Alan Capel, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at SmartFrame Technologies chats about the importance of incorporating enhanced visual elements in a brand’s digital marketing plans in this Q&A:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Alan – tell us about yourself and more about your role at SmartFrame Technologies?

I have recently assumed the role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at SmartFrame, marking a significant transition after almost three decades in the image licensing industry. My journey began as a freelance cartoonist, but I have spent most of my career progressing through the ranks at both Getty Images and Alamy.

At SmartFrame, I am at the heart of identifying new opportunities to help accelerate business growth. Our overarching mission is to redefine the digital image standard by making online image publishing secure and easily monetizable for image owners worldwide.

SmartFrame is tackling the challenges posed by the traditional image licensing model, which is no longer fit for purpose, and the looming threat of image-scraping generative AI. These have been particularly detrimental to the livelihoods of photographers and online content creators. I’m excited to not just contribute to building another successful technology business but to make a meaningful impact on digital content creators’ lives through it.

What are the standards commanding the digital imaging / visual imaging space today: how are platforms like SmartFrame Technologies enabling brand needs?

Studies indicate that approximately 2.5 billion images are stolen online or used without permission every day. Intellectual property owners – whether the photographers themselves or an organisation such as a sports team – have minimal control over how their images are used once they’ve been published online.

Other than the apparent misuse of this original content, the creators or rights owners are also unfairly compensated, forcing them to go down the route of lengthy legal battles or simply let the matter go. Three to four decades ago, there was far less competition than today and average image prices were far higher. Average licensing fees have fallen steeply in the last 30 years. The result is that rights owners, especially photographers, are less able to make a living from licensing their images, and have had to diversify into other income streams.

What needs to happen is for better methods of copyright protection to be implemented, which is where SmartFrame plays a crucial role. Through image streaming, SmartFrame helps intellectual property owners safeguard their work from online copyright infringement while presenting images in their highest resolution. Additionally, SmartFrame offers a revenue-generating solution for creators and brands by enabling them to monetize their images through in-image contextual advertising. This not only safeguards an organisation’s brand safety, through an unprecedented understanding of exactly what the content contains, but also ensures that marketers maximise their advertising impact by targeting the most relevant audience.

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How in your view can brands use visual experiences to drive better online journeys: what should they keep as base fundamentals?

Now more than ever, brands increasingly invest in high-quality content production. To distinguish themselves in the competitive digital world, a commitment to excellence is crucial, whether through captivating videos or compelling still images.

Consider the sports industry, where consumers’ interest has expanded beyond on-the-field action to include the off-the-pitch lives of athletes. Not only are fans engaged with the latest game, match or race, but also with the social media accounts of their favourite sports stars, and even documentaries about day-to-day experiences in the sport, such as Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’. This shift has given rise to niche online communities, becoming pivotal platforms for brands seeking authentic connections with audiences, especially Gen Z.

While not every team can command interest in a docuseries, there is room for high-quality images to play a significant role. By strategically incorporating visual elements such as high-quality images and videos, brands can craft a more engaging and enjoyable online experience for their audience. More important than this, however, is how technology is empowering the ecosystem around these images. From ensuring the validity of content to protect audiences to offering new viewing experiences to further engage fans, or even allowing fans themselves to contribute their imagery to marketing campaigns, brands are now able to take the value of their visual content to the next level.

How will generative AI eventually play a role in this domain?

We are already seeing the effect of GenAI, especially on the stock photo industry. While the opportunities it brings for businesses to streamline processes seems clear, it is a different story for many photographers and creators. As a result, we have seen a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits from artists trying to protect their work, as well as anti-AI tools used to damage the training data for AI models. AI is here to stay, but the current state of play is not sustainable.

The challenge is ensuring photographers and artists receive compensation when their images are used to train AI models. A mutually beneficial framework that empowers AI while returning revenue back to the creators could be the answer. However, to avoid recreating traditional issues in the image ecosystem, any solution must deliver sustainable, ongoing compensation each time an image is used, not a single initial payment.

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Can you talk about some of the leading tech brands you feel have a robust online visual framework that resonates well with end users: what takeaways from those would you leave us with here?

Pinterest, Behance (owned by Adobe), Envato, and Vimeo. And, of course, Instagram. These are all well-known names for a good reason. They all provide smart curation or personalisation tools and features to save time and cut through the mass. When images or videos are displayed they assume significant real estate; better to show visuals in all their glory than to try and cram as many in as possible. Having said that, search functionality that gives you a choice as to where you go next is always welcome – don’t send me down a rabbit hole and expect me to remember how I got there. Combining filters and tools with the freedom to explore leads to a better experience. Sometimes you know what you want, other times you’ve come for inspiration. Good sites cater to both.