Companies in need of graphic design can already crowdsource that work on sites including SitePoint, crowdSPRING and Inkd. Now customAdArt is bringing similar capabilities to the buying and selling of photographed images.
Typically, advertisers in need of photos must browse through reams of them on stock photography sites, which may or may not have anything close to what they were hoping to find. Now in beta, customAdArt aims to turn that model on its head by allowing advertisers to post requests for specific shots and then have member photographers shoot and submit their best efforts to satisfy them. Advertisers begin by posting a job on the site, including a description of what they're looking for, a price (the minimum is USD 100), and a deadline; listing the job costs USD 50. For two weeks—or until a winner is selected—photographers can submit their best entries for the advertiser's consideration. When clients find a photo they like—they can provide feedback first, if necessary—they pay the artist directly. In return, they gain full rights to the purchased image.
customAdArt has the potential to save advertisers the time and money they would have spent trying to find the perfect image; photographers, meanwhile, are spared the necessity of "blindly shooting and hoping that someone might be interested in their particular image," as the site puts it. Will crowdsourcing be as controversial in commercial photography as it has been in graphic design? Only time will tell. In the meantime, one to watch!
Website: www.customadart.com
Contact: www.customadart.com/contact_us.php
Spotted by: Rob Gregory
Of course as you have alluded too, this really is spec work with the HOPE of being selected by the company. While the photographers would still, I presume, be able to sell the photography through various stock sites.
NO SPEC. Don't support this. Crowdsourcing is creative slavery. It's like the fucking lottery or worse, child labor in Tibet. If agencies are really that lazy and that cheap that they can't hire a real photographer, then they aren't agencies are they? You do get what you pay for. Google the $50 logo experiment, you'll see what I mean.
It's a great idea; much depends on the quality and scope of requirements in the ad agency brief. I imagine it will add further dimension to agency creativity --sometimes they know exactly what they want/need; other times its a bit fuzzy-- others' interpretation of their need will probably be a net positive.