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Author Topic: Do yo think the MSG community has driven away Agency reps?  (Read 8587 times)

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Semmick Photo

« on: June 19, 2015, 13:45 »
+9
Lately SS and Canva are absent from the forum, when they were the most regular ones to communicate here. Most agencies had a rep here communicating with us. It all seems to have dried up.

Do yo think the tough MSG community has driven away Agency reps?


WeatherENG

« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2015, 13:49 »
+5
Lately SS and Canva are absent from the forum, when they were the most regular ones to communicate here. Most agencies had a rep here communicating with us. It all seems to have dried up.

Do yo think the tough MSG community has driven away Agency reps?

The investors/VC's in the agency's might have instituted new policies that might restrict reps from participating or saying much, same goes for social media, seen that happen in news, one day a new vp of social media came along and all tweets had to be vetted by her.....

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2015, 13:50 »
+4
I think SS is instituting cost cutting measures to please investors, and the contributor rep job was eliminated. certainly in the case of SS I think the people here were glad to hear from them and communicated respectfully. Canva I know nothing about.

« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2015, 13:56 »
+3
Scottbraut was great, maybe whoever followed him simply doesnt like msg?? Or doesnt understand the importance of this forum?

It is strange, because here in Germany they are investing in contributor meet ups etc...you would expect them to have a strong personality and voice on msg to represent them.

« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2015, 13:58 »
+7
Yes many many posts are just "not good" and make "less sense".
Most times i see the same people posting again and again the same **** (things).
New, small agencies are made down immediately.
People sell fewer than 300 pictures and complain about things that.. you know what iam talking about..
One day they hate SS or FT whatever one day they love it!
One day they sell less and get angry about. Next day they love the agency again..
 :o

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2015, 14:17 »
+7
New, small agencies are made down immediately.
If they can't cope with the basic questions which are asked here, they're either not serious, haven't done their job, or - at very best - aren't nearly ready to launch. More likely: scam merchants.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2015, 17:19 by ShadySue »

« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2015, 14:24 »
+2
I think SS is instituting cost cutting measures to please investors, and the contributor rep job was eliminated. certainly in the case of SS I think the people here were glad to hear from them and communicated respectfully. Canva I know nothing about.

I agree with this totally.  It's already started with current package restructuring. But with the Adobe deal, I bet exclusivity is in the near future.

« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2015, 14:32 »
+21
Speaking of reps, I was kind of impressed with Mat Hayward. Some people ripped him up and down when he was just representing Fotolia (rightly or wrongly). Once the Adobe deal was announced, he came in here, announced it, and politely answered all questions posed directly to him, and ignored things that weren't an actual respectful question. I think that is how most reps should react. I think everyone knows by now, reps, contributors AND buyers to MSG know that you are going to have to wade through some cr*p to get to the good stuff. Comes with the forum territory.  :)

ultimagina

« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2015, 15:13 »
+7
Speaking of reps, I was kind of impressed with Mat Hayward. Some people ripped him up and down when he was just representing Fotolia (rightly or wrongly). Once the Adobe deal was announced, he came in here, announced it, and politely answered all questions posed directly to him, and ignored things that weren't an actual respectful question. I think that is how most reps should react. I think everyone knows by now, reps, contributors AND buyers to MSG know that you are going to have to wade through some cr*p to get to the good stuff. Comes with the forum territory.  :)

Moreover, a couple of months ago, I received a private, personalized email from Mat in reference to my port. No other agency bothered to contact me, personally!

This definitely signals a change in FT/AS behaviour towards contributors.

Something to be praised and encouraged!

« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2015, 16:19 »
+5
Absolutely, Mat is doing a great job!

Good communication is so important to build trust in business.

« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2015, 17:08 »
+9
Of course we have scared off some agency reps. Who wants to be on here getting ripped up and down as the face for the corporate entity that is screwing us? Of course they mostly can't take it (or have no incentive to anyway).

In general I think that reps that are honest and somewhat open are an asset to MSG and the agencies they represent. That doesn't mean we have to agree with or like what they say, but it is nice to hear from their side when they are honest. Of course there has been plenty of double speak and outright lies too, and the reps need to know we will call them on that. Sometimes the best answer is "I hear your question and I can't (or won't) answer that" - at least it is honest.

« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2015, 01:43 »
+5
What I find the most annoying/incredible is that Agency reps most definitely read MSG but choose not to reply to concrete questions we had.  :-\
 

Semmick Photo

« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2015, 02:06 »
+2
I agree with Mat's professionalism, Scott was good too, Lee did a good job, P5 came in here shortly with a good attitude. 123s Alex and Anglee also do a good job, but dont come in often.

If you have a contributor communication role within an agency,   I think its important to spent time communicating with us. We are a very important cog in the wheel. We're undercut and ignored in most cases. I wish there was a real business relationship, alienation has been going on for a while. I understand our bitterness towards the agencies, good communication would go a long way in this situation. I wish more reps came in here to explain things to us when we have concerns. Biggest is the deafening silence around the review process in SS.

Are we too harsh on reps, I think Pancaketom has a good point.

cuppacoffee

« Reply #13 on: June 21, 2015, 06:39 »
+4
If it's a "concrete" question isn't it better to ask at the agency via their support channels or their forums? Are we (long-time forum members) really that important and/or influential? Newcomers don't know about us or do not take our advice. Those with really big ports don't post often here, if at all. Many members are anonymous and just complain. If we boycott something it is only short-lived. The industry has evolved and I don't think that this forum changes the habits of many stock image producers. Yes, I know that some questions are ignored at the sites or it takes a long time to get an answer. Many site admins will answer or point to a previous answer if the issue has been addressed, some will close the forum question if they don't like it, some will ignore the question and yes, some will ban the asker. Same here. Why do you think that this forum is more important than their own contributors' forums? If a problem is brought to light here it may or may not be communicated to the thousands of other photogs and illustrators and video producers out there. Do you want the reps to check the questions here every day instead of at their own sites? Kudos to those who do. Just askin'?

« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2015, 13:15 »
+4
The sites never hesitate to communicate with us here and on their own sites if they want something from us.

Before IS exclusives started defecting we never heard from Shutterstock on MSG and they have been non responsive on their own boards for many years. From a business stand point, it made good sense to communicate with potential exclusive defectors who visit MSG; because many of them have large ports filled with images that made it through IS's formerly tough reviews. The potential is there to also skip review expenses for those ports.  Those initially lower royalty ports, also make SS more money.

I recall more than a few threads on SS proper asking why they communicated with participants here and refused to communicate with us on their own site. Strangely enough we never got so much as a response from shutterstock on the matter of their lack of response to our needs or their blatant lack of communication in general.

Scott was smart enough to realize the financial benefit of communicating with potential new contributors on MSG , however communication seems to be non existent since his departure.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2015, 15:37 by gbalex »

« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2015, 16:32 »
+1
I think agency reps need to be very commited to working with the artist community, maybe be artists themselves to understand how the production works. They also have to be very patient and good communicators. It is not easy to find people with the right combination of skills who are ready to do this kind of job.

I hope SS finds a dedicated replacement for Scott, who comes here and works with us. They are one of the biggest agencies after all, I doubt they will just give up on contributor relation building.

Maybe it will take a while to find someone, but I am sure they will send someone back in (into the ring :) ).


« Reply #16 on: June 21, 2015, 20:09 »
0
Re: Maybe it will take a while to find someone, but I am sure they will send someone back in (into the ring :) ).

Reality is based on actions rather than wishful thinking. Shutterstock's actions are clear and consistent over the last 9 years. They have not communicated with contributors in a meaningful or productive way since roughly 2006.

In fact there have been a myriad of problems on shutterstock's site that affected the bottom line for contributors and shutterstock has consistently failed to address these problems. In fact they fall on deaf ears or shutterstock simply pretends they do not exist.

When contributors sought help on shutterstocks own boards they simply did not respond to our request for help, solutions, clarification, etc. You have only to visit the bugs, critique, general discussion or anything goes forum, to see this non communication or problem solving in consistent action.

For what amounts to a nano second in practical terms, Scott came to MSG (Not Shutterstock) to manage Public Relations. Instead of addressing the issues we repeatedly asked him to solve or clarify; he responded with PR double speak. To be fair to Scott, I doubt that he had any other options and it would be painful to address contributors with your hands tied and no power or resources to help them.


« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2015, 02:44 »
+9
As selling stock is a numbers game and today we're talking about agencies having archives made of 50+ millions images, why would they need to please a few stockers on a niche online forum ?

I dont see any positive ROI on that for the top agencies, it only makes sense for the small fries and the newcomers to come here and to get some free exposure for their products.

Market leaders like SS just don't need us anymore, they're well past the initial phase when they were dependant on the good will of the top uploaders .. now contributors are dime a dozen, including the top sellers, we've just no leverage now.








Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2015, 04:05 »
+1
Maybe Leaf could have an agency announcement section on the forum where only verified reps could post announcements and keep us updated, then we could discuss the announcement on another thread amongst ourselves.

The problem is that if someone comes on here defending misinformation or announcing a sh*fting for us of course they are going to take a battering and of course they wont want to come back to have their company's oh so dirty laundry aired in public.

We also, like anywhere on the internet, have our fair share of total loons that attack anyone that comes here, but I don't think should drive away a legit agent in itself, if the overwhelming feedback is positive.

Think about how nicely Lee from Canva and Brian from Veer were treated here. I don't think that Lee would have left because of the criticism he received, which was extremely measured and polite actually.

« Reply #19 on: June 22, 2015, 08:57 »
0
As selling stock is a numbers game and today we're talking about agencies having archives made of 50+ millions images, why would they need to please a few stockers on a niche online forum ?

I dont see any positive ROI on that for the top agencies, it only makes sense for the small fries and the newcomers to come here and to get some free exposure for their products.

Market leaders like SS just don't need us anymore, they're well past the initial phase when they were dependant on the good will of the top uploaders .. now contributors are dime a dozen, including the top sellers, we've just no leverage now.

SOOO true, sad and scary!  :-\

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2015, 15:07 »
+4
To be honest, who'd want to be an agency rep, having to put a spin on all the schemes of their employers, being 'economical with the truth', not necessarily knowing what's being planned 'at the top', and pretending that everything is for our benefit, so we needn't worry. On the sites' own forums, people who ask too many awkward questions can be banned or worse. Here all they can do is ignore them, give some bland reassurances, lie, or obfuscate the issue. I'd rather hear nothing than any of that $%*!

« Reply #21 on: June 22, 2015, 15:31 »
+1
yes...because we often kick their butts  8)

« Reply #22 on: June 22, 2015, 17:26 »
+5
For a long time now, the trend in corporate communications has been to say less and less in public, and to respond to questions by simply repeating previous statements while saying nothing of substance.  I think eliminating the role of these reps was just the next logical step.  There is really no need for these agencies to communicate with photographers at all; we're not their customers. 

Semmick Photo

« Reply #23 on: June 22, 2015, 17:29 »
+3
For a long time now, the trend in corporate communications has been to say less and less in public, and to respond to questions by simply repeating previous statements while saying nothing of substance.  I think eliminating the role of these reps was just the next logical step.  There is really no need for these agencies to communicate with photographers at all; we're not their customers.
Until the day comes we all have enough and walk. Then the CEOs and the like will come begging.

« Reply #24 on: June 22, 2015, 23:00 »
+1
For a long time now, the trend in corporate communications has been to say less and less in public, and to respond to questions by simply repeating previous statements while saying nothing of substance.  I think eliminating the role of these reps was just the next logical step.  There is really no need for these agencies to communicate with photographers at all; we're not their customers.
Until the day comes we all have enough and walk. Then the CEOs and the like will come begging.

I hope so, but wonder if they would have the common sense to do it. 


 

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