While the research and outreach team is sad to see the summer weather go, they are hoping that the return of fall will signal the end of vacations and more availability for clients to get the “411” on the useful resources we provide, here, at Wonderful Machine.
Julia ended July, and headed into August, working on a production with photographer Lincoln Barbour. Julia traveled to Charlotte, NC on a three-day-shoot to line produce the project where she had the chance to, finally, work with and meet Lincoln in person! Upon Julia’s return, she began managing the Wonderful Machine stock request process, including both the online form as well as managing the stock research we offer. Munn Rabôt, a New York based agency, requested stock images for two separate projects, which Julia happily assisted with.
In addition to traveling and managing stock research projects, Julia began working on outreach for Brands during August. She completed a total of 176 outreach attempts and, in return, gained 9 connections. Julia received this response from Brad Farrar, Creative Director at Northwestern University:
Hi Julia, We do, throughout the course of the year, need to photograph student or alums who are outside of the Chicago area. In those cases, we’ve been sourcing the photographers ourselves. While most of these projects have been successful, finding, contacting and negotiating with photographers can be time-consuming. So I can see potential value in what you’re offering!
Julia and WM executive producer, Craig Oppenheimer, look forward to speaking with Brad further over the next few weeks about potential partnership opportunities. Julia will begin the month of September tackling brand outreach.
This month, Matt continued to reach out to clients for future portfolio events, conducted 115 phone calls, and sent 127 emails. His calls and emails resulted in 21 connections amongst the majority of the clients Matt spoke to, and he plans to follow up with them over the course of September, as many of the wider client-teams were vacationing during various parts of August. One connection Matt made, Christine Ramage, Director of Photography for AMC and Sundance TV, shared that she and her team have utilized Wonderful Machine in the past and, kindly, extended WM an invitation to host a portfolio review at the company’s New York office before the month commenced.
In August, Alex split his time between photo shoots and client outreach. When he wasn’t out and about in Philadelphia on shoots or helping executive producers, Jess and Craig, he was in the office adding 12 new prospects, making 80 phone calls, and sending 78 emails, all resulting in 11 connections.
Some of the best conversations with clients arise when you are able to connect on the phone. Alex had multiple phone calls with potential clients where he was able to convince them to visit and navigate around the website amidst their phone call. An art producer from Doner found the photographer search directory particularly appealing. She said:
I will keep you all in mind when something comes up! I like the find photographers option in the website you sent below.
New to Wonderful Machine is, Sankha Wanigasekara, our in-house Researcher. In August, Sankha evaluated 42 new advertising agencies, whom we hope, to build relationships with and managed to source 89 potential contacts amongst this collection of companies. Additionally, Sankha updated existing advertising agency profiles via our database to include 226 new contacts to compensate for former contacts who have left these respective companies. On a smaller scale, Sankha racked up 6 new brand prospects and added 9 points-of-contact between these companies.
Ready to kick-off the fall, the team is excited to further their conversations, this September, with new, prospective clients.
Need help researching clients? Email our project managers.
Have feedback about the clients we’re promoting to? Email Bill.