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RANDOM THOUGHTS 54
October 26, 2002
Veer Launches New Company
Veer, which has been distributing catalogs since June, announced on October 15th
the launch of their new Calgary based company. They will be providing photography,
illustration, typefaces and motion -- hand-picked from the collections of
innovative companies.
The company's products are meticulously selected from both leading and emerging
brands to bring the most influential imagery, trends and styles to creatives. The
current brands include Image100, Digital Vision, FPS motion, Adobe Type Library,
Red Rooster, and ShinnType, Image Source, Rubberball, Corbis Motion, FPS Motion,
Alias Type, Device, Letraset Fonteck. They have also signed an exclusive agreement
with CSA Images.
Veer sells over 750 royalty-free CD titles and 62,000 single images and reflects an
international perspective with brands from the UK, Germany and North America.
One of the distinctives of Veer is that they intend to reach out to the estimated
700,000 stock image buyers worldwide with regular promotional mailings that many
will receive on a monthly basis. Many of the founding members of Veer were part of
EyeWire when it very successfully developed this approach to reaching customers.
Initially, they will be mailing over 3 million catalogs annually.
The Veer team is composed of former members of the award-winning marketing, product
and design teams responsible for direct-marketing catalogs and web sites for Getty
Images, EyeWire, and Adobe Systems. Immediately before joining Veer, team members
were engaged in strategy, marketing and creative for Getty Images, EyeWire,
PhotoDisc, Digital Vision, Artville, ImageBank and Stone.
Through its dedicated toll-free call center, Veer provides free image and font
research, technical support, and licensing information. Products may be purchased
by phone or fax for FedEx delivery, or downloaded immediately from the Veer web
site.
Currently, their entire offering is Royalty Free, but Veer plans to add a
Rights Managed section to their site in the near future. They intend to accept
images from individual photographers and stock agencies with an initial preference
for working with stock agencies. They prefer to work with suppliers who will
provide RM images on an exclusive basis, but this does not rule out non-exclusive
arrangements. Those interested in being suppliers should contact Veer at:
submissions@veer.com
Stock Index USA East 2003
In Random Thoughts 53
we announced the demise of the Veer Directory of Rights
Managed images suppliers -- after publishing a single issue. Veer made this
decision, reluctantly, after small, specialist agencies showed luke warm
interest in advertising in this marketing vehicle.
An alternative for agencies looking for another way to advertise their services is
Stock Index USA East 2003. Robert Prior is launching a U.S. version of his very
successful Stock Index in 2003. Stock Index has been published in the UK for eleven
years and is viewed as the leading source book for stock photo buyers in the UK.
The latest edition included advertisements from 269 stock libraries.
Stock Index has sold 120 pages for the USA edition and expects to close the book in
the near future. It will be distributed to over 6,000 highly targeted buyers of
stock photography in U.S. cities, mostly along the eastern seaboard.
The cost of a full color page, including the full benefits of their web site is
$785. For more information go to www.stockindexonline.com
or e-mail space@creativecityonline.com.
Interpublic Forecasts Lower Earnings
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. lowered its forecast for 2002 earnings to
$.85 to $.90 per share from a previously announced $1.25 to $1.35 per share. The
company announced that it expects to report third quarter earnings of $.08 to $.10
per share. Wall Street analysts had estimated Interpublic's third quarter
earnings at $.28 per share.
John J. Dooner, Jr., Interpublic's Chairman and CEO said, "It is regrettable that
we have had to revise our earnings forecast, but this new guidance reflects the
difficult economic conditions we are facing around the world."
Certain of their marketing services businesses, notably corporate identity and
retail (point-of-sale) operations, experienced significant deceleration in the
third quarter. Public relations also continues to suffer from declines in the
technology and financial services industries. The problems were more severe in
their motor sports group and in Japan and Latin America.
The Interpublic Group of Companies is among the world's largest advertising and
marketing organizations. Its five global operating groups are the McCann-Erickson
WorldGroup, the Partnership, FCB Group, Interpublic Sports and Entertainment Group
and Advanced Marketing Services.
Creative Eye Update
Despite its announcement at the end of August (Story
498 ) Creative Eye is still
limping along and the situation is actually improving.
John Grime continues as Chairman of the Board and the other four board members have
been replaced with two new members.
The website at www.mira.com is still operating
and making sales. The operations of
the company have been totally reorganized and costs have been cut dramatically. The
bank loans have been re-negotiated and the debt the company was facing in August
has been dramatically reduced.
Many of the functions formerly handled in house have been outsourced. Volunteers
are assisting with some functions and there is a strong sense that photographers
and management want to keep the organization operating.
New technology that will enable photographers to link from their own sites to their
images on MIRA, and only their images, has been added to the website by Stock Media.
This feature should encourage more photographers to make more of their images
available through MIRA.
It is expected that the members will be polled in the coming weeks and asked to
approve changes in the structure of the cooperative that will enable Creative Eye
to move ahead and license images on a continuing basis.
Naturepl.com Enters North America
How do you download an elephant? Just go to www.naturepl.com ,
the online presence of the Nature Picture Library.
Picture editors and art directors throughout England have been using NPL's stock
imagery for years. Now it is moving to expand its sales in the USA and Canada. "We've
experienced solid, steady growth in our home market since NPL was founded in
1995," says Helen Gilks, the agency's managing director. "Now, thanks to a terrific
website that I believe makes us the world's leading source for nature-related
imagery, we intend to become a valuable resource for North American picture buyers,
too."
The agency has over 15,000 rights-protected and royalty-free images in a fully
searchable online database. Selected images can easily be saved into light boxes
and shared with colleagues or clients. NPL has over 100,000 additional analog
images from over 300 of the world's leading nature photographers in support of
their web presence.
Towery Publishers Closes
Towery Publishing Co in Memphis ceased operations in July and employees were told
by the Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp that all the company's assets had been
frozen.
The company was best know for its Urban Tapestry books, a collection of
coffee-table books that tell stories of more than 100 communities throughout North
America. It also published relocation guides, business magazines and chamber of
commerce membership directories.
More than 50 employees were working for the company at the time it was shut down.