoff Smith

Manager, Art Buying Department EURO RSCG Worldwide, New York

Key Accounts: Jaguar cars, Evian Water, Claritin (Schering-Plough)



Blurred lines

We work with Fortune 500 companies that have large production budgets, and there does not seem to be a distinct difference from last year with regard to those budgets. The flip side is we also produce work for smaller-sized companies, where we are challenged to produce stellar work on tight budgets.

What we are finding is that the delineation between broadcast-production budgets and print-production budgets is blurring. We're working more often in tandem, hiring a photographer to shoot stills on the commercial set, which stretches the client's budget a bit more effectively.



Cost consultants: Waste of money?

Almost all of our clients have cost consultants. It is a very time-consuming process, and I have questioned whether it is worth the money our clients spend on it. We spend hours going back and forth, revising estimates numerous times. There are situations where we are forced to push back on photographers to a point where the quality of a production is sure to be compromised.

Some cost consultants don't have a true grasp of what it takes to put a quality crew or production together. They just see numbers on line items and say, "Three hundred dollars is too much to pay a photo assistant, I'd like to see it in the $250 range." Sometimes they want to impart their creative recommendations on photographers. Personally, I don't believe it is their place to be recommending talent to us. Talent is what we do, as art buyers and art producers.



Bending over backwards

Photographers are getting the same rates as they did two years ago, but instead of getting one-year print media only, we'll get any and all media for the same cost. The competition in the commercial photography world is so fierce that photographers and agents alike will say, "Tell me where you need me to be, what you need and we'll make it work." That's what we want to hear.

I'd say we've been assigning less photography overall. I have done some large "library" jobs as of late, where we will shoot a dozen or so scenarios, negotiate two years' usage in all media, and the client can pick and choose what ads they want to run throughout the 24 months. This approach saves so much time and money?as we are bundling at least a couple of shoots into one.



Trend depression

Minimalist portraiture is a major trend right now. You know, one person on location somewhere. Unemotional expressions, depressing, boring, everything looks the same. It has definitely reached its saturation point. I cannot tell you how many books I have seen where it looks like the same photographer could have shot all the images! It is so rare to see a book that stands out these days.



Kellie Bingman

Senior Art Buyer McKinney/Durham, NC

Key Accounts: Sony, Audi, Travelocity

More for less

Photography budgets decreased a couple of years ago and have really never recovered. For instance, with Audi, we used to do a lot more car shoots. Now, because of reduced budgets, we're picking up photography from the Audi Germany database instead of shooting in the US. Or we're buying a lot of reuse on things we've shot in the past. We did do one shoot for Audi this year, so maybe it's starting to come back around. I'm hoping that things will continue that way.

I've always scrutinized every line item to make sure we're getting the best value for our money, but it's more challenging now. Across the board, we're expected to get the same amount of shots?and more usage?for the same budgets I had two and three years ago.

So instead of going to four locations, we'll go to three. Instead of casting through talent agencies, we'll cast real people that aren't represented by agencies, saving that 20 percent commission. Within the last year, I've also seen more flexibility on the part of photographers. When we've cut the expenses as far as we can and there's no other place to cut, often photographers are more willing to cut their fees.



No shame in post

There is a certain percentage of shooters who achieve their "style" in post-production, which they do themselves, and we're fine with that, but we have a wonderful in-house retouching department that does a great job, so we tend to use them on most of our projects.

It's interesting because when I started art buying?almost six years ago now?photographers didn't really want people to know that they were doing post. They wanted everyone to think that they'd captured everything in-camera. Now it's become a selling point if they have their own post person. That's part of what you're buying from them?that style. And I don't see that trend going away. I hate to say it, but illustration is the trend I'm seeing these days. I used to get a request for an illustrator once or twice a year. Now I'm getting a request once or twice a week.



The deal with stock

We're using more royalty-free stock and less rights-managed. The problem with royalty-free is that the quality?even though it's gotten better?is still lacking. But the cost for any kind of rights-managed stock with decent usage is prohibitive for us. Almost always, it's less expensive to shoot than to buy stock for the kinds of usage we need.

We've worked with Corbis on an arrangement where we get a great deal on rights-managed for Travelocity, with a set price and usage. It's great because my art directors know they can go to Corbis and get any rights-managed stock for their Travelocity campaigns, and we'll be able to afford it. There are more stock companies wanting to work out similar deals with us, and we're probably going to start approaching other stock agencies to do the same.



Lucy Raimengia

SVP, Art Buying Manager FCB, New York

Key Accounts: Eli Lilly, Qwest Communications, Kraft-Nabisco

Feather in the art buyer's cap

The role of the art buyer has definitely evolved. While fiscal management will always be an important aspect of the job, creative execution has become just as important. For the past three years, the FCB art buyers have reported to the creative director of the agency. Before that, they reported to the head of creative services/print production. It's definitely a feather in our caps in terms of being recognized as true contributors to the creative process and just as significant as our broadcast counterparts?the TV producer.



Consultancy quandary

Most of my clients have cost consultants. It can be a bit of a quandary. Obviously, it is my job to ensure that a photographer's estimate is fair and reasonable. If I make adjustments and then send the estimate to a cost controller, will she reduce it further because that's her job? If I send it as is, will the cost controller think I'm not doing my job? It can be a challenge.

Fortunately, I have great relationships with my cost controllers. When I receive a photographer's estimate, I indicate where I think adjustments should be made on the estimate and then share with the cost controller. This way, it's a collaborative effort and everyone wins?including the photographer.



Making a case for post

I find that a lot more photographers are aligned with retouchers?not necessarily that they're doing it themselves. We have a state-of-the-art in-house retouching studio at our agency. If an art director feels strongly about retouching with a photographer outside of the agency, he must make a legitimate case for it. I think if you are dealing with special effects?when the final look is truly inherent in the post-production?you go with the photographer's retoucher. But for simple clean-up, color balance or cosmetic [changes], it's hard to justify.



More stock than ever

We are using more stock than ever?especially for our interactive advertising. I think the caliber of stock has gone up significantly?along with the cost. If you're using an image that would require travel and lots of production to shoot, it is cheaper to use stock. With simple shots, it can be cheaper to shoot, if time allows.

With stock, costs pile on with usage. When you're shooting assignment photography, you can sometimes negotiate extensive usage at a reasonable rate. With stock, extensive usage becomes cost prohibitive. The way stock prices are determined is pretty formulaic and there's very little room for negotiation.



Suzee Barrabee

Director of Print Production Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco

Key Accounts: Elizabeth Arden Fragrances, Comcast, Saturn

Tight budgets

Clients' budgets have definitely decreased over the past two years. The emphasis is on stretching budgets over a wider range of media. For example, a client's marketing budget used to center on TV, radio and print. Now the same amount of money might have to cover online and other alternative media projects.

Photographers' rates have been affected by the decrease in our clients' budgets. If a photographer is right for the project?and if they want to do the project?then it is a matter of working out the details.



Good faith and give-and-take

It used to be that photographers had established day rates or image rates. Now we tend to negotiate project fees based on specific criteria. Usage is always a key factor. By limiting usage, fees might be brought down, or by adding additional usages, fees might be more acceptable to our clients.

It's really a bit of give-and-take on both sides?and negotiating in good faith. The most important part of the process is being honest about budgetary and creative expectations. Both the agency creative side and the photographer have to show flexibility.



Third-party predicament

We're now working more with cost consultants, and it has not really been a very positive experience. They have had a significant influence over our choice of photographers, which in turn has affected our final creative. It's disappointing to have a third party inserted into the process who has nothing invested in the creative or strategic goals of a project?who is solely interested in the bottom line.



The mundane becoming...mundane

The trend for the last couple of years has been to glorify the mundane. Photographers have been shooting very ordinary objects or landscapes. Real people are shot with very flat lighting and they have a very intense look about them. I personally think it has reached a saturation point. Most of my clients want to see photos and people with more warmth. Another trend that has been popping up is the use of computer-generated images instead of photo shoots. Our automotive client is particularly interested in utilizing this technology.



More clutter, more options

People are inundated constantly with images. It makes our work more challenging; visually, we have to find a way to cut through the clutter. However, our creative options have grown as the technology has changed. We have the option to utilize post-production and create new imagery from the initial photographs. Or we can enjoy the beauty of simply capturing the perfect moment. And that's what makes it fun.



Shawn Smith

Director of Art Buying Fallon, Minneapolis

Key Accounts: Citi, United, Blackberry

Post-production learning curve

[Managing the issues that surround post-production, including time, money, and expectations,] has been a big issue of the last two years. We don't want to compromise the creative end product in any way, so we don't like to restrict how people do things. But when retouching and post effects are treated as sort of an afterthought in the estimate, suddenly it can become the make-or-break part of the project. It's been a learning curve for us, but we're getting a better handle on how to manage it.

We've used photographers with their own retouchers, when it's part of a photographer's vision?and part of our vision for the project. But we're learning that we have to be careful about that part of the estimation process. It's a matter of making sure the photographer has estimated the time properly. The photographer or producer might estimate five hours for retouching, where it turns out to be a 10-hour retouching job, and their retouchers are billing by the hour. This kind of overage is not something a client will approve unless it is for a change they requested.



Comfort factor

Recently, I've found that people are more comfortable using established photographers, where they might have pooh-poohed that a couple years ago. There's a comfort factor. People know that the more experienced photographers can look at a style and understand how to achieve it. So some of the established photographers?the ones who keep doing new work?seem to be doing quite well.

Last-minute approval

An ad can be done in a day?using stock?and people know that. So when people don't care so much about the creative?or they don't respect that good creative takes more time?people are pushing approval to the last minute. Some clients require that we put in four days for approval in a schedule. We can sometimes push and say, "Okay, but if you want to make this pub date?" but everyone's negotiating with each other on time. And I don't know if photographers really understand some of those internal battles. Art buyers are negotiating with many different parties, not just the photographers.



Overdue recognition

Art buyers are very involved with art directors in the concept phase. They're researching and making recommendations to help them get whatever they need to get to the next step. And they've always been part of the creative team in that way, but in terms of managing the production and the shoot, it used to be something people argued over. The eternal battle was, "Why does an art buyer need to go on the shoot?"

About four years ago, I remember people were questioning the value of art buyers. I heard that a couple agencies got rid of art buying and had other departments handle it. Well, that didn't last very long at all. One costly legal mistake is all it takes.

As things have evolved, art buying has become an established [professional role] that people don't question. It's understood that we're the ones who are handling all the people involved in the production. We understand the creative needs, the client needs and the budget. And both clients and people on the agency side are recognizing that.



This month, PDNOnline is running exclusive interviews with three more of the country's leading art buyers. See the features section of www.pdnonline.com.