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PRESS RELEASES 33
March 13, 2007
Getty Acquires Scoopt
Getty Images, Inc. has announced its acquisition of Scoopt, an emerging source for user-generated editorial content. Scoopt is an aggregator and distributor of photographs and videos captured by eyewitnesses who have an accidental front row seat to headline-making moments.
In the coming months, news, sport and entertainment imagery from Scoopt that
meets Getty Images' stringent editorial quality standards will be released
exclusively at www.gettyimages.com/editorial, where it will benefit from worldwide visibility and promotional support. Additionally, Getty Images will
invest in technology upgrades and other enhancements to Scoopt in order to make
the site more accessible to customers, and to better position it for future
growth.
"New technology has made it easier to capture and distribute imagery, leading
to citizen photojournalism that is increasingly relevant to the news cycle,"
said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "While this genre
will never replace the award-winning photojournalism for which we're known,
it's a highly complementary offering that enables us to meet the evolving
imagery needs of a broad customer base."
Since the founding of Scoopt in 2005, the site has supplied the media with arresting imagery from major world events, including:
- The tragic Manhattan plane crash that killed New York Yankees pitcher
Cory Lidle and his flight instructor in October 2006; digital images
captured by a bystander were emailed to Scoopt and appeared on the
front page of The Times of London
- Fierce January 2006 storms in the U.K., which brought devastation and
disruption to large parts of the country
"User-generated content is serving a valuable role in today's communication landscape; safeguards to validate its authenticity are critical," said Hugh Pinney, director of Editorial Photography at Getty mages. "By implementing rigorous quality standards, we can deliver powerful imagery captured from a unique perspective while ensuring journalistic integrity."
Citizen photographers who submit imagery to Scoopt retain copyright while
granting the agency a 12-month exclusive license that authorizes re-license to
one or more publishers. Contributors will benefit from increased visibility
and an extensive network of media contacts, earning a significant percentage of
the value for each license issued. Both Getty Images and Scoopt encourage
contributors to be respectful and follow a code of ethics for image capture.
Submission guidelines and additional details about Scoopt's growing
photographer community can be found at www.scoopt.com
Getty Images plans to fully integrate Scoopt into its organization,
harnessing the team's knowledge of user-generated editorial content. "We're
very much looking forward to taking our business to the next level by
collaborating with the world's leading imagery provider," said Kyle MacRae,
founder of Scoopt. "This acquisition will exponentially expand our customer
base and establish a strong foundation for long-term growth."
The Scoopt team will continue to operate out of the site's base in Glasgow,
Scotland, servicing customers under the leadership of Getty Images' Hugh
Pinney. Existing relationships with Scoopt partners and affiliates will remain
in place until further notice.
Ressmeyer Resigns As PACA President
At PACA'S 2-27-07 Executive Board meeting the Executive Committee reluctantly accepted the resignation of PACA's president, Roger Ressmeyer. Roger presented his resignation in response to enormous changes in his personal life. He did not feel that, in the near term, he could devote the time and attention needed to be an effective leader.
The Nominations and Elections Committee, chaired by Cheryl Pickerell DiFrank, presented a replacement slate of officers that was unanimously approved.
Effective immediately, the new officers include:
All other officers remain the same.
The Executive Board commended Roger for his efforts during his tenure and acknowledged his years of service to PACA, but also recognizes the need of Roger to concentrate on the most important responsibilities of his life.
Roger writes: "PACA is full of positive, hard-charging energy now, and under Patrick's guidance and with your own continued support, we can be confident PACA will continue to provide valuable services to our membership while making strong contributions to our industry's well-being."
We are excited about the new leadership team and although we'll miss Roger's enthusiastic participation, we know that PACA is in great hands.
Alamy Exceeds 8 Million Images
Alamy is celebrating a major milestone after exceeding the 8 million image mark.
Its fast growing collection doubled last year making it one of the largest stock photography agencies on the web.
The comprehensive range contains high quality imagery from 8,000 photographers and 400 agencies and is growing at the rate of 350,000 new images each month.
The diverse collection covers everything from mainstream and specialist imagery to the offbeat and downright quirky. From aardvarks and aerobatics, fine art and funny faces to viruses and voodoo - it's all at Alamy.
The latest highlights from all categories can be viewed on Alamy's newly designed showcase page at www. alamy.com
Hughes Launches Equity Images
Photography industry veteran and a former Corbis President, Leslie Hughes announces the launch of Equity Images. Equity Images provides production services focused on creating visual equityTM for corporate marketing and communications. The company will produce imagery to enhance brand communications across media platforms and will focus its energy providing services to mid-size and large corporations that require image rich, cross-media communications. The company is being launched with private funding primarily from Hughes.
Also involved are industry veterans David Harrigan and Catherine Lee who have each worked with Hughes previously. Harrigan, who is responsible for Equity Images' European productions, was previously Head of European Art for Getty Images and Director of European Creative Photography at Corbis.
Catherine Lee is another Corbis/Getty veteran having held key positions in the development of both companies' business presence in Asia. Catherine Lee will provide Equity Images' Asian production services out of Hong Kong via her company Redlink.
Hughes was quoted as saying "Marketing is changing today. Ad agencies and corporate marketing departments are looking for strong visual consistency to carry throughout and across multi-dimensional campaigns. Our company is positioning itself to provide visual equityTM throughout and to break through the clutter so clients can create real brand equity across many platforms. And, we are doing so with a unique, new licensing model for custom photography."
Equity Images is the second media venture founded by Hughes and her company Equidyne Ventures (www.equidyneventures.com). The first, EQi Services, launched in late 2005 and provides media and support services primarily to the photography and film industries. EQi helps US and European companies with a variety of services including building sales, marketing and product development strategies. The company also consults on acquisitions & integration, developing distribution networks globally, and has recently begun to help with corporate staffing needs - both permanent and project based.
The company is a New York area based company with location and production services in London and Hong Kong. Interested clients, partners or photographers can find out more by going towww.equidyneventures.com or may request more information from: info@equityimages.com or
info@eqiservices.com
age footstock Renovates Website
We believe everyone will agree that one of the people who enjoys "changes" the most is a baby with a damp diaper...in his world the only thing that changes is the form: the diaper will be dry, but it will function the same way.
Metaphorically speaking, age fotostock changes its diaper this month of March. We will continue doing the same: offering the best, most varied, and highest quality images in the market, in a totally renovated website with a lighter, more visual, more suggestive, more attractive look and with an even more stimulating type of content.
At age fotostock we have decided to embellish our image to establish a more positive impression since we want to generate clear preferences towards our website. We want to be the first in our clients' minds because we are convinced that we are very capable of generating even better positive synergies with them.
In the new website, age fotostock will offer new sections with more varied content, such as the creative and dynamic + Zone and What's New, so the user can find sources of visual inspiration in addition to solutions that will fit any project. And even though the functionality of the website will continue as always, we have introduced internal changes in the circulation of images, that facilitate a more intuitive, faster and simpler navigation.
age fotostock's Art Director Monica Farguell, comments: "We have created an interface with the user that is more luminous and modern, where appearance and photography, our raisons d'être, reclaim the leading role they deserve. We have worked with determination to make sure that the design, as well as the technical aspects of the functionality, are both equally represented in this change, without having to sacrifice neither of these essential features of a website that provides services to creative minds around the world".
age fotostock has created a campaign directed to US and Spanish clients to get them acquainted with the new website. This interactive campaign, under the slogan "Get Hooked on Change", is centered around a microsite inside age fotostock's website, where the visitor is challenged to consider some stimulating changes the company is proposing. If visitors register on the microsite, they can enter a drawing for fun gifts, including an exciting trip to Las Vegas.
Visit the new www.agefotostock.com and ... enjoy the changes!
Alfonso Gutiérrez Escera, General Manager, age fotostock
Eyecandy Launches E-Commerce Website
Eyecandy Images based in New York and London announced today, 3rd March 2007, the launch of their new e-commerce website, a place where you can buy both rights-managed and royalty-free images.
This innovative and daring collection of images is available for download from www.eyecandyimages.com at prices starting as low as £75 in the royalty-free range. An online price calculator is also available for image buyers researching our pioneering rights-managed collection.
"Finally being able to offer our bleeding edge photography via a fully e-commerce website direct to designers and ad agencies is very exciting for us. We think our fun and funky approach to photography will be well received by the majority of designers who are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of images out there. It was always our intention to create cutting-edge product - we believe our images stand out from the crowd and do exactly what they say on the tin.", commented BJ Formento, the VP of photography and Co Founder of Eyecandy.
Warner Bros. Footage Available At Gettyimages
Getty Images, Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment have announced a licensing agreement that offers editors, publishers and filmmakers a convenient new way to access imagery from the Studio's award-winning movies and television programs. Customers who visit www.gettyimages.com can access thousands of original stills and film clips from Warner Bros. Entertainment while benefiting from Getty Images' industry-leading search functionality and licensing structure.
"This alliance enables Warner Bros. to bring an unrivaled collection of
entertainment photos and footage to the broadest possible audience," said
Maria Seidman, Vice President of Sales Development for Warner Bros. Digital
Distribution. "Getty Images' market position, customer relationships and
leadership in the digital space make the company an ideal distribution
partner."
Whether customers are searching for film footage of panoramic vistas in
faraway lands or edge-of-your-seat action that hits closer to home, the
Warner Bros. Entertainment collection addresses a multitude of imagery needs,
featuring eight decades' worth of imagery ranging from the iconic to the
obscure. Included in this rich and compelling collection are publicity
photos and behind-the-scenes shots from long-running television series such
as "ER," "Friends" and "The West Wing," and classic big-screen productions
like "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Blazing Saddles" and "Wild Wild West."
"Our partnership with Warner Bros. not only gives customers a powerful new
means of creating an unparalleled visual impact, it also enables them to
adhere to reasonable production costs and timelines," said Karen McLaughlin,
Director of Image Partner Development at Getty Images. "We're continually
evaluating the breadth and depth of our content to ensure customers are
equipped to communicate effectively through traditional, online and mobile
platforms."
The Warner Bros. Entertainment stills collection complements Getty Images'
vast offering of entertainment coverage captured at high-profile award
ceremonies, film festivals, movie premieres and other celebrity events while
diversifying the company's breadth of moving imagery. Getty Images' film
collection contains footage from a variety of blue-chip entertainment
entities, including dick clark productions, inc., Discovery FootageSource and
AP Archive.
To access imagery from the Warner Bros. Entertainment collection, visit
www. http://www.gettyimages.com/warnerbrosentertainment.com
Photos Horticultural Launches Website
Photos Horticultural launched their new e-commerce website www. photos-horticultural.com selling both rights-managed and royalty-free imagery. Entirely property and model released, the website has launched a number of useful features which aide the buyer in his search for stunning images of a variety of flora and fauna.
Founded by Michael Warren in 1969, Photos Horticultural focused its collection on the specialised area of plants and gardens. The library grew extensively to over 115,000 transparency shots taken from around the world and has now expanded to include representative material from other horticultural photographers. The variety of material covers not only plants and gardens but also related subjects such as landscape views, organic nutrition and generic nature shots. All images are meticulously checked for accurate plant identification before publication to the site.
The online library now contains over 15,000 recently-shot digital images with an improved search for clearer and easier navigation. Online pricing and credit card payments allows for instant download. The addition of press accounts for editorial customers takes the automation one step further with immediate download options and simple, reduced price options.