Hot off the press …. some photos from this week’s marketing photoshoot for a new Warrington business – Altspace co-working office. Plus a few thoughts on how this shoot was different to normal.
Altspace is an established business in Altrincham, offering hotdesks and private office spaces to businesses in Trafford, and I’ve known owner Steve since he began the business four years ago. And what a brave man he is – deciding to press on with plans to refurbish the Warrington offices and plan for opening even as Lockdown was announced. Well, the offices are now ready and earlier this week I was asked to visit to create some photos for marketing and PR use.
Interesting at this point to reflect on the thinking behind these shots. Ordinarily on a marketing photoshoot for a business like this, I’d be trying to make it look as busy as possible. It’s something I learned early on in my career – nobody wants to attend an event if the last one was half empty; and nobody wants to work with a company, or in a space, that looks like it’s hardly used. So I’d have visited when there were people working in the space, chatting over lunch, having ‘watercooler moments’ in the kitchen. I’d be seeking to create the feeling that the space is popular and the marketing would be stressing the benefits of meeting other, like minded businesses. (Here’s an example of where adding people to the photos suggests something different to just room shots – in this case, the attention to detail and hard work behind the scenes that goes on in a restaurant). But times are different right now; and a chat with Steve made me realise that being busy (for which read, full of people) isn’t what people want to see at the moment. If you’re currently looking for a hotdesk or a new location for your team of workers, at the forefront of your mind is whether it’s safe or not. So, emphasising the space and ability to socially distance was important on this occasion.
Hence, I’ve taken plenty of wide shots, showing the available offices, to emphasise the amount of room there is to work safely apart from others. Even the portraits of Steve are mostly shot wide, to reinforce this message. The overall aim is to create the sense of what a great space it is, and how there’s plenty of room to work comfortably and safely there (Check out the final portrait of Steve with Jack sitting at the rear of the shot – it gives you that sense of scale).
In the future, things will hopefully change, and I’d be returning to shoot the space showing the community feeling among workers; catching those little interactions and moments. But for now, the message is different.
I’m always happy to talk to businesses about how they can most effectively convey their message. If you’d like to arrange a chat, please get in touch by email to arrange a convenient time.
