Getty Images is up for a panel spot at the next South by Southwest festival. However, we can only share our brightest ideas if we are invited by popular demand. So cast your vote today!

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Lars Borges/Getty Images

When we talk about making commercial imagery that feels more “real,” what is it we’re actually saying? There’s no question that imagery you once would have only found in an editorial context is increasingly being seen in advertising…but what else do we mean by “real”?

My take on it, is that we’re saying there must be some kind of emotional route into the image for it to connect with the viewer and feel believable. We want to feel connected to the message.

Some of the best communication in advertising occurs when an idea that has perhaps been lurking on the edge of a common consciousness is brought to fore front. Combine that with great visuals and you have something original that has broad appeal.

In some ways, it’s like hearing a great song for the first time – it feels very new, but there’s also something familiar about it.

Using a straight-forward term like “real” or “authentic” to describe imagery makes the issue of creating it seem a lot more simple than it really is.

What kind of authenticity are you after? Is it that you want to see exactly what your mind’s eye demands, or are you after a true emotional connection with the image regardless of the content?

If it is the first of these two, then perhaps what’s required is a technical understanding, or particular style, demonstrated through model choice, location, lighting and styling. Authenticity in advertising doesn’t happen by chance.

If it is the second of these, an emotional truth that’s required, then there are certainly no limits to the fantasy that may appear in the image…it doesn’t have to be real at all, but the message created needs to feel real – it needs to connect.

Let us know what you think the boundaries of “real” are…I think I’ve kept it pretty simple so far…

In the meantime, here are two of my favorite ads from the past that demonstrate the two approaches mentioned above:

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Did you know Americans spend $41 billion (not million, BILLION) dollars annually on their pets? It all adds up – day care, walkers, grooming and toys (catnip, bully sticks, organic all natural foods, collars, coats, boots, scarves) the list goes on and on.

In the UK, sales of premium dog and cat foods grew 9.2 percent during 2006 to £655 million and that’s just on food! People love their animals and love spending their hard earned cash on them. I am one of those people.

It’s on my mind today because my most glorious 16lb hunk of burnin’ love cat, Snowbelly, died last week. And I am sad, very, very sad. I bring it up here because the first thing I did after the vet took him away was to look for pictures.

I’ve been taking pictures of my pets for 13 years. In fact, my friends tease me mercilessly about it. But today, I’m glad I did. Part of working through my sadness has been to get out those pictures and celebrate my buddy.

Clearly, I’m not the only one who excessively photographs or shoots their most beloved companions. There are so many websites immortalizing our furry, feathered, scaled friends – it’s clear we’re more than happy to spend that money to shout it out to the world. My three favorites are http://www.youtube.com, http://www.flickr.com and http://wwwlolcats.com – but you probably know all of those. What sites do you go to?

Consumer spending, which includes this consumer, means that we need to continually refresh pet pictures at http://www.gettyimages.com. We just completed a new pet project a couple of months ago. On a bad day, I’ve also been known to search for those new puppies, kittens, dogs, bunnies, chinchillas, ducklings or cats just to have a giggle.

But today, I have a gratuitous picture to celebrate what was my longest running relationship…all hail the great Snowbelly.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

We live surrounded by images, under the spell of visual stimuli. Taking a break in that rush is an absolute necessity. In Paris (France), the market research company Gatard & Associes offers a room on its website, e-dito.com, to discover arts, culture, literature, and to share thoughts about advertising and marketing.

This month Jumping in advertising is deciphered. The writer, Christian Gatard takes us in the advertising backstages. Exploration is done through the prism of mythology. Following him opens our minds for a journey to unexplored areas of our culture and for times as far as 30 000 years ago. Gatard gives us tips to consider shamanism in a new way. The next topic that will be deciphered in E-dito.com next issue is the MASK in advertising. Provocative and appealing idea! Wherever you live if you dig up an interesting and recent advertising example relating to the Mask theme, do dare to share it with the E-dito.com guys : redaction [at] e-dito [dot] com. You’ll make them happy. Enjoy! ( Jumping Frog – Courtesy of American Images Inc / Getty Images)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Andersen Ross /Getty Images

Do you find that images used by creative, marketing or sales teams don’t always support your brand? Do you have efficient systems in place to store and share your imagery and make the most of your investment? Join experts Courtney Adamson of Getty Images, Mukul Krishna of Frost & Sullivan, Trish Sarno of ING, and Manish Mallick, a consultant to General Motors to learn:

- How consumer trends affect visual language

- How to select the right imagery to connect with your customers

- How technology solutions can help you keep your brand on track

- How ING and General Motors used imagery and created image libraries to elevate and manage their brands

Webcast Info

When: September 27, 2007 10 AM (PST)

Where: Click here to register.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Louie Psihoyos, who is a prominent contributor to Getty Images’ image partner Science Faction, is suing Apple for ripping off his photo below for their Apple TV ad campaign.  That Louie’s original photo below probably brings to mind the Apple TV campaign without me even showing any actual campaign photos or clips means that he probably has a good case, but for a better illustration go here.  That Apple had previously been in negotiations for use of the photo but backed out is even more incriminating.

Maybe this shouldn’t be too surprising though, considering Apple has been quite busy building a long sordid history of this type of thing, compiled nicely here by engadget.

Here’s a funny follow-up to this story comparing the packaging from the Atari 2600 Packaging circa 1982 to the Apple TV site.  Oops – curiously the pics are gone from flickr, but you can see them here.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Philip J Brittan

Interesting entry in jet-setting troubadour/intellectual Nick Currie’s (aka Momus) blog about the opening last year of a Japanese division of Pantone, New Jersey-based color coders who’ve become the ubiquitous industry standard in design and printing. Following just on the heels of the Japanese division launch, Pantone also unveiled a new global brand identity.
I just saw the line of Japanese Pantone cellphones last week which I thought was a cool new development in the ever-expanding Pantone Universe, but didn’t think too much of it until stumbling upon Nick’s blog entry, which contains amusingly brainy and acerbic ruminations on Japanese culture, proprietary culture/copyright, and marketing.

Momus (Nick Currie)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!