Lisa Oropallo, Digitas (part 1)

Welcome, Lisa, and thanks for joining us. My first question has to do with how you organize the promotional material that you receive.

Well, if I like something, I create folders on my computer where I separate photography from illustration and maybe interactive promotions. And, then, I go back to them when I need to find something specific for a job. I still get a lot of direct mail and I actually really like direct mail a lot. But, I think the problem with email is, when people attach very large attachments, it freezes up our workflow and our box, and then we can't do any work. So, we end up having to delete those, like, crazy.

Do you know who those come from? Do you recognize them or…?

You know, to tell you the truth, I think we just look at the file size and we just delete. Or, if we get a whole chunk of promos at one time, like 50 in the morning when we come in, a lot of times we don't have time to go through that all, so we might just go in and just delete just so that we can start our day and do our work.

Mm-hmm. What would compel you to open an email?

I think the title… whatever is in the subject line, if it's sort of intriguing, if we see something like “New campaign” or “New technique” or something that would be appealing to make us want to open it. We just get so many emails all the time, or if we're looking for something in particular. If they say, like, “New lifestyle” or “Flick still life”… something that gives us an idea of what's behind it I think would be the most intriguing thing for us.

Would you be more inclined to open something from someone you knew or from somebody you didn't know?

I think more somebody that we knew. I mean, if it was a rep that we knew or a photographer we were familiar with, but I don't think that that necessarily stops us. I think time is our biggest challenge. If we are really slammed on work, it's going to be really hard for us to actually get to all those emails. But, when we have the time, when we're a little quiet, we do spend a lot of time going through them.

And, then, when you go to the website, is there anything in particular that you are noticing on websites that you like or don't like?

You know…I think that when people have an intro, that you can't click through or it's got, like, loud, obnoxious sound, or it's not organized in a way where you can easily find what you're looking for, I think it's really frustrating. I think it's when you feel like you're trapped. Again, time is the big factor. If you feel like you go on and you can't find what you need, or it requires a lot of interactivity on your part, where you can't just go and click and find what you need or what you're looking for, I think it's problematic. I know there are some reps that actually have sign-ins. They want everybody to be a registered user. Sometimes, that's annoying. I mean I understand it from a marketing perspective. They want to know who's coming to their site and why, and be able to follow-up, and I think that that's a useful tool for photographers or any kind of talent. But, I think there should be some kind of bypass option if you're in a rush.

And, do you send those links on to art directors to look at?

That is definitely, I think, how the industry's changed tremendously. In the past, it used to be like a gangbang of books, when you had a big project. Now, we do all of our screening online, so we hit up very specific sites like Workbook, PDN pics, Communication Arts. We might even just do Google searches looking for specific topics. Like, if we're looking for very real photojournalistic, we might look for photojournalistic awards and kind of see who's out there.

So, when we find that talent, we usually send all those links on to our creatives and we let them pre-screen. And then they determine which books they really want to see, which I think is a nice thing because in the past, photographers were hit up with all kinds of messenger fees. So, when people call in your books at this point, I think it's safe to say that they really want to see your book. That's what we do here anyway.

And, do you find that the books look like the websites?

I think for the most part they do. That brings up a really interesting topic. I think that people probably don't refresh their books as often as they should. I mean, I don't think they need to update it, like, every month. But I think that maybe, like, once a year or every six months, their book should be updated. And I think that the nice thing about the Web is that they should have a website that allows them to refresh or potentially post new campaigns or new work so that people can see what they're doing.

And, when you get a printed promo, do you tend to go to the website of the artist?

Yeah. I don't know how everybody else works, but I'm usually super busy. So, I will take promos out of my box and I'll put them in a big box. And, then, when I have some downtime, I'll go through and I'll sort them. And, all the ones that I really like, I'll keep. And, then, when I'm working on a big project, if I can't find what I'm looking for online, or I will supplement what I'm looking for online with what I have in my promo box. And, then, I'll just pull them out and go to the website and check it out. There's nothing more disappointing, though, than seeing a really great promo with a great picture on it, and then going to the website and there's not enough work to really support it. It's really disappointing. And, then, you end up tossing that promo and you're not going to go there again.

Do you appreciate a fancier-looking promotional piece or is a postcard okay?

I think it's all about the work. I don't think it matters how expensive the promo piece is. I've seen some really beautiful promo pieces that have, like, laser cuts in it, and they're gorgeous. And, my print producers love it, you know, when I bring them those promos. But, if it doesn't have good work, it's going to end up in the trash. So, I think, if you're going to spend that kind of money and make that investment, the work has to support it. And, I've gotten Polaroid's with stamps on it and address that I've held onto. If they're a beautiful picture, I think that that's what we're looking for.

Mm-hmm. As far as how often somebody sends you either an email or a promo piece, is there a certain time period that you feel is more appropriate?

Well, I think a direct mail piece, it depends on what they're trying to achieve, if they have a series, and maybe, like, every couple months, every three months, quarterly or something, they send you a new update. I think that that's fine. We don't like to get bombarded every week with promos. I've seen people who pick up the phone and they call me and they'll say "Just checking to see if you got that promo from me." Or, "We sent you a link to our website." And, you know… that doesn't go over really big because we get so many, and it's hard to differentiate, and we're not thinking of just that one.

And, what about calls in general from an artist?

It's kind of funny. We try here to make as many appointments as we can. And, we leave it up to the individual buyers, but we invite all the buyers to the appointment. So, if we can make it, then, you know…it's sent out to everyone. So, we figure, if they're going to make the effort to come in, we want them to have as many people view their work as possible. But, sometimes people call and they'll say, "Oh, I'm only in town for a week" or "I'm coming from Europe" and that's always, like, almost like a surefire way, if you're not too busy, to try to squeeze somebody in. I mean it's kind of like a little trick.

So, if they live in New York, they'll have a harder time seeing you.

Yeah… unless they say they really have good work. When you think that someone's really making an effort to make appointments and they're going to be here for a limited time, I think you'll open your door a lot more quickly than if they're just local. I'm just being truthful.

When you find talent that you like and you pass it along to the art director, what would be the next step? Do you typically call in the portfolio to see how their portfolio looks, or is the website enough?

I think the website's enough. I come from a photo background, so I don't know how everybody else operates. I know how expensive it is to ship the book around. If I don't have a real project at that time and the work is good on the website, that's enough for me until I have a project. I don't want to jerk anybody around calling in a book if it's not necessary.

And, then, for the client, does the client need to see the actual book?

We like to have the books in front of the client. Absolutely. And even when we're deciding actually among photographers for a job, we like to see the book and really see the quality. The website’s reflective. You can't really see the full quality of the work. And most of the time it's a combination of ink on paper and website, so we want to see how it prints and what potential problems you might have in print production. Some people, the work looks really beautiful and rich on the website, but then you look at it in their book and you realize that you're going to have some problems printing it with ink on paper. So, we always feel like get the books in before we actually award a job.

And, do the art directors usually come to you with the people that they… do they spend a lot of time researching it on their own and figuring out who they want?

Here, the majority don't. The majority really relies on us to bring them new talent, and we have some creatives here who leave no stone unturned. I'd say, some of our biggest libraries, we might have sent anywhere from 200 to 400 links to our creatives before they narrow it down to the three that they really want. But, then, there's some others that, you know… let’s say direct-mail interactive, so I don't think that they have as much experience with photographers. But, if somebody comes from General, I find that they're usually a little more decisive and they usually have a couple of people in mind. And, then, we will bring alternatives to try to supplement.

How do you typically find talent? Like, if you had a project today, and you had to find somebody, what would be your course of action?

My course of action would be, depending upon what it is... A lot of times, we do a lot of lifestyle library. So, we might go and pick up 10 or 20 high-end magazines that have that type of look that we're looking for, and look through the photo credits, and see who we like that's current in the market, sort of up and coming. But, we also go onto, you know…as I mentioned earlier PDN pics, Workbook, Google, all the sourcebooks, we might do a first run at. And, then, we'll go through all of our printed promo boxes and see if there's anybody that we missed. We really do a pretty extensive, thorough search when we're looking for talent.

Does it matter to you if the person has a rep or not?

It doesn't matter. I think, if they're new and they're up and coming there's a comfort level with having a rep involved because, if they're new and up and coming, I think that people wonder if they have the sort of the production jobs… do they really know how to produce the job? A lot of times, we're willing to take a risk on a new up and comer if they have a good rep that's behind them that knows production or that has a production team to sort of back them up. That's where it sort of makes a difference for us.

Do you have a preference about working with somebody you've worked with before or hiring somebody new?

Everybody's different. But, for me, it's about finding the right talent for the job. At the end of the day that's what we're judged on. And, it's nice that you have great relationships or that somebody did a great job last week, but one size doesn't fit all. You can't keep on using the same talent. You have to keep things fresh. So, for us, it's always about finding the right talent.

End of Part I