That’s a wrap on 2018 – and what an incredible year it’s been. We’ve been right there with you, in the trenches, working to put together the best and most innovative visual stories.
We’ve seen some amazing organizations push the creative world to the limits, embracing new technology, trends, social media platforms. Thank you for inspiring us – and showing us what the future of visual storytelling can be.
Thank you to everyone who shared their amazing content with us, read our stories, visited our site, talked to our team, and helped us learn from you. We are truly your students and grateful to learn from you.
Thank you for taking us along for the ride as you captured countless magical, special, emotional, and unforgettable moments that have reminded us that a picture really is worth a thousand words.
As 2018 comes to an end, take a minute to check out some of our favorite stories from the year to inspire your marketing and visual storytelling in 2019!
How the New York Jets Engage Fans with Real-Time, Thumb-Stopping Photography
The Jets’ social media channels are a perfect storm of a unique perspective, the right timing, and eye-catching imagery fans actually want in their feeds. Lead Photographer and Cinematographer Dan Szpakowski works full-time in-house, so he has a deep understanding of the team’s stories and point of view. He reports to the social team, creating a direct line between photography and social media. He shoots as a documentary photographer, capturing everything from game action to quiet moments fans rarely get to see.
Game 1 to Stanley Cup Finals: Capturing the Vegas Golden Knights Inaugural Season
When the Vegas Golden Knights took on the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals, they became the first NHL expansion team to make it to the championship round. The first professional sports team in Las Vegas is now the most successful expansion team ever in hockey – and in all of pro sports. Golden Knights Official Team Photographer Jeff Bottari and the social media team use a lightning-fast workflow to share photos on social media, giving fans a unique perspective in real time. Combine that with the team’s witty, confident, quirky social media personality and you’ve got a social media presence fans can’t resist.
On Motivation: Alex Cora’s Wall of Wins
The Boston Red Sox Wall of Wins concept is a brilliant vehicle for delivering recognition and providing motivation to a team for a few reasons:
- It’s highly visible to the team. It’s easy to imagine any player on the roster aspiring to make it to the wall in the manager’s office.
- It reinforces the way individual excellence contributes to team success. This is really important across a large team of various role players — people need to understand how their efforts fit into the big vision.
- It measures progress. For a long haul effort (ie. 162 games) it celebrates the ground that’s been covered via each individual win, providing visual evidence of the momentum that’s been created over time, while also showing there’s more left to achieve.
- It’s a different type of “reward” that makes individual contributors feel respected and valued. I’m sure it’s motivating across the Red Sox organization to see the pride that Alex Cora takes in celebrating his team members.
What’s your version of the Wall of Wins? How do you celebrate team achievements, and how well does it work?
Why Social Media Engagement Is Skyrocketing at This University
For a small private school in the shadow of one of the biggest rivalries in college football, capturing the attention of 18-22 year old students is no easy task. How do you stand out on cell phones that are constantly bombarded with content, and encourage students to know and love your brand? The athletics department at Samford University, a small Baptist University in Birmingham, Alabama, has the answer. Watch the video to get a behind the scenes look at how Samford became the first school in the NCAA to send their best photos straight to student athletes in real time, and why this strategy is a game-changer for fan engagement.
Copyright for Marketers: All Your Questions Answered
As a savvy visual marketer, you’re using photos to engage your audience every day. But are you stopping to make sure you have the rights to use those images? New research from PhotoShelter shows 75% of marketers don’t have a good system for tracking when image licenses and usage rights expire. Over 25% of teams have dealt with a copyright infringement issue in the past five years. Watch this on-demand webinar, Copyright Crash Course: What Marketers Need to Know, to learn about the dangers of using free content, how to navigate copyright in the age of social media, examples of copyright battles between creators and brands, and more.
5 Visual Content Marketing Takeaways from the 2018 Industry Report
The demand for visual storytelling is on the rise. Innovative brands are constantly sharing photos, videos, GIFs and more to compete for their audience’s attention. We wanted to know: how are creative teams producing and sharing so much visual content? What are they doing behind the scenes to keep up? We worked with Contently to survey hundreds of marketers and creatives for our 2018 Report: Engaging Your Audience with Visual Content.
University Photographers Give Back to First Responders Through Help Portraits
Photography can have an incredible impact – whether it’s going viral and inspiring social change, or making a difference to just one deserving person. At the University Photographers’ Association of America (UPAA) 2018 Symposium, photographers from colleges and universities across the country used photography to say thank you to first responders and their families. Take a behind the scenes look at this moving event.
Here’s to You
Plus, don’t miss our brand new video, which features some of our favorite photos of the year, from the World Series to the Special Olympics USA Games:
These stories – and so many more – have helped make us the leading company in reviews and stars on the G2 Crowd technology review platform, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Again, thank you so much. We can’t wait to learn more from you about innovative visual storytelling in 2019.
