By Holly Stuart Hughes
Ed Han
Ed Han, Senior Vice President/Creative Director at Publicis, works
on Maytag, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana and Gladiator. He
is known for working in close collaboration with photographers;
recently, he worked with Stephanie Rausser and Sang An to create
the
new print campaign for KitchenAid. For PDN's August
issue, we talked to Han about the state of advertising, trends that
worry him, what he looks for in the photographers he hires, and
which photographers he hopes to work with in the future.
A question about what photographers need to understand better about
the agency business lead Han to "bring out my soapbox." Han says
that views all of the emails and printed pieces he receives in the
course of a day, but tosses most of them.
"One of my pet peeves—the biggest one—is that photographers
don’t seem to think about the target audience," he says. "In our
business, you’re always thinking about the target and how to appeal
to them. So if you’re thinking about the audience, then you have to
consider not just the content but how that content is best
delivered. The successful photographers are the ones who understand
that."
Han suggests that photographers simply talk to the art buyers, art
directors or creatives they are trying to reach to find out how to
make their presentations more effective. In other words: Do market
research.
"Photographers need to find out what people think of
their marketing, their presentation. Photographers should ask: Do
you like to see stuff more often or less often? Does it matter what
day of the week you receive things? What did you think of the
design of the Web site, was it easy to navigate? Are the images big
enough?"
Han, who explains in the interview that he likes to work with
photographers who can collaborate, also likes to know something
about a photographer's personality. One way he does that, he says,
is by looking for personal work or a bio on a photographer's web
site. "I'm always interested in learning about the person behind
the camera and what it's going to be like to work with that
person."
To read the complete interview with Han, check out the Create
Spotlight section of PDN's August 2009 issue.
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July 21, 2009
By Holly Stuart Hughes
Ed Han, Senior Vice President/Creative Director at Publicis, works on Maytag, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana and Gladiator. He is known for working in close collaboration with photographers; recently, he worked with Stephanie Rausser and Sang An to create the
new print campaign for KitchenAid. For PDN's August issue, we talked to Han about the state of advertising, trends that worry him, what he looks for in the photographers he hires, and which photographers he hopes to work with in the future.
A question about what photographers need to understand better about the agency business lead Han to "bring out my soapbox." Han says that views all of the emails and printed pieces he receives in the course of a day, but tosses most of them.
"One of my pet peeves—the biggest one—is that photographers don’t seem to think about the target audience," he says. "In our business, you’re always thinking about the target and how to appeal to them. So if you’re thinking about the audience, then you have to consider not just the content but how that content is best delivered. The successful photographers are the ones who understand that."
Han suggests that photographers simply talk to the art buyers, art directors or creatives they are trying to reach to find out how to make their presentations more effective. In other words: Do market research.
"Photographers need to find out what people think of their marketing, their presentation. Photographers should ask: Do you like to see stuff more often or less often? Does it matter what day of the week you receive things? What did you think of the design of the Web site, was it easy to navigate? Are the images big enough?"
Han, who explains in the interview that he likes to work with photographers who can collaborate, also likes to know something about a photographer's personality. One way he does that, he says, is by looking for personal work or a bio on a photographer's web site. "I'm always interested in learning about the person behind the camera and what it's going to be like to work with that person."
To read the complete interview with Han, check out the Create Spotlight section of PDN's August 2009 issue.
Related Story
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New fashion campaign shot by Carrie Schechter is an Overnight Sensation.
