In April 2022, this writer (Stephanie) transitioned from Wonderful Machine’s publicity team into the Outreach Department joining Lisa Crawford, Andrew Souders, Mary Risher, Ashley Vaught, Suzanne Lindsay, Emily Hoskins, Gina Martin, Denise Florendo, Larry Westler, Julie Clement, Laura Wontor, Marianne Lee, Bryan Sheffield, and Craig Oppenheimer’s ongoing efforts. I’ve been writing the client outreach report card articles for a little under a year (since June 2021!) so it’s been a pleasure to learn the nuances of the process and get to work more closely with the hard workers at Wonderful Machine who are actively making new connections with publications, agencies, and brands.
During the month of April, the team was busy connecting with clients, leading capabilities calls, and updating records. We made updates to 1,057 people and 624 companies in our substantial (and ever-growing!) database. We also added 254 people records, 51 company records, and sent 978 emails to producers, creative directors, brand managers, and photo editors around the world.
Below are a few highlights of our team’s connections and successes last month.
This month, Julie connected with the Director of Photo Publicity at National Geographic and she mentioned that they frequently consult Wonderful Machine when looking for new photographers! Julie’s outreach resulted in a capabilities call where she was joined by Andrew and Bryan.
Thanks to Julie’s connection, Andrew and Bryan led a call to present Wonderful Machine’s capabilities and discussed National Geographic’s specific needs. Our contact leads a team of photo publicists and editors supporting all photography needs including research, photographer contracts, asset collection, and distribution for all global National Geographic Channels. She let us know her team often requires photographers for coverage in isolated areas and was interested in the ability to search for diverse photographers and crew for projects based on cultural sensitivity, race, gender, etc.
She was happy to learn that when commissioning photographers and stock, she has the ability to use Wonderful Machine as a single vendor for projects; which makes her job easier as there is a lot of work that goes into bringing on new vendors if it’s just a single image or project. They also discussed our production capabilities and gave her a log-in to the site. She was enthusiastic about features like favoriting, shortlists, and being able to share lists with her colleagues on the site. The call ended with her suggestion to connect us with a colleague at Disney for a similar discussion.
Marketing specialist Marianne and senior producer Bryan met with the Director of Creative Services at Therma-Tru and a few members of their team at Larson Doors (a Therma-Tru subsidiary) to learn about their photography needs and introduce them to our directory and production capabilities. The team appreciated that they could use the directory to find photographers around the country for their various projects.
Our executive producer Craig coordinated a production for the Arbor Day Foundation with Traverse City, MI-based photographer Andy Wakeman, and another production for a consumer goods company with Grand Rapids, MI-based Craig van der Lende. He also connected with New York-based agency Momentum Worldwide to discuss and bid on a project for a National retail chain. Following that, Craig led a capabilities call with New York-based ad agency Mischief which resulted in a bid for a project for a photography publishing company. Finally, he had a call with Chicago, IL-based digital agency One North to discuss a multi-photographer project for a financial company and bid on a project for a plumbing manufacturer to help them document a trade show in Milan.
Need help researching clients? Email our project managers.
Have feedback about the clients we’re promoting to? Email Bill.