Lisa Oropallo, Digitas (part 2)

Have you noticed any trends in the marketplace lately as far as either how promotion is sent to you, or the work itself? Are you seeing any repeated patterns happening?

I think that there's that hyper-real look, which I'm so over at this point. I just feel like the computer should be used as a tool, not as sort of the end result. And, I think that there's that hyperrealist that we're all really sick of. You know… the photography and the work should really speak for itself and show the uniqueness and the point of view of the photographer, and not the tools that are being used to make it. So… I'm seeing a lot of that hyper-real look.

Is there certain work that you're not seeing enough of, that you're finding either your clients or art directors are asking for and you're not able to find that easily?

Well, I think the work that we do here… is [the type of work] we're not finding a lot of, which is really personal intimate work, work that shows a real intimate moment, a real slice of life. We've had a trend here in our agency where we're not looking for the typical portraits or this, almost fashiony lifestyle where people are mugging for the camera. We're really looking for real slice of life.

I think one of the things that's been happening in the industry in the last couple of years is that, because of the digital camera, everybody thinks that they're a photographer, and it makes things really easy and accessible. And, clients are always looking for ways to engage their audience. So, there was a big push for clients and for agencies to have user-generated content, which actually really impacts the photography market. That really doesn't have the same quality as a photographer. But, I think that, if photographers could generate work that looked like it was authentic and user-generated and really slice-of-life, I think that's a good market to develop. I mean people are looking for real, and authentic, and not overly produced. That's just my take on it from what we do here.

Mm-hmm. And, how many different artists do you find that you work with in a given month?

Wow. That's kind of a hard one here. I'd say maybe 5 to 10… Our projects are big photo libraries for our clients, so it might be 6 months in the making of coming up with a strategy and doing the real research of finding the right photographer. So, when we do a big photography production, it's not like in General, where we were doing 3 to 5 productions a week… so, it's different here.

And, are you buying stock imagery?

We buy a ton of stock here, tons and tons and tons of stock. And, actually, we a year ago bought MBC, which is a medical broadcast company. So, now, we have something called Digitas Health and that's, like, a huge market that really needs to be developed… real, sort of pharmaceutical images that look like somebody's real life, covering different topics. So, that's a good one to develop. When you see the stuff in stock, and some of it's really cheesy or, like, older people, geriatrics, and we have drugs like Viagra and Aricept and Crestor, like heart drugs… I think people need to think about pharma in terms of real lifestyle because we are always looking for authentic. So, those are areas that could be developed.

Do you use illustrations?

We do. We do use illustration. We love illustration. I'm hoping that we can do a lot more of it. I mean our online work, we do illustration. We did a huge project for Samsung with … 49 that was great. And, then, they're looking for that sort of hip, European type of illustration. But, as a department, we love illustration. We're just trying to find the right projects to use it on. I think, actually, illustration's going to have a huge comeback with the economy the way it's going.

And, have you attended portfolio reviews in the past where there are tables of artists showing their work?

Yeah. You know…we do. I find it to be really overwhelming. I've gone to a number of them. And, I actually prefer that sort of one-on-one, making the appointments with the rep and looking at it at your pace. I've gone into those huge portfolio reviews and you feel so much pressure to stop and look at every… or, you feel guilty if you know that your clients aren't going to respond to something that's too way out and you have to walk by. So, I personally don't like the pressure.

So, it would be easier if they had all the books out, and the artist wasn't there, and you could just look at a lot of books? Or, is that overwhelming as well?

I think it's really nice to meet the artist. And, when we make the photography appointments we love to actually get a sense of the personality. Probably, for illustration, it doesn't matter as much because illustrators are very independent and they kind of do their own thing. For photo shoots, I've had so many creative directors go, like, "I want to make sure I'm not stuck with a jerk for three weeks… on location." So, it's really, really important to actually meet the photographer and get a sense of their personality, and I guess probably the same for illustrators. But, it's not the same thing. I mean illustrators work pretty independently. They have deadlines. They submit it. You do want to know that the person that you're going to work with is going to be flexible and receptive to your ideas, and it's not all about them. So, I don't know. It's a balance. It's a hard balance.

Do you find that you watch people over the years before you get around to calling them or is it just immediate – whatever piece you're responding to at that moment?

I know myself, I'm a saver, so I save all my promos. And we organize them. We have flat files or hanging files where we try to categorize. I think we all hang onto stuff, and when we have the right job we think of that person and look forward to being able to pull it out. But, if we don't have the right job, we're probably not just going to call the book in, again, because it's an expense and it's not worth it unless we have something for them.

But, you might call somebody who you've never seen before, or where you've seen one piece and you would call them in on that.

Right. Like I said earlier, we probably look to the website, or try to Google or find other sources to see a bulk of consistent work. If we just saw one piece and there was nothing to back it up, unless there was no other way to find them, I don't think we would call in the book.

Do you call other people to ask when you're looking for talent?

Well, I've been in the business for a long time, so I know a lot of the talent. I mean I've been in it for, like, 22 years. But, probably, if I was younger, I might ask for references, or ask if someone had a good or bad experience with somebody.

Do you see any difference over the last few years than previously as far as how you're going about looking for talent versus how you used to go about looking for talent?

Well, obviously, interactively. Google's like your best friend – at least mine. I like to dig into the research, so I don't limit myself just to the sourcebooks. I'll Google stuff and see what comes up. So, I think the Internet is a really big player.

Mm-hmm. And, going forward, are you hearing anything from your clients that you think will change the way you find talent or the way that you hire talent? Are you clients requesting anything that you find will affect how you go about picking people?

No, not necessarily. A lot of clients are starting to want more transfers of copyrights because of the digital rights, and managing, and infringements, and all that crazy stuff. So, there are some clients that actually demand that there's a transfer of copyright. So, I think that impacts who can you work with, too, because some people will price themselves right out of the market if they double and triple their cost. I come from a photography background and I used to think about it in terms of “If I was the photographer, would I give them the transfer of copyright?”

And, the way that I would determine that is, well, can I really make any money off this? You know… is it something that I could actually get an income off of? Is it stuff that I could make a living off of in stock after the usage expired? Well, then, I'm going to double and triple the price. If it's something that I can't really use, it's the client's product or it's very specific, then if I was the photographer I would kick it in for some extra money. I just think that that's going to be a big component moving forward because of the right to management issues.

Is there anything that you think an artist should be doing that would help them reach you, that they're not doing right now? That you've noticed in the industry, that you thought, “Oh, this would be really smart if more artists did this”?

I get bombarded, so I don't know. When I was the other end, what I used to do is try to go on to the Advertisings Redbook, and look in there, and kind of figure out who had what accounts, and what was going to be appropriate. I think it's smart to do a little research and figure who has what accounts because you don't want to waste your time and your energy, or waste the person's time. But, then again, you never know what accounts an agency's going to get. So, it's never a total loss. But, I think for a young artist, or an up-and-coming artist, or an artist that really wants to target themselves, I think that they should do a little research into the accounts and really find agencies that are doing the kind of work that they want to do, that they want to be hired for.

Do the art directors receive their own promos separately from the art buyers here?

We don't give out creative lists anymore. When I first came here, I put everybody in the creative list so they would all get all the sources. But, then, they were… getting bombarded by phone calls. And the creatives started calling me saying "Joe Schmoe called me and he said that you said that he should call me." And, of course, I never did. And, then, they started saying, "Take us off the list because we can't get any work done." So, if a photographer or an illustrator is going to reach out to creative, they have to be mindful of their time. And, here it's very much a meeting culture and it's very fast paced, and people have these crazy deadlines, so their time is really at a premium. So, I think to target and find the right audience would be the most beneficial thing they can do.

Art directors who do get promotional pieces, will they hand them to you and say, "Here, can you keep this for me?" Or, do they keep them themselves.

They usually keep them themselves. I've had some come down to me because we, basically, have all the art buyers on the list. And, sometimes, they'll pick through your office and go "Oh, you guys got the great stuff." And, we'll always tell them, "Come down here and you can take whatever you want." But, yeah, I think they like to get their own stuff and they like to hang onto it. But, I haven't had too many actually bring me a promo piece and say, "Hey, can you call this person." And, again, they do rely on us a lot to do a lot of the legwork.

Thank you, Lisa.