A call to action
When the business publication Global Man Magazine approached Chief Executive Tony Brown for an article featuring his unique insights on holistic therapies he was both delighted and terrified.
Delighted because the publicity would give his business a boost and as an advocate for natural living, help to spread the word. But terrified because he knew the headshot he’d been using for years just would not be accepted by the publication.
The lack of supporting imagery was a show-stopper. Without publication quality images, the article would not go ahead.
It is a common problem, business leaders are simply too busy leading their businesses to do something which can feel a little self-indulgent: book themselves a professional photoshoot complete with make up, hairstyling and outfits. And all too often it means that great opportunities for business development are missed.
But happily for Tony, the publication gave him a couple of days to getimages to the editor.
It's not about you, it's about your business
The first thing Tony recognised is that this really wasn’t about him: it was about his message. And that if the message was to be communicated correctly he needed help. All images are ‘read’ by audiences and the messages they contain are often tacit, subconsciously influencing opinion.
Tony needed imagery that would attract interest, support his message and promote both his business and the lifestyle changes he advocates.
Audiences and stories
When Tony approached Studio Grey our first question was, “what do you want to achieve?”. It is an extremely open question and the answers were revealing.
It quickly became apparent that there were several ‘audiences’, or stakeholders – potential clients, suppliers, competitors, investors. And each audience needed messages with slightly different emphasis.
We suggested an afternoon’s shoot at our Central London Studio. It has all the facilities needed for a good studio session, break-out areas for internal ‘office’ shots and a fantastic selection of locations nearby.
And we worked with Tony to develop a ‘shot list’: a visual representation of each image required to support the various arguments in the article.
I'm a man, I have short hair and I don't wear make up. Why do I need a Hair and Make Up Artist?
It sounds counter-intuitive but getting hair and make up sorted before you go on set does much more than make you perfectly groomed; it makes you more authentic.
Professional Full-Frame digital cameras combined with state of the art lenses will capture your skin in forensic detail. Even the smallest flaws are exposed. There has always been airbrushing even in the good old analogue days, and today we have photoshop and AI tools to ‘fix’ the shot. But we are ‘fixing’ a sub-standard image, and the final version will look edited. By capturing the best possible image in camera, at the time of taking the photograph, we can minimise the retouch and make you look authentically brilliant.
Getting to the picture desk on time
Time is always short for Public Relations, and although we had a couple of days to plan and execute the shoot, the images needed to be in front of the picture editor within 48 hours of the shoot.This is where experince helps. Our lead photographer, Mark Grey is a fashion industry veteran and used to working to tight deadlines (images from the catwalk need to be with Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and and Cosmo within seconds of fashion shows ending). It means we have a slick and efficient workflow that delivers publication ready images quickly.
In Studio, on Set and location
We always start in the studio – its where we get used to working together, the photographer and stylist helped Tony perfect his poses and the shoot is tethered, so small changes in head angle and pose that communicate different emotions can be highlighted and the pose perfected.
Once we have a good set of studio portraits we use the office space in our building to create more documentary style images. It was here we found the ideal spot for Tony’s ‘speaker’ pose – a shot with many uses – from TED talk to Blogpost.
Finally we moved outside for some relaxed lifestle poses, and it was these that found favour with Global Man’s picture editor.
A resource for the future
In solving Tony’s immediate problem, we provided a solution for future PR needs. The shoot provided Tony with a library of images, all supporting different elements of his organisation’s marketing messages.
And now, when a journalist calls, his EA just has to select the best image for the article and Total Health get more free advertising.
