Wholly owned by Bill Gates, Corbis was the second largest stock photography company in the world. In our five years as agency of record, we created B2B advertising, events, and promotions that made Corbis the talk of the industry on a global level, resulting in substantial upticks in awareness, preference and, most importantly, sales.
Day in the Life. Our first campaign for Corbis was aimed at advertising agencies, one of their largest client bases. To demonstrate that Corbis understood how agencies work, we created illustrated comic strip style ads that celebrated the endless battle between “creatives” and “suits” as they try to agree on affordable image solutions for their projects. To our great delight, these ads were found pinned to the walls of several agencies around the world.
Apple a Day. We created this promotion to give creative personnel at agencies around the world an exciting reason to start their day on the Corbis website. Every weekday for an entire month, creative professionals entered to win one of Apple’s latest computers by logging onto Corbis before noon. The result – tens of thousands of website hits, 22 ecstatic winners, and a degree of viral excitement that was far ahead of its time.
Keyword Campaign. Every search on every image site starts with a keyword. We sought to firmly associate conceptual keywording with Corbis in the minds of creatives – effectively taking ownership of this everyday process By creating a humorous dichotomy between a keyword and a photo, we connected with users “where they live,” – showing off Corbis imagery, eliciting some chuckles, and forging a new bond. The campaign was tested and ultimately executed globally in nine languages and 12 countries. It was also shortlisted at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.
Keyword Mania. To communicate the efficacy of Corbis’ “conceptual keywording” capability, we created Keyword Mania – a worldwide promotion that asked participants to look at sets of images and then guess the conceptual keywords that best described each set, all for the chance to win a MINI Cooper. The game was played online by thousands of creatives around the globe – and in person by the world’s top creatives at the Clios in Miami Beach and at Cannes. For participation and impact, Keyword Mania was the greatest promotion in the history of the stock imagery business, winning a Cannes Gold Lion for excellence.
The Bettmann 100. The 100th birthday of Otto Bettmann presented a golden opportunity to promote the Bettmann Archive – one of Corbis’s most important collections. The cornerstone of this effort was Bettmann Moments – a coffee table book featuring stunning archival photographs. In over 100 spreads, we juxtaposed images in ways that entertained, inspired laughter, and commented on social changes. Bettmann Moments was ultimately licensed for retail sale by Barnes & Noble.