Creating Content in the current climate

- Short and mid-term solutions -

30th March 2020

As a photographer working with brands and agency in the commercial world, I can relate to everyone who is currently considering how to create value. Whether it is limited access to sporting talent and famous faces or feeling tentative about the level of brand engagement that is currently appropriate for the client and their audiences.

Obviously we will all put the health and future of our families and those all around us first. This page is here to look into creating value, whilst adhering to current guidance and requirements during this extraordinary time.

We can still create

Engaging creative content.
Key visuals and leading imagery to introduce challenges and interactions with any ambassadors who can react / create home shot content.
Clear messaging to enhance our relationship with the audience.

Sensitive approach

It feels like a time for clean clear messaging, of softness and sympathy in the tone of the images; highlighting positives, mindfulness and support across the board. A strong clear image is the easiest to relate to, which is incredibly important in a time when all audiences have a level of uncertainty.

getting ahead - challenging approach

There is, however, an argument to breaking the sensitivity campaigns and not tiptoeing around the audience. Have people already had enough of home cooking, quizzes and home fitness demos after a week? It would be ignorant not to reflect on the situation at all but the message could be inspiring instead of sympathetic. Maybe our social channels should be embracing escapism and enjoyment of what we’re all missing, not being afraid of humour and reminding the audience what they love. An audience will still be engaged by what they are passionate about. Embracing the ‘we will be back out there’ spirit may be the way to go.

I believe both the sensitive approach and the challenging approach currently have their values but this will develop quickly.

The Studio

Current / Short Term

1 - I have built a studio for use during the lockdown period. I have a setup that can cover all elements of product, lifestyle setups and kit bag style layouts for brand messaging to connect to the audience and their current situation. From creating still imagery and gifs for product shots to prop style imagery to connect with the audience.

We can shoot natural simple messaging shots in real setups or backdrops and green screen can take us anywhere we would like to take it. I can create a live feed for the photography. My experience in the industry, understanding brands and briefs will allow us to create content that hits the messaging regardless of our proximity.
If you wish to build in a human element, I can include close crop elements of adults, children and a combination. My family have experience in this, already appearing in big brand shoots.

2 - In order to create as much value as possible during difficult financial times for all, we will minimise the cost and can shoot multiple briefs in one project fee.

3 - Story telling options -

Empathise with audience, sending messages of support and information.
Interacting and encouraging the audience to engage in activities appropriate to the situation.
Story telling of positive things that people are / can do in the current situation and how your product supports that.

Create a Challenge

Combine some studio work with some stock imagery to juxtapose our current situation with the outside escape. Create a challenge that your ambassadors could engage with. Use their home shot content but wrap it in the sharper brand production to give it ownership and value. Sharing content has never been bigger. There is so much home shot content flying around now, that people would like to be a part of a sharper, better produced version. Make the challenge one of the things to do right now.

Natural Environment

If the studio and stripped back messaging isn’t your thing, then we could look at some natural environment story tellers. I still have access to some great creative spaces to tell any story.

Sample locations and textures.

I would suggest keeping to tight cropped imagery in order to make it manageable with restrictions on space. Here we can relate products to positive activity, bring in humour or stick with feel good lifestyle.

Mid Term

In the near future, I hope to get to a place where I can move around more freely to capture more varied imagery. Whilst production scales will have to stay low both for client budgets and social distancing, I am confident on delivering on your briefs; shooting as a one man team. We can create live feeds and options on feedback and delivery to make this viable. I have all the necessary equipment and skills to carry out the highest level shoot. Equally we can strip it back and shoot naturally lit content depending on your needs.

As we step into the next phase, we will need to produce content but be sensitive to the economic climate. I can produce creative, inspiring content in several formats without the cost of extra personnel and production budgets. Fifty percent of my time is taken up shooting high value sports people for brands. This often necessitates short time frames to shoot anything from digital to ATL, to a specific brief. I create my own setups and production, which positions me well to deliver in this new environment.

Short Term Escapism

Whilst I am passionate about creating imagery and believe that commissioned photography will always deliver the most value to any campaign, I understand that we are in different times, in the short term. If studio messaging, product imagery and cropped story tellers don’t fulfil you needs; I also curate stock imagery to a brief.

Having spent a life time following photography in the creative world and running a photography agency for several years, I understand how to link a brief to how people tag images and where to look for them. Below is a collection curated for a coffee brand with the key message brief of ‘Start your day’.

Using a combination of my imagery and a curation of others, I can deliver a powerful collection that hits the right messages. The above was curated for normal times but small changes could make a similar collection sensitive to now. I can help your brief deliver whilst being sensitive to the current situation: Curating a selection of images focusing on empty spaces, the individual or combinations of people that may isolate together, to create a viable collection for the here and now.

Action Point

Please send me any key messages, guidelines and briefs and I will respond with an approach and suggestion on how best to deliver, including the value that I can bring to it.