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PRESS RELEASES 34
April 4, 2007
Corbis Launches Australian Offices
Corbis CEO Steve Davis and Australian Sales Director Sarah McCarthy celebrated the official launch of the company's Sydney, Australia office on March 29th by hosting a party for more than 150 media, advertising and publishing professionals.
Corbis entered the Australian market in October 2006 with the acquisition of Australian Picture Library (APL) and has now added offices in Sydney and Melbourne (to be off officially launched 19 April) to its other 22 offices around the world. With a focus on the advertising, publishing and media industries, Corbis is committed to providing creative resources to the Australian market including creative, entertainment and editorial image and motion licensing, rights and music clearances, artist representation for assignment photography shoots and a Media Management solution.
The launch event showcased a selection of creative photography including imagery produced to meet the specific needs and requirements of the Australian market. Corbis represents some of the highest quality photography including iconic images from its famed Bettmann and Sygma archives, Playboy and the Andy Warhol collection as well as leading celebrity portraiture via its acclaimed CorbisOutline offering. Corbis also has cutting edge creative imagery from BloomImage, Image100, zefa and other collections. Corbis is also actively acquiring and producing its own fresh imagery, adding more than a half million images to its collection in 2006 alone.
At the event, Corbis also showed the band U2's "Window in the Skies" video, a stirring montage that features about 100 archival clips of various musicians performing in concert. In the video produced by Modernista!, the footage has been carefully edited so that the performances sync up with U2's lyrics and music. Corbis was instrumental in clearing publicity rights for many of the artists represented in the video to help produce it on schedule.
Commenting on the company's Australian launch, Davis said, "Corbis is an established global leader in our industry, and we are committed to bringing creative professionals in Australia a fresh choice for imagery and rights services as well as superior customer service. There is a wealth of creative talent in Australia, and ultimately, we are here to help people do great work."
Drawing on 20 years of experience in advertising, McCarthy is leading Corbis' entry into Australia.
Images.com Inc. Introduces New Websites
Images.com has introduced a new updated and reformulated website, adding 200,000 of the best conceptual photography images to its world - class illustration collection at http://www.images.com/index.shtml
The new site will feature its entire roster of Images.com photographers and illustrators together with a complete range of leading international media partner collections. The website has numerous enhancements which will better showcase artists' work:
- Image searches occur with lightning speed.
- The lightbox features include drag and drop, rename and share features.
- Faster pricing of RM and RF selections is provided.
- Thumbnails can be customized to fill the whole screen with search results.
- A new mouse-over enlargement feature, complete with full image details.
"This is the one of the most exciting projects we have ever completed for Images.com." said Paul Arbor, President and Chief Operating Officer of Images.com "With today's announcement we reaffirm our commitment to our company's traditional strength as the leading illustration business and boldly move forward with our full service offering of photography, illustration and new technology."
Images.com has also re-launched its illustration site (www.StockIllustrationSource.com) and dedicated it entirely to illustration. The company represents more than 1,000 of the world's finest illustrators.
Butler Appointed VP Sales and Distribution at Upper Cut
UpperCut Images has appointed Mark Butler has been appointed Vice President in charge of Sales and Distribution. Previously, Mark was Director of International Operations at Digital Vision where he led the team that developed one of the premier royalty free distribution networks in the world. Later, he spearheaded the development of Bananastock's international network and then launched Jupiter Images UK sales operation, where he served a Country Director.
Mark will be in charge of UpperCut's worldwide distribution and sales networks, where he will be responsible for the launch of UpperCut's new royalty free image collection. Mark will be located in the company's office in the United Kingdom and can be reached at 44 20 8406 4801 or via email at markb@uppercutimages.com.
Miles Gerstein, CEO of UpperCut Images, expressed his delight at Mark joining the organization. "Mark is a consummate professional with vast the knowledge of the industry. He brings a special insight into distributor relationships, which will be vital in supporting our partners worldwide."
Action Images Becomes Wembley Stadium's Official Photography Provider
Action Images, the specialist sports arm of Reuters, has signed a long term contract with Wembley Stadium as its primary photographic provider, covering a range of assignments including sporting events and PR.
Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL) will officially open on 19 May with this season's FA Cup Final and is expected to become one of the greatest sporting venues in the world with state-of-the-art facilities that will seat 90,000 fans. Photography will feature heavily in bringing sports and entertainment events at Wembley to a worldwide audience and Action Images will play a key role in ensuring that a legacy of powerful images is created and distributed to global media, sponsors, partners and other stakeholders.
In addition to event coverage, Action Images will handle public relations photography assignments for Wembley and capture the range of services and facilities that the new stadium will offer. Under the new contract Wembley Stadium's existing photographic archive, built up during decades of great sporting moments at the site, will be managed and marketed by Action Images and integrated into a branded online photographic library accessible to Wembley personnel, accredited media, official sponsors, and other designated partners.
Jonathan Gregory, Marketing & Commercial Director of Wembley Stadium said: "Our experience of working with Action Images convinced us that it is Wembley's best option as a photographic partner. Action Images' global expertise in sports photography, in addition to its role as part of the Reuters family, will allow Wembley to present globally in pictures all the facets of life at this iconic world class venue."
Philip Kelly, Chief Executive of Action Images said: "We are delighted to have this opportunity to work so closely with the team at Wembley Stadium and with its sponsors and partners. It is a privilege to be involved from the opening of this national and international symbol of sporting excellence, and to be entrusted with the wide range of photographic opportunities available in such an impressive setting. "
BBC Magazine Signs Deal With Newscom
BBC Magazines has signed a deal with Newscom for distribution in North, South and Central America. Newscom will host content from the UK's market-leading food title Good Food, and olive, the premier magazine for young, urban foodies. Content from selected titles from the rest of BBC Magazines' portfolio will also go live on the syndicated content pages of Newscom during the year.
The deal with Newscom represents BBC Magazines first venture into the lucrative American publishing market. BBC Magazines sees this initiative as a gateway to establishing new licenses in the United States.
James Hewes, BBC Magazines Head of Licensing & Syndication, said, "Newscom delivers high-quality content from the world's best publishers and creators. BBC Magazines is perfectly suited to the brand and we're delighted to be able to offer Newscom and American customers the best food content available."
"At Newscom, we are always seeking ways to add first-rate content to our growing collection. That is why we view our partnership with BBC Magazines as a winning recipe for Newscom customers. Not only will Newscom customers have access to two superior food and lifestyle-focused publications in BBC's Good Food and olive, but ultimately they will have access to other great titles from BBC Magazine's high-quality portfolio," said Newscom General Manager, Bill Creighton.
Alamy Teams Up With 40260.com
Alamy is taking a look at the Baby Boomer generation through the addition of 40260.com, a new royalty free collection featuring the lifestyles of the 40 to 60 age group.
The collection portrays a positive image of this post war generation enjoying a fit and healthy lifestyle, the freedom of retirement or life after the children have left.
"It is a total 'fun' collection of 'real' people - the images are of 40-60 year old men and women really living their lives and stopping to smell the roses," said Jack Hollingsworth, chief creative officer of 40260.
Alamy's director of photography Alex Bortkiewicz added: "This lively first-of-its-kind-collection adds a new dimension to Alamy's range. It reflects the growing trend to develop niche collections in royalty free which is good news for image buyers.
"We find lifestyle images covering this age band are very popular among customers. The collection, which celebrates the 'youth' and longevity factor of this age group, offers a refreshing range of situations shot in a vibrant and contemporary style."
Alamy now represents 3700 images from 40260.com and will be adding to this on a regular basis. View the images on www.alamy.com.