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The Message must be right for the medium - and vice versa.
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A friend of a friend of mine has just received an invoice for £7,000 from Getty Images for the unlicensed use of one of their photographs on his website. Ouch!
For a while now, the bigger picture agencies such as Getty, Jupiter Media and Corbis have been marking their copyright material with code numbers which can help them locate use of their images on websites. Corbis uses Digimarc software to encode the images then MarcSpider software trawls the web looking for them. They can then cross-reference use of their images with their licence agreements with users to identify unlicensed users. They then send out a demand for payment for the retrospective unlicensed use of their images. Other stories involve amounts of £2,000 and even £17,000 - enough to cripple a small business.
Whose images are on your own website? Are you sure you have the permission of the copyright owner to use those images on your website - and for that matter, in printed material and other media?
Some people seem to naively think that because it is technically easy to copy an image from a website, the legal position is also 'free and easy'. Not so!
So what should you do?
- Website owners are responsible for what's published on their websites and should ensure that all images are used with permission of the copyright owners.
- Website designers should be aware of the issues and advise clients accordingly, to protect their clients - and contract with clients to protect themselves.
- Photographers, illustrators, designers who are owners of the copyright material should protect their position by taking a similar stance to the picture agencies (or working through a picture agency) in order to establish proper licensing agreements with website owners.
The excellent website 'Own It' (www.own-it.org) has more information about licensing as well as downloadable contracts.
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Let me know what you think about all this - and tell me of other examples of licensed or unlicensed use of copyright images in websites and elsewhere.
How can creative entrepreneurs benefit from using social networking systems such as MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, del.icio.us, Second Life – and others?
Leanda Ryan is the director of Leanda Ryan Graphic Design, in Manchester, UK. Her story is an interesting one:
“Flickr was the first service I signed up for 2005. I posted a few pictures but at this point I wasn’t really thinking about using online social networking for business purposes. However there are no hard edges when you are a designer or other type of creative person, your leisure and professional worlds tend to be inextricably linked.
“I picked it up again in 2006, fuelled by a renewed interest in photography. I wanted to be able to create images quickly, publish them and get some feedback. At this point I realised that in order to get a response to an image I needed to join flickr groups and submit my images to those groups. From there my contact list grew – individuals and groups brought together based on affinity and mutual interests. flickr became, and still is, my online scrapbook. It’s a place to share visual ideas, new developments and trends in design and technology.
“Then I joined last.fm, a website that tracks what I’m listening to and connects me to users that have a similar music profile. Here users can recommend and discover new music, meet up at music events and join groups.”
Leanda says that she became an ‘online social network junkie’. “You name it and I’ve probably signed up for it”, she said. “The ones I find most useful as working tools are probably social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, flickr – which I couldn’t live without – and of course twitter. Twitter is the modern day water cooler. I work from home and can sometimes feel isolated, but with twitter I can throw out a question or a comment and get an instant response from contacts spanning several time zones. It’s become invaluable for sharing, learning, advice, and for finding people to work on projects with. “
Essentially, business takes place between people, and Leanda emphasises the importance of the ‘personal profile’ in social networking sites. This is the equivalent of the ‘small talk’ which happens in face to face business networking and meetings. It is these snippets of information which help people to bond, like each other and build trust between them. The message must be right for the medium and so in contrast with business websites, the information on social networking sites is more personal, the atmosphere is more ‘laid back’, and the etiquette much more informal. Significantly, Leanda says she is an introvert in real life but very much an extrovert online. Photos also tend to be more quirky and fun so Leanda uses the one below on social networking sites.
Leanda’s social networking through last.fm and other networks led to winning a contract to design a logo and hand tag for her first overseas client, Little Miss Inc., a lingerie company based in New York.
“I’m constantly asked about how I find time to manage all the online services” says Leanda. “It’s true that building an online social network takes time and those relationships have to be nurtured in much the same way as physical networking, but the rewards are so great that I would definitely recommend it.”
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Link to Leanda Ryan Graphic Design.
Link to 'The Message must be right for the Medium'.
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Download this article as a PDF document (PDF, 125KB)
*Let me know about your own experiences of online social networking for business.
The message must be right for the medium - and vice versa.
The "3 Ms of Marketing" are the Market, the Message and the Medium (in that order!).
In other words, firstly be clear about the Market you are targeting, secondly decide the precise message for that particular market segment or customer type, and thirdly, select the medium which is the best vehicle for delivering that message.
It's common sense, really. There needs to be a harmony between the target market, message and medium for any marketing campaign to be effective.And so the message must be right for the medium too.
Having selected a medium, the 'style' of the message must be appropriate to it. We all know that email allows a different 'etiquette' or writing style than a printed letter. Similarly, social networking media tend to be very laid back and informal. The message might be the same but its style should fit the medium.
For example, my photo on my website is different from the one I use in facebook. They are both true images of me, to show people how I look, but the one in facebook shows me bathing in the hot volcanic waters of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. (Not a photo I would have chosen for my official website!)
Graphic Designer Leanda Ryan uses an informal photo for social networking purposes, and in a separate article she discusses the benefits of social networking for business, using the informality of social networking to make business contacts. See Online Social Networking for Business.
There is now a group on the social networking site 'facebook' for creative people to share smart business ideas and make useful contacts.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2404983690
The more people join and network, the more useful the 'T-Shirts and Suits' is all about bringing together creativity and smart business ideas and facebook provides a forum to enable creative businesses and cultural organisations to share smart business ideas, publicise what they do, and create partnerships.
It is an international group and already has over 1,100 members including James Purnell MP, the UK's top government minister for the creative industries and John Howkins, author of the acclaimed book 'The Creative Economy'.
The group is open creative entrepreneurs and to everyone directly or indirectly involved in the creative industries, arts enterprises, creative business or cultural industries world-wide. The creative industries include advertising, architecture, fine art, music, crafts, photography, film and video, fashion, computer games, performing arts, TV and radio, design and publishing.
The 'Wall' feature makes it easy for businesses to publicise their product and services and the main business themes for discussion are marketing, intellectual property, collaborations, business strategy, and other matters of interest to creative enterprises.
Anyone can join the group once a member of Facebook, which is free, quick and easy to join.
The facebook group is called "T-Shirts and Suits (Creativity and Business)"
If you're already on facebook, you can go direct to the group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2404983690
The more people join and network, the more useful the group will be to everyone involved.
At the last count, creative entrepreneurs and creative industry professionals have joined the group from countries as diverse as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Venezuela, and Wales,
Join us!
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Let’s make a distinction between planning for a successful creative business and ‘writing a business plan’. The two are not necessarily the same. In my own experience, many people write business plans purely because they are a requirement of investors or funders. These business plans tend to be written without conviction and are then quickly shelved once the third party investor has accepted (or rejected) the plan. A business plan should be primarily for the business itself, a ‘route map for success’, setting out the objectives and steps to be taken to achieve its objectives. Ideally a good business plan should serve the business well as a working document – as well as to articulate to third parties the benefits of the business, return on capital invested, risk management and other concerns of stakeholders and partners.
But the business plan is not a sacred document. A business plan does not automatically guarantee business success. Many business plans present the details but fail to address the fundamentals. Any business plan must be based on the values and objectives of the entrepreneurs concerned and at its heart must be a feasible business formula.
A successful creative business will be built upon producing goods and services at which we excel, matched with carefully selected customers. In this way, creative entrepreneurs can unleash their creativity without compromise and achieve commercial success.
This unique business formula is the key. Get this wrong and compromise or failure will result. Get it right and the creative enterprise will have a great chance of both creative and commercial success.
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This is anextract from an article first published as ‘Making a business plan’ in the book ‘Read this First: Growth and Development of Creative SMEs. (ISBN/EAN 978-90-810079-2-4)
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Download full article (PDF, 114KB)
Making a Business Plan
TÉLO is the first public telephone especially designed for public transport vehicles. Using a card for payment, millions of people using public transport are already
using the phone on buses, trains and underground transport networks.
Founded in August 2004, by Paulo Lerner and André Averbug, Brazilian company PV Inova (Public Vehicular Innovations) invented the system and have registered a patent to protect their intellectual property, initially
in Brazil.
“Writing the patent was very time consuming, having lasted about six months”, said Leonardo Gadelha Sampaio, “we had the support of a patent lawyer for the writing of the patent itself, and of a respectable law-firm for the registration of it. We registered the patent in Brazil and internationally through the PCT”. The Patent Co-operation Treaty provides a standardised method of registering a patent, initially in the country of origin, and paves the way for easier registration of the same patent in 137 countries which have signed up to the Treaty. Despite the PCT, there is no such thing as an ‘international patent’ – a further separate registration is required for every additional member state.
Photo: Inova’s executive partners: Paulo Lerner (Technology), André Averbug (Planning) and Leonardo Gadelha Sampaio (Marketing).
In choosing further countries for patent registration, PV Inova will be targeting other countries with similar social profiles as Brazil, in Latin America, East Asia and Africa. In these countries, millions of people use public transport and rely on public communication networks rather than personal mobile phones. They will also register the patent in Europe and the USA for strategic purposes – to deter competition for as long as possible.
PV Inova has a social mission – to make communication accessible and affordable to the masses. They also have commercial objectives and recognise that these customers, though not wealthy as individuals, collectively have massive amounts of money to spend. The company has used socio-economic statistics combined with transportation data to analyse the Brazilian market. Instead of focusing on the wealthy elite, their income streams will come from the aggregated spending power of millions of ordinary people. This is a ‘base of the pyramid’ or ‘BoP’ strategy, selling services in high volume but at low prices.
Innovate in product design, Leonardo and his colleagues at PV Inova have used a novel combination of strategies to raise funds for their projects. Investors see the potential of the company and PV Inova has had two rounds of investment, firstly from a ‘business angel’, and later from an ‘investment club’ of seven smaller shareholders. 80% of shares are owned by the three executive partners, with the remaining 20% shared by 11 others. The company’s business plan forecasts an outstanding return on investment. PV Inova also plans to reinvest its profits in further technological developments, including digital TV.
Apart from the huge Brazilian public transportation market, growth will also come from international strategic partnerships with telecommunications companies, based on the provision of the service and the licensing of their intellectual property.
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Link to PV Inova website.
Please contact me with other examples of creative enterprises using interesting marketing strategies and intellectual property to develop their businesses.
Combining traditional Vietnamese fine art with pioneering technology has created success for VietnamArtist.com, a virtual online gallery based in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Tran Thi Anh Vu (pictured, right), an art gallery proprietor, set up VietnamArtsist.com in 1999, seizing the opportunities offered by e-commerce to develop her business. She engaged the services of an Indian web company and a design consultant from the USA to create one of the first websites in Vietnam to accept credit card transactions from all around the world.
The business currently promotes hundreds of works of art, at prices ranging up to $10,000, by 20 artists, including the most famous artists in Vietnam, such as Nguyen Thanh Binh, Bui Huu Hung, Do Xuan Doan and Ho Huu Thu.
One of the problems all art galleries face is that there is never enough room to display all the art available. However, in contrast to a walk-in gallery, the virtual world of the internet offers almost infinite ‘gallery space’. This means that all the artwork, not just a select few, can be promoted online. These other works form what Chris Anderson calls the ‘long tail', the many items that would never win gallery space yet can collectively achieve remarkable sales online. Unlike physical shops and galleries, online retailers can be ‘scaled-up’ without traditional constraints of space, cost and staffing.
VietnamArtist.com represents two galleries plus some individual artists. Anh invites other artists and galleries to join, even their competitors, because by working together to reach international markets, they can all benefit. “We have an open door policy” says Anh, “we call it co-opetition, friendly competition.”
By being creative with her business model, Anh has transformed her enterprise from physical to virtual – ‘from bricks to clicks’ – replacing old problems with new opportunities. 50% of sales are online. No longer local, it’s now truly global. Limited space is now infinite; previously seasonal trade is now perennial. Inventory is ‘virtual’ – artworks can be displayed without the gallery having to store or buy them until they are sold to a customer. Trading globally on behalf of local artists, VietnamArtist.com has turned competition into co-opetition.
Image: Schoolgirls with Lotus Flower 2 by Nguyen Thanh Binh
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Link to VietnamArtist.com
Please let me know of other examples of co-opetition, e-commerce and international marketing in the creative industries.
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