Wednesday is Ask an Art Buyer day. Send your questions to heather@heathermorton.ca with the subject line Ask an Art Buyer. I’ll answer as many as I can every Wednesday.
Recently I’ve been asked about Art Buying itself and to address that query, I had reason to cyberly thumb through some old powerpoint presentations with such fanciful titles as: Art Buying 101, Advanced Art Buying and Art Buying and You (all from the short-lived but well attended ABX: Art Buying Expo 04- see my event illustration of me and my former department doing what we do best, below).
Although the illustration is informative, I think the best description of this role is (surprise, surprise) on my site:
An evocative but slightly misleading title, Art Buying refers to the act of securing still imagery for Commercial use. In a nutshell, I help advertising agencies and design firms find the right photographer or illustrator for their print concept and manage the process of producing that image.
The Art Buyer fulfills two important but different functions. On one hand, it is a creative role- collaborating with the Creative Team to source the right creative supplier takes a keen interpretive eye combined with a comprehensive knowledge of current photography and illustration trends and styles. In a completely different way, an Art Buyer is also a Project Manager. It is my responsibility to negotiate a fair price for the photograph or illustration and ensure that the budget is adhered to throughout the process. As well, proper rights and clearances needed to be secured and managed. The Art Buyer also manages all areas of photography production from the agency side. This means establishing a workback, trafficking approvals of all production elements (location, talent etc.) between photographer and Art Director, running a pre-pro meeting, and troubleshooting any concerns that may arise at the shoot or during production.
In Canada, the role is relatively new and we are defining it as we go. Some of us are from print production and still handle some print production responsibilities. At smaller agencies the Art Buyer may also have some Creative Coordinator functions as well. Some of us are former photography reps, producers or photo editors.
As a freelancer, I had the joy of introducing the role to several agencies, all of whom quickly saw the value of this service. As I developed the role when I was on salary several years ago, I used my photography production background to assess the appropriateness of the estimates I received and then, in many ways, functioned as a producer on set. Back at the office, I weasled my way into as many meetings as I could. The earlier I was involved, the better I could serve the creative, troubleshoot the budget and learn the brand and objectives the photographer would need to fulfill.
Without a doubt, an Art Buyer is most effective when we are engaged from the beginning of a job- at the time when the Creative Teams are briefed. At this time, we can start thinking of photographers who’s style may fit the client’s brand. Knowing the number of executions we need to shoot plus the budget will give us an idea of the price range of shooter we will be able to consider.
Next step is meeting with the Art Director to interpret what she’s picturing as far as photography style. She may have references that help concretize an otherwise abstract vision. And of course, there will eventually be layouts. Then we go back and forth for a bit, I show her some possible shooters and styles and we narrow down the pool. Whoa… don’t forget to run it by the Creative Director and then I’m good to get quotes.
By this point I hope to hell I know what the budget is because you can bet the photographer or rep will ask me what that number is. Back and forth with the estimate a bit until the number is palatable and all the possible production elements and AD headaches are accounted for. The budget goes to client for approval via the Account Service team and then my approval comes and I can award the job.
In a nutshell, an Art Buyer is responsible for the integrity of the still images used by the agency in all of it’s print and web advertising. On that note, I’ve got to get back to it…
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Awesome. Thanks for this. Now how do you find the art buyers in your market?
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