Jannik Riether is Procurement Manager Content & Publishing Services at Burda Procurement GmbH and an expert when it comes to image procurement and licensing. There are numerous challenges posed by PR images in particular, which a new service – PRme – is now intended to address. In this interview, Riether talks about the project initiated together with picturemaxx and the advantages for editorial offices and PR agencies.
Interview with Jannik Riether, Burda Procurement GmbH
Both in your previous role as a picture editor and in your current role as Procurement Manager, you have had to deal with a lot of images on a daily basis – for various media formats. What is the biggest challenge for you as a representative of one of the leading media companies?
Jannik Riether: „The challenges are very different. With the large number of images that are fed into the editorial offices every day, the picture editors must first and foremost maintain an overview and have a keen sense of relevance and visual appeal. The image material has to be viewed, evaluated and organized by topics, and usually it is coupled with high time- and cost- pressure in everyday editorial work. In addition, and this is where the perspective from my current role as Procurement Manager comes in, framework conditions must be created so that the images can be obtained and licensed in the first place.“
The topic of media licensing is important for all publishing houses. What is crucial here and how can software solutions such as my-picturemaxx provide support?
Jannik Riether: „In addition to image quality, proper data management is essential. This means that the author must be apparent, and the license type and terms of use must be specified. Due to years of cooperation with renowned picture agencies, my-picturemaxx has become an integral part of daily editorial work and offers benefits for both sides.
From an editorial perspective, the most significant benefit is the centralized location to obtain the images.“
From an editorial point of view in particular, the centralized location for sourcing images is probably the most significant advantage.“
A not insignificant part of the image material in the publications comes from PR agencies and PR contacts. How are these images handled - in contrast to those already mentioned? And what challenges arise?
Jannik Riether: „Unlike media from image agencies, PR images lack the central access point mentioned above. The demand from a wide variety of sectors is high, but the sources of supply are very different. PR images are of great importance to everyone involved in many different areas, be it fashion, travel, TV announcements, decoration, craft ideas and much more. However, various contact persons, mailing lists, press portals with access data, etc. represent a great deal of effort needed to research and obtain the material. “
The new PRme service that you have created together with picturemaxx is intended to provide a remedy. Who is the service aimed at and which market players are you addressing with it?
Jannik Riether: „We are thinking of PR agencies and, in the same way, the media formats that distribute the material.
PRme should provide a simple and elegant interface between these two parties. “
What can it offer for editors...
Jannik Riether: „PRme is intended to be a topic-sorted "channel" in my-picturemaxx and is able to offer the editors precisely this centralized access point. The basic idea behind PRme is to make PR images available for download in one place, sorted by topic, ideally with a defined period of use and terms of use. This would make work much easier for editors. “
…and also for PR agencies? What is the role of the press material that always goes hand in hand with the images? What role does the press material, which always goes hand in hand with the images, play alongside the images?
Jannik Riether: „In addition to standardized archiving, there are other advantages for PR agencies. On the one hand, they can provide PR images along with the relevant press materials, which can range from text to video. On the other hand, the agencies have an overview of the material that has been downloaded and can manage, change, or block usage rights at any time. Unfortunately, for the images that have somehow reached the editorial offices via a WeTransfer link, for example, they do not have this updated "monitoring" for their material. “
It is quite unusual for such a project to be initiated by the central purchasing department of a media company. How did this idea come about?
Jannik Riether: „It does appear strange at first, but upon closer examination, especially if you are aware of Burda Procurement philosophy, it is not. We try to work in a value-added way and closely in line with the needs of the departments. Before I took on the role of content purchasing at Burda, I myself was a picture editor there, so I am very familiar with the tasks and daily challenges of an editorial department. This experience gave rise to the idea of creating a centralized interface that makes it easier for editorial teams to access press material of all kinds. “
Why do you think your colleagues from editorial offices will no longer want to do without the PRme solution in their daily work?
Jannik Riether: „Because it significantly streamlines the typically hectic daily editorial work, at least when it comes to PR material, and makes it more time-efficient with a tool that most editors are familiar with. “
This interview was conducted for picturemaxx by media journalist Julia Gundelach.
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Further information
picturemaxx: www.picturemaxx.com contact: marketing@picturemaxx.com