Agencies who no longer accept printed promotional pieces from photographers

Derek Shapton's promo comments on the throwaway nature of mailers

Anne Maureen McKeating is a Toronto-based freelance Project Manager, Art Producer and Consultant who worked at an agency that stopped accepting printed promotional pieces from photographers.

In an interview with A Photo Editor blog she talks about the spread of this policy and how it will affect the marketing efforts of photographers and the hiring practices of Art Directors.

What do you think about policies like this? Will it affect your own marketing tactics?

Some printed promos do manage to achieve the illusive breakthrough. But they do so because they are targeted toward a specific audience and crafted with intelligence. Recently, Toronto-based photographer Derek Shapton sent a promo to a select group of contacts. He had shot four portraits of people sneezing and had them printed onto a box of tissue. The promo was deceptively simple conceptually: sneezing = tissue. But it was the promo’s self-referential commentary that stuck. He was remarking on the “throwaway nature of mailers and the ephemerality of promotions”. Shapton understood that his audience would appreciate his take on the promo conundrum while ensuring that he remained memorable.

Read the full piece at A Photo Editor: aphotoeditor.com