Mithran Stone is the General Manager of Photolibrary in the Middle East and Africa, a company that started as a small image library in Australia 43 years ago. mediaME spoke to him about the region's potential as a market for images, how technology has revolutionized this indutsry and more.

Q. Kindly introduce yourself and your company.

Photolibrary has been in existence for 43 years and has grown from a small image library to one of the top stock libraries. It is an Australian company, primarily set up in its current form in 2000. Basically, we saw what large image libraries were doing at the very high-end and we thought there was room for another player with a different and more service-provider oriented model. The first thing that was done was the creation of a complex, multi-country, back-end system so that we could come into any country and set shop.

Photolibrary set up in England in 2002. In 2004, we expanded to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. From that central base, we set up in Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and now, Hong Kong. 2006, saw us coming into India, UAE and the US and in 2008, France, Italy and Germany. The offices in every country are our own. They are not agents or master delegates.

I have been with Photolibrary for over 3 years, and have been running the office here from shortly after we set up business in Dubai. From the Dubai market, we serve the Middle East and Africa.

I come to the company with over a decade of experience in the advertising industry, a large part of which has been in the Middle East. This background gives me knowledge that helps me better understand the primarily creative end user market and deliver on target solutions.

Q. Tell us about the regional market potential and how international players like PhotoLibrary view the Middle East.

The Middle East market obviously has a lot of potential. It’s centrally located on the globe, and Dubai in particular has geared up to be a significant trade hub, therefore opening doors to a large number of international companies. It’s home to people of all nationalities and cultures which makes this a dynamic market to sell to. Advertising and publicity here is doing reasonably well, considering the global crisis. All this adds up to an excellent environment for us to operate in. Overall, the stock image share of the pie here has grown significantly, with the greater efficiencies and quicker turnaround time of this market. There’s still a long way to go and we are totally up for the challenge.

Q. Is there sufficient awareness within the region, regarding the stock image business, is there enough supply of quality work from regional photographers and what are the main obstacles this industry faces?

There is a great deal of awareness, yes. Creative work has undergone a bit of a change over the years. Now there isn’t always the luxury of time and budget to shoot each piece. This had increased the reliance on stock images, which in turn has pushed the supply from photographers up on a creative level. Stock, though, is never enough as requirements are dynamic and the demand is always more than the supply.

Market trends change and quite a few times the requirement is something very specific. Stock is not catered like that however, although we do have a very wide range of images, footage and music in the market today. 

At Photolibrary, to keep up with the requirements, we are constantly communicating with our photographers/contributors on what’s missing and trying to bridge the gaps.

There aren’t too many regional photographers contributing as it stands today. Maybe one of the reasons for this is that submitting stock is pretty much a full-time job. Starting with meeting technical guidelines, to getting license documents, creatively composing, styling and shooting the image in the right quality, key wording, and so much more. Not enough photographers regionally are in the industry. We do hope it changes, though, since more regional imagery can really boost the market. For any contributors interested in submitting stock to us, detailed instructions are available on www.photolibrary.com/contributors.html 

Q. Tell us about the nature of demand you have seen. Which markets in the region have reasonably high levels of image purchases, and is it purely the advertising agencies and design houses buying the images? 

UAE obviously is a key market, and that’s why we are based here. Saudi is a large market too with a good part of the regions creative work coming out of Saudi agencies. The rest of the GCC countries are developing at more or less the same pace. Africa is also a recent focus for us. Traditionally, these markets, South Africa in particular, have been the home of the ‘’shoot’’. Today more and more of these photographers have started to contribute to stock libraries. And with the pressures of quick turnaround, creatives are dipping into our collections.
 
Q. It seems that there's considerable competition in the region's stock image industry already. What's your view on that, and what would you say differentiates Photolibrary?

There is competition, which is nice, I believe, because it keeps us all on our toes– me for sure! I do believe the market is large enough for more than just one or two players. What differentiates us at Photolibrary is our philosophy that is rooted in service. We pride ourselves on going the extra mile to accommodate our clients. I remember the days when I was with an agency and we would have to rush our deadlines based on the fact that we did not have access to purchasing images after a certain time! None of that for us. With our processes and systems, it’s pretty much easy access, great deals and of course great collections.
 
Q. Clearly, the Internet has revolutionized the stock image business. What's next in terms of technologies and distribution models which could also impact this business?

You’ll need to keep an eye on Photolibary to see what’s next won’t you?!  But seriously if the Google phenomenon has taught us one thing it’s that the future of information is the transparency and sharing of it for the benefit of the consumer; and that’s going to hold true for all industries.