In July, Adrián Alarcón Sánchez, who lives in Berlin, joined our Client Outreach team. Along with Laura Derežanin, Bridget Barrett, Iva Mikulandra Barkiđija, Hanna Quevedo, Denise Florendo, Sara Maričević, Josip Portner, Lana Jergović, Craig Oppenheimer, Bryan Sheffield, and Andrew Souders, they made strides adding, updating, and connecting with a wide range of publications, agencies, and brands.
In total, we added 380 companies and 213 people to our database last month. We also updated 1,680 companies, and 2,102 people, and sent out over 820 custom emails to producers, creative directors, marketing managers, and photo editors.
I started working in Client Outreach in July, initially focusing on the oldest Client profiles we have on the private part of our website. The process includes checking each profile to make sure all information and links are correct. While updating, I evaluate each profile to determine if it is still a good match for what our photographers need.
This month I switched from evaluating Client Publications to concentrating on Client Agencies. Agencies are organizations that provide creative services to promote Brands. There are plenty of Agencies in the world. At Wonderful Machine, we have a rule of thumb about which ones we keep track of. We typically require companies to have 50 or more employees to be considered potential Wonderful Machine Clients. However, we make exceptions for smaller agencies who are doing high-quality work for big-name brands. This process was challenging at first, but after a few updated records, I learned to better distinguish their differences.
In July, I began updating our data records for Brands. First, I evaluated Brands with blank employee fields. I made sure to include the number of employees they have on LinkedIn – an important factor when evaluating Companies. Once I finished those, I moved on to the Brands that had the *Evaluate keyword (which means that we haven’t yet considered adding them to our website). I carefully reviewed the information we had on the Brand to ensure it is up-to-date. Then, I considered several factors to determine whether a Brand is a viable prospect, suitable for our photographers. These factors include the number of employees it has on LinkedIn, the revenue it generates annually, and whether it has good photography on its website and Instagram. Upon determining whether a company meets our specific criteria, I gathered the relevant information and added the company to our website.
In July my role changed from updating Client Brands’ data records to promoting Photographers to Client People working at Publications. The usual process is to make sure all the information is up to date, and that no links are broken. Additionally, I have started emailing Clients and promoting our Photographers to them. I choose a Photographer to promote by cross-referencing Photographers’ specialties with the Publications’ needs.
This month, I connected with Senior Photo Editor at Bridge Studio (News UK). He told us that – while working for Conde Nast – he always used the Wonderful Machine platform to find Photographers. Our producer Andrew Souders set him up with a login so he can access more of the features on our website. What is probably most useful for a photo editor is our bookmarking and sharing features that make it easy to keep track of favorite photographers and share them with colleagues.
Throughout July, I had the opportunity to keep working on our records for People who work at Agencies. As a photographer myself, it feels good to promote other photographers to possible new Clients. In this recommendation process, I reached out to the director of Momentum Worldwide (St. Louis) via email. She responded by asking for additional photographer research. Our Executive Producer, Craig Oppenheimer, assisted in this process.
In July 2023, I managed the OOO replies in our emailers inbox. I have also been holding Client Outreach office hours to aid others in the Client Outreach department. In sorting through the OOO replies, I’ve gleaned another round of new relevant contacts for our database, which will greatly benefit our Member Photographers. Here are a few examples from the new batch of Client prospects that I added to our records:
Over the course of July, I have made significant strides in my role, which is called Industries. I concentrated on enhancing our database, ensuring that we include the largest companies in each industry. My primary focus remained on updating the employee count and improving the overall quality and comprehensiveness of our records. Since the inclusion of the largest companies in each industry is significant, I dedicated considerable effort to identifying and adding new records that were previously missing from our database. Additionally, I encountered several industries where the database was already quite comprehensive. I reviewed the existing entries to identify any gaps or missing information regarding the major companies in each industry that I’ve gone through.
This month, I updated our database for People employed at Companies that fit into our Client type, Brands. From there, I contact them to see if they need assistance with any creative or marketing projects they may have. Additionally, if they have time for a quick call, we let them know about our company and our capabilities.
It was exciting to establish a conversation through email with a client from Bangkok, Thailand. She asked me to provide photographers for her shoots at the hotel that she works for. It reminded me how today’s technologies allow easy connection with different parts of the world. Wonderful Machine consistently utilizes this to connect artists and individuals worldwide through photography.
As part of my role, I sent out a total of 208 emails. I received 33 responses in total (29 of them were automated, and 4 were “real” responses, let’s say).
I wanted to provide you with an update on the exciting work I’ve been doing this month, particularly in the role of Verticals. Unlike Industries, where we simply mirror the ones found in LinkedIn, we have devised our own set of custom Verticals (short for vertical markets) that are most important to our photographers. It has been a quite different experience from my previous roles.
When I had my first meeting about this role, Laura Wontor advised me to begin with a familiar topic. I followed her guidance and successfully completed the Fast Fashion and High Fashion Categories. However, the real challenge came with the Lingerie Category. In the beginning, I noticed a shortage of lingerie companies in our database – I needed to add 28 lingerie Companies. It was the most demanding and time-consuming part of the role, but the efforts have given valuable results. The process involved online investigations of the websites and analyzing various sources to identify the most relevant lingerie brands. I wanted to ensure that our list not only met the current needs of our Member Photographers’, but also set a strong foundation for any future work in this area.
In total, I created 4 lists: Skincare/makeup (65), Fast Fashion (52), High Fashion (54) and Lingerie Brands (51). I also continued making updates to Companies and People in our database, paying special attention to adding those Companies to a Category list. I evaluated numerous other Brands as well, ultimately deciding they didn’t have necessary criteria to be added to our database. My evaluation process ensured that only the most valuable and suitable companies made it into the final lists.
Last month was indeed a busy one, as we connected with many prominent brands to both bid on projects and produce shoots alongside a variety of photographers. For Mary Beth Koeth, we coordinated a production for Barilla, through the agency Edelman. We also worked with ICF (an ad agency) to extend the licensing on a Pepco shoot we previously produced. We connected with R/GA (another ad agency) to discuss a project involving the documentation of in-store activations for a sports brand. Lastly, we also bid on a project for eBay through the agency Edelman, and connected with long-time client Kohler to discuss an event in NYC.
July was steady with Photographer consulting and estimate creations, in addition to production activities alongside a Member Photographer.
I was also asked to speak at Shifter Summit, an “Architecture/Interior/Hospitality Photography Retreat” in March 2024 in Nashville. Looking forward to that!
On July 14, Craig and I had a video call with the Head of Art Production at Ogilvy London. We presented our production capabilities and demo our site features. The client has been aware of WM for a long time but wasn’t sure of how we worked. They were very inquisitive and genuinely interested in what we offer. We shared what sets us apart from other agencies, production groups, or directories.
They are also in a position where they almost always need to hire locally for multi-location shoots. This is due to commitments to sustainability and cutting down on travel. Having access to WM to help with sourcing photographers is a plus. After we shared the directory and site features with them, they let us know that it looked like a great tool. Their creative team often does deep dives to create photographer list options for each project. They liked the prospect of working with us because of our ability to be as hands-on or hands-off as needed during production, and our capability to provide options in any location.
Wonderful Machine’s Project Manager Marianne Lee and I hosted an open house in partnership with image editing software company, Capture One. The goal was to demo their new iPhone & iPad app: Capture One Mobile. Product specialist Alex M. López presented the app and discussed all of its features. We saw a great attendance from our Photographers. All participants received a 3 month trial of Capture One Mobile, and a 15% discount on a subscription to Capture One’s “All in One” bundle.
Have questions about how we promote our photographers? Check out our Membership page. Want to know how you can get the most out of your Wonderful Machine membership? Check out our Jumpstart page or just reach out!