Comments on: Photography Agent Blogs Evolve

By: Jasmine DeFoore

Jasmine DeFoore — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:39:37 +0000

Thanks for the mention Rob. We have recently completely redesigned our website and our featuring our blog content more prominently. We’re also posting more photographer Q&As and other non-tear sheet items. It’s fun to do and definitely helps bring traffic to our site.

By: Bruce DeBoer

Bruce DeBoer — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:07:39 +0000

It’s not enough to post on blogs – in my opinion – check out why I think CP+B are ahead of the curve and should be forgiven for having a Twitter feed on their Site:

http://www.justin.tv/fearlessqa

By: Jon Roemer

Jon Roemer — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:12:07 +0000

@Bruce DeBoer, 12/1/09. Let it be known that on this date, at this time, publishing a Twitter feed on a web site has officially become dated.

By: Bruce DeBoer

Bruce DeBoer — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:14:58 +0000

@Jon Roemer, You might be right. It’ll be interesting to see how long they keep this going. I wouldn’t be surprised if having a Twitter feed on your website becomes dated very quickly. Do you have any predictions?

By: Jon Roemer

Jon Roemer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:59:14 +0000

@Bruce DeBoer,
I’ve seen the BooneOakley video. I think it’s great. It’s fun; both the content and the medium work together to send a message. It also has signposts for potential BO clients.

I don’t see that in the CP+B site. To me the CP+B site dumps a lot of stuff on the table, including unneeded things like the twitter feed, and it walks away leaving the viewer to make sense of it all.

I don’t see the CP+B site fulfilling “b” because it’s breaking a few cardinal rules of websites – c) don’t leave the viewer confused, d) make sure you get your message across quickly, and e) make your navigation obvious and clear.

By: Bruce DeBoer

Bruce DeBoer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:43:06 +0000

@Jon Roemer, I think it’s more than being “in the mix”. The site shows work but other than that the best a website can do is to a) give the visitor a feeling for the agency culture and b) give them a reason to return.

Personally I think it’s pretty brave and reflects their culture well. Another good example is from BooneOakley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elo7WeIydh8

By: Jacqueline Bovaird

Jacqueline Bovaird — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Thanks Rob!!! I’m glad to hear people are enjoying the Q&As!! They took a break in November and will be back up and running this month.

By: discoteche napoli

discoteche napoli — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:10:04 +0000

good look .i like this site,thanks

By: Bruce DeBoer

Bruce DeBoer — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:30:31 +0000

Putting their money where their creativity is, the CPB site is open source. They’ve made the source code available to developers.

Go Here: http://github.com/cpbadmin/newd

By: Jon Roemer

Jon Roemer — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:15:43 +0000

For the most part these are all quite nice and the idea meshes with what a designer told me recently. She sees a lot of web design going to blog based formats.

That said – I find the CP+B site a turn-off. To me it’s too busy and indiscriminate. A Twitter feed front and center. Why? It’s lots of one sided comments that no one can ever really follow. I don’t get it.

I know that CP+B is trying to send the message that “we’re in the mix,” but I wonder if this type of presentation can backfire from a client’s perspective. In other words, for the ad agency’s client, the ad agency is supposed to cut through the noise and the clutter of the media world to get a client’s product noticed. But CP+B’s site seems to send the message – we don’t cut through the clutter, we’re a part of it.

By: Christine Kelly

Christine Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:41:18 +0000

Jed Root is my favorite. But I am totally biased on that one.

By: lisa

lisa — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:19:16 +0000

speaking of cp+b, this reminds me of some other brands/agencies that have done some clever integrations with social media tools: skittles and advertising agency boone oakley.

skittles i believe was one of the first to do what cp+b did – bring in feeds from flickr, twitter, facebook, wikipedia…

boone oakley was very clever in the way they leveraged youtube to create their agency website. love their cheeky & irreverent tone of voice.

By: Elizabeth Avedon

Elizabeth Avedon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:21:34 +0000

Adding JedRoot: http://blog.jedroot.com/jri/

By: Christine Kelly

Christine Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:27:43 +0000

Bernstein and Andrulli’s website is extremely nice. One can really appreciate the thought, design and customization behind it. Mullen Advertising: mullen.com also changed their website to a blog format one. We enjoy your blog very much too Rob and Kristina.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christine Kelly

By: Kristina Feliciano

Kristina Feliciano — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:00:23 +0000

Thanks so much for including the Stockland Martel blog in your post, Rob. Blogs, whether they’re photographer blogs or photography-agent blogs, can—and, I would argue, should—be so much more than alternate portfolios. Not only are they a much more nimble marketing platform than a website; they’re also just intrinsically more informal and conversational, and therefore compelling in a different way. Plus, they’re totally fun to write.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Kristina