Keystone shows creatives the stick
The Keystone photo agency has launched a new image portal. Its main purpose is to make it easier for advertisers to work with stock images.
Image agencies Keystone has a new image portal. This is primarily intended to make it easier for advertisers to work with stock images. The new image portal was designed by Nose. For Keystone, the result is a successful example of how business processes can be optimized thanks to good design. The Internet is the most important sales channel for Switzerland's largest picture agency. With two new entrances, creative professionals should now be able to find their images "more easily and quickly", as Rainer Kupper from Keystone explains. Previously, the portal was geared more towards the needs of media professionals. However, as Keystone sees itself increasingly in a crowded international market, it wants to position itself even more intensively as a picture agency for advertisers in the future, as Kupper sees "the opportunity for growth" here.
Keystone has over two million images available online. There are also eleven million in the physical archive. Keystone also offers extensive expertise in the field of history. Through Keystone, creative professionals in Switzerland also have exclusive access to some of the world's most important picture agencies. The attractive presentation of images is crucial for the creative market. The images offered on the web portal are now displayed on a deep black background and much larger than usual. The portal thus becomes a "digital lightbox".
The new service is being advertised with a campaign by Euro RSCG. This works with satirized "stock images" that were actually staged by Keystone photographer Martin Rütschi with real customers of the image archive. "We thought it was a funny idea from Euro RSCG to capture advertising agencies in the style of these terribly clichéd business stock images, proving that bad images can damage the best image. We were happy to provide the self-irony required for this. Our mothers will probably be calling the agency soon and saying that we're finally dressed properly," says Markus Ruf about this gag. And Markus Gut adds: "I took part in the subject because I think the campaign idea is good."
And what do they think about the use of agency images? Markus Ruf: "Agency images are often not suitable for classic advertising because the idea calls for an image that doesn't exist anywhere else, or because the AD has a visual language in mind that can only be realized with a photographer. However, if you need exotic landscapes or famous buildings, for example, image agencies such as Keystone can be ideal. Occasionally, brochures and annual reports can also be illustrated with agency images. And of course we need them for layout purposes."
Markus Gut: "Stock images wrongly have a much worse reputation than they really have. The idea determines the image. Stock images can therefore theoretically be used anywhere."
Andreas Panzeri
Keystone has over two million images available online. There are also eleven million in the physical archive. Keystone also offers extensive expertise in the field of history. Through Keystone, creative professionals in Switzerland also have exclusive access to some of the world's most important picture agencies. The attractive presentation of images is crucial for the creative market. The images offered on the web portal are now displayed on a deep black background and much larger than usual. The portal thus becomes a "digital lightbox".
The new service is being advertised with a campaign by Euro RSCG. This works with satirized "stock images" that were actually staged by Keystone photographer Martin Rütschi with real customers of the image archive. "We thought it was a funny idea from Euro RSCG to capture advertising agencies in the style of these terribly clichéd business stock images, proving that bad images can damage the best image. We were happy to provide the self-irony required for this. Our mothers will probably be calling the agency soon and saying that we're finally dressed properly," says Markus Ruf about this gag. And Markus Gut adds: "I took part in the subject because I think the campaign idea is good."
And what do they think about the use of agency images? Markus Ruf: "Agency images are often not suitable for classic advertising because the idea calls for an image that doesn't exist anywhere else, or because the AD has a visual language in mind that can only be realized with a photographer. However, if you need exotic landscapes or famous buildings, for example, image agencies such as Keystone can be ideal. Occasionally, brochures and annual reports can also be illustrated with agency images. And of course we need them for layout purposes."
Markus Gut: "Stock images wrongly have a much worse reputation than they really have. The idea determines the image. Stock images can therefore theoretically be used anywhere."
Andreas Panzeri
