One problem with keyword-driven search engines, like those my company (Index Stock) uses, is that sometimes it is not clear what keyword to use. A good example is the hugely successful Apple iPod.
We have recently been running a fun promotion, where we offer buyer of our Index Open subscription a free iPod Shuffle (see our Index Open site for details). An interesting problem for us, as we were working on our promotions, was that we had relatively few great images of iPods in use and of course, none of Shuffles (they were only introduced a few weeks ago). Further, I discovered that we really didn't have a good keyword for iPods.
This is the problem that one has also with Kleenex (a brand name for "tissue") and Liquid Plumber (a brand name for a "drain cleaner"). One shouldn't really use trademarked brand names to refer to a generic product. After all, we don't call laptops "Dells" (even though Dell might like us to) and we don't call all hamburgers "Big Macs." But, right now, we seem to be calling all "personal music devices" iPods. That makes things awkward.
Corbis seems to have decided to include both a keyword for "iPod" (which they carefully and correctly mark with a "TM") and for "MP3 Player." Getty Images gives a "zero answer" for the term "iPod," as does Index's site. (Actually, Index's site shows a lot of documents that happen to have fragments of words that match up with "ipod" or at least part of it! Yecch!) Personal music player" doesn't work well, but MP3 seems to work on both Getty and us, with good images showing up on both.
So will "MP3 player" or "iPod" be the name of choice, going forward? Will customers know what to use, when they are searching our sites? How do we connect people with these fast-changing products and concepts?
Another example is TiVo. It has become common to tell someone, "Oh, just TiVo that for me, would you?" Of course, this is said, regardless of whether or not the person has a TiVo box. They may instead have a Direct TV box, a cable box with video recording built in, or even an "old fashioned" VCR taping system. The "correct" term is probably Personal Video Recorder (or PVR), but no one seems to use it.
(Index, Getty and Corbis all give no answers or poor answers for PVR and Personal Video Recorder. Corbis is the only one with TiVo images--and all seem to be promo shots from TiVo press materials, etc.)
I blame this naming problem as one reason we don't have many good images of these new "things." They don't get on our "want lists," because we don't know exactly how to describe them. Demand for these images exists, but doesn't get translated into licenses (and commissions for our artists), because our customers and researchers can't find them.
We didn't go through the same naming problem with cell phones. (Although there remains ongoing confusion over whether "cell phone" is one word or two!) However, we did have the same lack-of-good-images problem, for a long time. We can fix the keywording for new products, when we realize there is a problem (and I will work on ours, over the next few weeks). At the same time, let's get more images of these new "whatsits" like:
1. People sharing information about MP3 players and PVRs. We have them now with cell phones, as in this shot (but could use more!).
2. Concept shots about the MP3 and PVR markets. As a long time TiVo user, I can testify that it totally changed my TV-watching habits. I now have no patience with commercials and only watch things I really want to see. I probably watch less TV, but enjoy it more. Where is the iconic shot that expresses that change in my life? Contrast with cell phones, where we have shots like these.
3. World and ethnic mix. These are technologies that eventually EVERYONE will use. We need to start showing the depth and diversity of the interest in these products, and their relationship to the real lifestyles of different groups of people. Look at how different these cell phone users are...
Whenever a "whatchamacallit" or "whatsit" emerges, we need to move quickly to describe it, document its characteristics, and shoot great images of it. The sooner we do all of these things, the easier it will be to deliver the images our customers need, to be current with today's trends.
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