Earlier in February, we caught up with Socrates Gomez and Roads & Kingdoms. This week, we kept the momentum going by landing meetings with Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, Pilot Fiber, and M. Booth. There were a few inches of snow on the ground, but the roads were clear as Bill, Jemma, Craig and I made our way into New York City.
Our first meeting was with Ali Cohen from Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. This branch of Saatchi & Saatchi is more traditional than most agencies. They mostly work in print and broadcast but are slowly doing more digital work. Ali takes on all kinds of projects in the health and wellness arena, especially for Procter & Gamble brands. She told us most of her shoots are lifestyle-oriented and involve video as well as stills. Nearly all of them are “library shoots,” where their photographers capture a wide range of content for use in social media as well as traditional advertising. After chatting for a bit, we showed Ali the portfolios. Ali, a seasoned pro, actually recognized at least half of the photographers we showed her, including Craig Orsini, Colin Lenton, and Kyle Monk. Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness are mostly interested in Lifestyle and Conceptual photography, so, to switch it up, I showed her Lauren V. Allen’s portfolio, which is mostly food. Ali loved it but shortly after had to jump on a call. So we bid her farewell, packed up, and headed to our next meeting.
Our second meeting of the day was with marketing manager, Alex Beaton, from Pilot Fiber, a tech startup.
As an internet provider, Pilot Fiber specializes in delivering great customer service. They pride themselves in bringing a human touch to technology. Knowing that, we knew we had to bring Wolfram Schroll’s work. He primarily shoots industrial scenes and technology, which is right on for Pilot Fiber, but what makes Wolfram perfect is his slogan: “Technology shot with love.” Together, the two couldn’t be a better philosophical match. The other photographer we showed was Marisa Guzman-Aloia. Marisa shoots mostly corporate photography but puts a bright, energetic, and youthful spin on it: just what Pilot Fiber was looking for.
After Pilot Fiber, we met M. Booth, a PR agency. Senior Photo Editor, Pamela Pasco, was our main contact at M. Booth. She (in turn) invited several of her colleagues, including members of the MADE team, which works on projects within M. Booth. While M. Booth itself is a PR agency, it appears they are working in the capacity of an ad agency. At the very least, they are certainly turning out a lot of creative material. For example, as we were waiting for a conference room, a product shoot was conducted right in their lobby.
There’s no doubt we are making the most of the short month, moving from agency to agency to build our reputation as a go-to resource for commercial photographers.
If you’re interested in having us show your work, please reach out! We would love to take your portfolio with us on our next trip.