How Getty Images builds seamless B2B partnerships

[00:00:05] David Yovanno Welcome back to this episode of The Partnership Economy. I’m thrilled to introduce today’s guest, Peter Orlowsky, Senior VP of Strategic Partnerships at Getty Images. Peter, how are you today?

[00:00:16] Peter Orlowsky Hey, I’m doing great today, Dave. It’s really nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:20] David Yovanno Excellent. Really pleased to have you on here. You’ve built an incredible legacy at Getty Images. You’ve worked there for almost 27 years. To set the stage, could you tell us just a little more about Getty Images as a business, and how it’s grown over the years? 

[00:00:34] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, I’d be happy to. So Getty Images was founded in 1995 by Mark Getty from the Getty family and Jonathan Klein. They were pioneers in the industry. They had a view about how they thought they could use the internet to scale a business, and they had a really great idea. So you know what Getty had here? And now it’s basically on their 30th birthday now. But I’ve been there pretty early on is basically we’re a B2B content platform, right? So we have an editorial side of our business, which you see a lot of our news, sport entertainment content. Obviously being a busy year with an Olympics and  election, we’ve been quite busy with that side of it. And then we also have a creative side where you think about corporations and advertising agencies using content for businesses to promote and advertising market their companies. Right? Most people call it stock. We tend to call and lean in on pre-shot. We also do we do stills there and we do video. So those are the two areas. And we also do some assignment work where people can hire us. And we have a couple other services and we can talk about that through that. Obviously we’re helping partners at tool. We’ve leaned into the AI space a lot and it’s been really, really exciting. The businesses obviously changed, and I think for us being able to keep up with that change over the time periods is the reason we’re still around today and leaning into the technology and having industries changed and how people use photography. And then that switch over to digital and on how we leverage our digital strategy today and how we work with the customers has really allowed us to keep up with today’s market needs. 

[00:02:15] David Yovanno So I can’t help but think you said the company was founded in 95. I graduated. I’m dating myself here, but I graduated college in 94, and I remember that being kind of the start of the internet is when I first saw my first web browser. Was there a business before 95, or you’re saying it actually started in 95. And and if that’s the case, you know, we were entering the internet age back then and so did the business start, you know, analog and then move digital? Tell me a little bit about that. 

[00:02:45] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, that’s a great question. So the the industry was an analog industry. I think Getty Images saw that as an opportunity to roll it up into a digital industry using the internet. So what they started to do in 95 was acquire big archives, like a company called Tony Stone, which is a big stock company. Company called Archive, obviously. And then they looked at a couple others, but their first purchase of Tony Stone, like they started to see that. All right. They’re now going to take that digital. So when the business was catalogs and people mailing books out and showing imagery that way, you know, they now knew that they could digitize an image and it can go all over the world immediately and obviously scale to new, new limits and heights that had never been seen before. So the whole idea of photography was that they saw that as an industry that hadn’t been released into the internet. So that was exactly the thought behind that was, Hey, how do we leverage the internet to really scale this industry where it’s never been like that before? 

[00:03:47] David Yovanno Pretty bold back then, if you think about it, because, I mean, we were still using dial up, right? You know, internet connections were pretty slow. So like moving images. And I think you were there, you know, around that time, you know, was there like a mix of analog plus digital to kind of get the business going, or was it only digital right from the get go?  

[00:04:05] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. So dating myself, I started with the sports target that became the acquisition for Getty Images called All Sports. That was in 1994. I graduated college in 1990. So just a couple of years ahead of you and out there running around and and I think, yeah, as what started to happen was before the internet was sort of like software that actually allowed you to take digital imagery and start to transmit it so you can move it, you know, from pipe to pipe. But it wasn’t necessarily all on the internet. So people actually had to have that or some version of the software. So we started with that. So you knew where this was able to go and what the opportunity was. And, you know, I remember people thinking about like even in the sports world, meeting with companies like CBS Sports Line, which is CBSsports.com now. And they’re thinking about, Well hey we want to do this exclusive. And I thought, wow, if I sold this to one person I probably wouldn’t have a job very long. So we realized what the opportunity was early. And obviously I knew that this was going to be a way to do it. So it did start as something where they were using software, and it quickly, very quickly evolved into transmitting through the internet, where everybody can get access to it in real time. 

[00:05:17] David Yovanno I mean, talk about like a bold vision at the start of the internet and and to think of all the carnage that’s happened since then, like immediately you think of Pets.com or like the poster child of like, you know, the first.com boom. Well, these businesses kind of got going, but very few lasted. It’s you gotta feel proud that, you know. Getty images is still an extremely well known brand, very well established and really kind of started at the very beginning of this new technology. 

[00:05:44] Peter Orlowsky I think that’s a credit to our leadership. And and, you know, not being afraid to move forward with the times and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone and learning. I think, you know, the models were so very different people licensing one image at a time for a use case, you know, and then, you know, realizing that the usage changed with digital and that you needed lots more content, you need a different ways to do it. And I think, you know, for us it was really, you know, challenging and to not be afraid and also be able to move forward and thinking about whether you would, what models you were going to do and how you want to do that. So I think if you look at the space 15 years ago, our competitors, then Corbis and others, they don’t really even exist today. So I think, you know, that’s been a real legacy of ours and value that we’ve been able to, you know, continue to evolve and move with all the new players in the space and continue to do so. 

[00:06:42] David Yovanno Yeah, it’s impressive. And it’s clear that Getty Images has really embraced digital transformation over the years. As you’re talking about it’s evolved with the times. Just curious about your role in particular, Senior VP of Strategic Partnerships. What does that all encompass exactly inside of Getty? 

[00:06:58] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. Great question. So I overseen a a team of people that work on a bunch of different things. Mostly it’s around, you know, partnerships, business development, corporate development, new models. You know, we look at, you know, the strategies of how we move forward. Like a lot of the things you talked about and, you know, partnerships where it could be working with leagues or networks, partnerships where we’ve been working with obviously big tech companies, we have deals in place with everyone from Apple to Google to Microsoft, and how we allow them to utilize our content and different ways of working with them that go beyond just licensing and image usage, you know? So a lot of things where, you know, we’re constantly looking at new models, most recently when, you know, NFTs came out there, you know, and now AI we look at things and we go, all right, what’s our strategy. Right? What’s our core used to deal with and and how should we, you know, go look at this. Should we build something to compete? Should we buy something? Should we partner? So always evolving. Like how we do that with our teams around what we think our needs is. You know, we still have the same ideas today that, you know, the key things for us is to help our customers really find creative solutions, right. How do we help them use the best quality imagery of the highest quality? And that’s where Getty Images sits with in the authentic space. And then how do we help them save time to do that. Right? How do we help them save money by doing that. And then, you know, the biggest thing today, or just in general, is how do we mitigate their risk, right? How do we make sure that they know that when they come to us for content, that they’re going to be covered off, that what we give them they’ll be safe with, they’ll be responsible, and they won’t have to worry about that. In a world where nowadays you’re not really sure what you get and how you getting it and who’s supplying that one rights you have. 

[00:08:47] David Yovanno So I. I don’t want to oversimplify the business, but just I wanted to kind of understand your role and all that. And, encompass and I would imagine that there’s at least two parts to your business. One, there’s the supply side, let’s call it where you’re getting images in, and then you’ve got the demand side where, you know, people are licensing essentially, or purchasing those images outright. Is that kind of the right way to think about your business for first off? 

[00:09:11] Peter Orlowsky Getty Images gets content basically three ways, right? We have a staff, some of the highest quality people, mostly around the editorial space that go out and shoot in the White House or, you know, on the red carpets and things like that. And then we have a contributor base of over 500,000 plus that we work with, that are some of the best out there that work with us on a contributor status and give us access. And then we have a partner model where, you know, think about some of the key players in the media space, creative space, think about a Bloomberg or BBC or Sony or Warner Brothers and, you know, they’re creating content, Then they have the ability to like, work with us who they also license content from to actually then, you know, use us to help them syndicate, you know, our infrastructure and our end set up where, you know, we can take in content. We talked about being digitized, sharing it throughout the world. We’re set up with customers and, you know, 22 plus countries. So we really scale the business well. And that allows us to create that really, you know, high profile, highly effective partner model with really high quality, premium content that the difference between us and our competitors have is they don’t really have that. Most of them are, you know, tech companies that are getting assets for their content and just sort of selling it. We’re actually using, you know, our creative teams, we employ editors and curators. And like I said, we work with a lot of, you know, exclusive partners that give us content that you can only get at Getty. So, you know, it allows us to really, you know, have a have an advantage in the market. 

[00:10:41] David Yovanno Okay. Just I just got to ask a question here as a bit of an amateur photographer myself, mostly just for family type stuff. But if I were to shoot, let’s say we go on a vacation and I take a thousand pictures, I might use 100 and in like a family album, but there is another one or 200 that are awesome. I’m just not using them. Is that one way to think about, you know, at least some of the ways in which your suppliers think like they might be exclusive on a certain assignment, and those are licensed to the original contract, but there’s there’s more supply that they can they can monetize. And you guys are providing an outlet for that. 

[00:11:16] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, I think it’s a possibility. Like so we have, you know, three companies now that actually work with all of the content, the distribution we have Unsplash, which was originally a free model where there was highly, you know, like I said, people that were, you know, shooting for fun or or actually really good or just want to do it as a hobby or they saw it as a really good place for them to be a part of. And and that was one place where people would go. And that was a good content. I would say someone like that who might be out there shooting, you know, even if they’re a pro or for fun, that’s a good place for them to start. And then iStock, which was another brand where we were working more with our freelance customers, our small business, SMB businesses, you know, and freelancers. They would utilize that to get really nice content at an affordable price. And that’s another vehicle. And then you have Getty Images which we look at is our enterprise brand, which really works with, you know, brands, corporations and media companies, usually at a very high level, high premium type of content. So we sort of have all these different, you know, vehicles that people can then come to that we might be working on the demand side and obviously on the sell side, where have different customer bases that use those to help them. And it’s a nice funnel that allows us to move customers up to as their businesses or users change, but it also allows us to really lean in to help all the different people out there that need content. 

[00:12:37] David Yovanno Yeah. Gotcha. And personally, I’m a huge fan of Unsplash. Anytime I do a LinkedIn post. For example, I’m looking for an image because I want to give proper credit to the creator essentially that that’s my go-to spot. Grab an image, you know, grab the crediting and post it. 

[00:12:52] Peter Orlowsky Now it’s been great. I mean, Unsplash has such a great following and people really love that. And I think what’s even been great, as you know Getty acquire that is work with the Unsplash team is some of that stuff has been so good. We’ve actually created a business there called Unsplash Plus. And the plus there is, you know, it’s the same quality content that people have been posting, you know, really different, unique. But now what we do is we actually stand behind that. So if people want to pay a little bit for subscription to that, they actually get indemnification. It gives them even more safety. So they actually love that and the price point works for them. So we’ve really been able to leverage that platform and, you know, grow that as well. And it’s been going super well. 

[00:13:29] David Yovanno So it sounds like you’ve got a strong focus on B2B biz dev types of partnerships. Could you walk through an example or two of one of these partnerships, either on the supply or the demand side?  

[00:13:40] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, sure. So maybe talking in a more of a traditional partnership that we might do today. You know, Getty Images obviously can work with partners in a way where they might have a business or toolset or a customer base that needs content as part of that service. Maybe not the primary service. You know, example of that is, you know, maybe Squarespace, where people will go there is they want to build websites or they want to use other services as well. How promote their business. Right? And Squarespace has really great at what they do and how they deliver and how they help their customer base, but they don’t really necessarily have access to a repository of imagery that is high quality as we do, or the rights that we have or the ability to help them. So what we can do is partner up with a company like that to help them add value. Then when people are coming to build websites, it’s sort of they just plug back in through our API. Their customers get access to, you know, hundreds of millions of images that they can potentially license. And now they can go out and help them have, you know, the ability to partner with what they’re doing and create beautiful websites where they’re using their tools, they’re using the services that they have. But we also can help them really enhance that. And it’s not even just with the product. It could be with pricing offerings where sometimes they might want to give away a basic package, and they give part of our collection in there, and then they want to upsell them to be in a position to charge them more money for a premium account. And we can help them, you know, use levers of giving them different access to content. And Getty where now they can help take, you know, one customer and move them up the ladder to another customer. So those are the type of ways we do that. And, you know, most of those deals tend to be bespoke. But there’s a lot of ways we can run that model. They can be thought of as, you know, licensing where they might pay us per image, Squarespace, and they might go out and market it to their customers. We might do a rev share where depending on how they sell it and go to market, we might be included in that. So there’s a lot of different ways that we do things with customers like that where they’re they’re really acquiring the customer with not channel conflict, where people come to Getty and want to go in and get the imagery. They’re going there because they want to build a website, and us being in that place to help them allows it to be a really good partnership, because we’re helping them really turbocharge that piece that helps them add content to their core service. So those those deals really work well. 

[00:16:01] David Yovanno Yeah, I think that that makes sense. I mean, you know, anywhere where you’re designing something, whether it’s, you know, any kind of creative design for the enterprise or even local or building a website, I can guess at what some of those partners might be. Do you have any examples that you want to toss out there? If people wanted to kind of have an idea where you can see the Getty partnership in the wild? 

[00:16:21] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. I mean, we have a lot of partnerships in the world where we work with Canva. So all everybody that’s going to Canva to use, you know, their tools and services kit is a really close partner. Where you going in and accessing our tools are content to be a part of that. 

[00:16:34] David Yovanno And so maybe just to draw on that one. So if, if I’m using Canva as a platform to design something and I need an image, is there a workflow where, Hey, if you’re not a Getty customer yet, sign up or even it might be even more discreet than that, essentially. And is it all handled within the Canva experience? 

[00:16:53] Peter Orlowsky So deals like that could vary, but in that experience it is handled inside of Canva. Right? So Canva again using an API to plug in to us using potentially our search tools, you know, depending on how they want customers to look at content by most recent or relevancy or other the types of way we have it set up with our searching tools. And, and that allows you to take advantage of that as well. And they’ll return it in based on what the other offering, what the customer uses. Are they building a marketing letter or are they building something to be put on e-commerce, you know, and, and that sort of friends out with that? I mean, we do that. Most recently, we just announced a deal with TikTok where, you know, if you’re a partner of TikTok and you want to go in and create an ad inside of there and you’re using their toolset, but you need a piece of content that could help you talk about business people or families having fun on the beach. You can access an image connected as part of that. It’s clear that it’s not a release that allows them to seamlessly go right out and create that ad based on what they need. So that’s another version of where we might be doing partnerships. 

[00:17:59] David Yovanno How is payment made to Getty for licensing that image? If you’re within Canva doing that design thing, you’re selecting a Getty image. What is that customer relationship like? 

[00:18:08] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. So those customers are staying within the platform they’re working for. And those those details, you know what I can share all set up and you know prepare before. So we have an arrangement with our customer whose end user is their customers. And we’re really dealing customer to customer that way. And the end user of the Canva or or the TikTok, they’re never really actually getting caught up in that right there. They’re just seamlessly using it based on whatever service they’re paying for. You know, what level they’re paying for and what parts of our business might be included that, and what different types of content might be included in that? 

[00:18:44] David Yovanno Yeah, I love that. You know, what I love most about that is that’s like a extreme focus on the end customer, what their experiences. Like you’re meeting them where they are. You’re not creating this, you know, additional hop over to Getty you to grab your thing and then find a way to import it over to the app that you’re working in. I just love that. Was that being unconsciously competent, as I would call it? 

[00:19:06] Peter Orlowsky I think again, like what I mentioned earlier, I think what we realized was, look, there’s there’s a core customer that likes to come to Unsplash, iStock or Getty and come use their content. And then there were a lot of businesses that are putting together where the customers have their needs, right? And we are part of a service that fits along with that. So we we sort of say that there’s a platform strategy and then there’s an off platform strategy. And a lot of those partnerships can sit on that, and we can create models that work really well because we’re not we’re not competing with our end customer. We’re helping their end user and customer by adding value for them. And to your point, keeping it by not anything complexity, keeping very simplicity model and also adding a lot of value because of the rights and licenses that we provide, so that they feel very comfortable that their customers is not going to have to worry. 

[00:19:59] David Yovanno Excellent. Yeah, I think a lot of brands would really benefit from implementing strategic partnerships like this in order to expand their offering, reach a wider audience, maybe just to provide a better customer experience, like I said, meaning meeting customers where they are. But a lot of times they don’t even know where to start. Like, how do you find these partners that you’re talking about? Who approaches who? How do these deals typically come about? 

[00:20:20] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, it’s a great question. Again, as I mentioned, most of these deals usually are bespoke. You really have to sit down with the customer and find out, you know, from discovery what’s their value proposition. What are they trying to do? You know, how do we really help them? How do we solve a problem for them that they may have? How do we have the right content for them at the right business model? So a lot of that goes into that discussion. But before that, to your point, how do we find them? So we do a tremendous amount of research right where we’re looking at industries that are happening like we talked about. You know, obviously what’s been you know, one of the biggest things you’re talking about AI and and the world, they’re and how generative AI is affected that. And you know, what’s going on in that space and what new customers are coming up and all these customers that might be raising money to create generative models that are going to help, you know, companies do this work. We’re starting to have conversations with them. And what is their strategy and how do they want to go to market? And are they looking at using responsible content or are they just scraping the web? So like we’re really trying to understand like what can help them. So a lot of times we might do stuff where even our CEO was on a podcast, so he shows up at a conference and, you know, people hear what he’s talking about, why? And the strategy and the value. And then people might start reaching out to us to say, Hey, how do we get more involved in that? We’re thinking about doing things that way. So that’s one way that we do that. But a lot of it will also come from, you know, I have a team of 40 that do a lot of these different things, and we’re out there talking about, you know, how do we do a deal with a company and, and are there other companies like that because we figured out a way to unlock value that we can do others, whether it’s, like you said, when you’re creating video and using video technology and people are trying to figure that out, this content should fit out in more than just one video content creation tool. Are there more than one website providers that we can work with, and are we going to work with them differently based on who wants to spend money to do something different than the other? What’s their go to market strategy is? So there’s a lot of ways we think about that and how to replicate a lot of deals. But I think we’re out there really trying to be aggressively looking for ways. But even when you when you find those customers, it’s really important to make sure you’re finding a win win. Like really, are we going to help them be successful? Are we going to help them get more customers? Are we going to help them keep their customers? Are we going to do it at a price that works for them, and is it going to work for us as well? Right? Are we not undercutting ourselves too much? Are we not creating a channel conflict? And are we doing in a way where we both get value from it? I’m a big believer in, you know, we both need to have something on the table to eat, right and to do really fair deals. So I think that’s really important when we when we look at those opportunities. 

[00:23:06] David Yovanno Yeah. I was going to ask you about, you know, selection criteria, things that you screen for. I think you just checked every one of those boxes. And I have to imagine with a team of 40, I think you said running partnerships. Does they have. I would imagine it’s it’s mostly you doing the outreach, you know, identifying a potential partner and kind of working that in or is it next. 

[00:23:27] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, I think it’s definitely not me alone, because I think it would be really hard to scale a business if, you know, I was the one person out there trying to make deals and then bringing in other people. I would say we have a very core focus on what people are doing. Some people right now are spending a lot of time on data licensing deals in the AI space. We can talk about that. Some people continue to work on the API integrations with some of the platforms and tools we talked about. There’s a team that goes out there and is looking at, you know, the supply side and continues to work with the big media companies and ad companies and TV companies that we talked about and how we do that in different countries. So we have a good focus. We have a team really focused. And my strategy has always been that, look, you know, surround yourself with great people, train them really well, you know, bring them into new deals if they have and and work with them on that. But you know, the real value we get and the real success we have is when our team can scale, and there are a lot of people here that can do that besides me. Because that’s how we win, right? You know, by being in a position to do that. And I think that’s the strategy we had. And it’s worked really well for us. And, you know, you treat people well and they’re excited and there’s always something new and different. That’s a nice thing about being in the content space. Like you know I joke I have, you know, not so young kids anymore. But you know, when snap came out, you know, I knew about them before they did when, you know, this company came out because they all needed content. And we’re always early in the conversations with these companies. And it’s just, you know, really pushing yourself, like I said, you know, to learn new things. But, you know, the opportunity was just enormous for us. And still and still today. 

[00:25:09] David Yovanno I think you don’t have to even respond. But I have to imagine that, you know, you’ve been around for 27 plus years here at Getty images, a well-known brand, I would imagine if your team is reaching out, you know, there’s some credibility right off the bat there. Everybody knows Getty Images right? That’s got to be a leg up, I think in moving you along. Would you would you agree with that?  

[00:25:27] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. I think, you know, the most fun that I get to have when I’m interviewing people is, you know, nothing is easy and there’s tremendous competition and there’s always out there whether they’re undercutting you with this or that. But, you know, I have to say, I started my business with, you know, in sales and in sports and cold calling back in the day in boiler rooms when people hung up on you and didn’t threaten your lives, but they hung up on you. And you know, the one thing I would say about Getty Images people take my call. You know, it’s always nice when you call from Getty. They they definitely believe that there’s credibility. They know you work for a good company and they’ve seen you somewhere. It doesn’t always mean they’re going to spend money, but they’ll take your call. And that’s that’s a great opportunity because then if you’re in, it’s up to you to be good at what you do and and learn how. But, you know, not getting a lot of doors slammed and getting yelled at. So that’s a lot of fun to be able to catch the new opportunities when people want to join us. 

[00:26:21] David Yovanno Yeah, it’s okay to be invited to the dance floor, but you better dance sort of thing. 

[00:26:25] Peter Orlowsky 100 percent. 

[00:26:26] David Yovanno And I know that this varies, but what does the commercial arrangement typically look like in these in these partnership deals that you’re talking about, what factors do you have to consider as well? 

[00:26:35] Peter Orlowsky On the commercial side, I think we do things a couple different ways, and what I will share is it’s sort of what works, right? Like, you know, we could charge a license fee and depending on what people want to use for that, and if they know that they want to have a fixed cost, but they’re willing to pay the fair value, there’s no problem with that. But if people are out there and they want to win and share together and we want to be in it, and we put a revenue share together because as they grow and they’re successful, we’ll continue to do that. We have no problem taking, you know, our chances and being a part of a customer journey like that. I think there’s a lot of value in that. You know, I think we can be really good partners. We can be really helpful. And I think we can both, you know, learn and agree and, and and have success share together. So, you know, we have no problem doing things like that. I think it really matters to, you know, what makes more sense and and how to work it. But, you know, we’re always open. 

[00:27:27] David Yovanno Yeah. It seems like, you know, the the benefit and the cost is different for, for different parties. Like I would imagine with some of the partnerships that you have, maybe all they really care about is just providing a better customer experience for the people that are using their service, and they care less about what they’re having to pay you, let’s say, for, for for a new customer. I have to imagine there’s some people, some, some partners that you have that are like that. And so to your point, you mentioned bespoke. You know, it’s about, you know, getting in there, I would imagine, and trying to understand that and then kind of structure, you know, the commercial arrangement accordingly. 

[00:28:02] Peter Orlowsky No it’s great. So what I would say is this, like we might work with multiple different companies in the same space. They’re never the same deal. They’re just not. Because, you know, to your point, some people an image may be good enough. So for them they might get access to something that helps them a certain way. And then others want certain different types of view cases and higher value content. Some people might want to clear rights that they have to go through, and that’s a different thing. Editorial versus creative, you know, video and stills. We have exclusive content as well as non-exclusive. So we really try to figure out, you know, what’s the right thing. And we don’t treat partners that really will, you know, spend money and time and commit and just blow their value by doing something the same and letting someone have access to the same thing if it doesn’t make sense. And and like I said, we can also go out and work with them and shoot content. So we really try to figure out, you know, how to do that and make it beneficial. And you know, you do partnerships all the time. And you know as well as I do, you know, when you when you when you cut a deal in six to 12 months, it’s never the same as when you talk about it. Things evolve. Things change. The business grows like a rocket or it doesn’t like. And you have to change it. So just when you start that deal, that’s really just the beginning of it. It’s never really where, Hey, we did this. Let’s go on and find the next one. It’s really about where are you going to go from there, and how are you going to continue to help both parties build and work on that? 

[00:29:30] David Yovanno So along those lines, are there any pitfalls or any mistakes that you would kind of call out for the audience to be aware of typically in these types of deals? 

[00:29:38] Peter Orlowsky Yeah, I think you can’t focus on, you know, what’s best for you. If you go in and just try to sell something to make money, you’re going to fail. Like if you’re genuinely not in there thinking about like what the customer’s really trying to do and really doing this, the research around how you can really benefit them, then the likelihood is the partnership’s not going to work out. I think that continues to be like the biggest one that I see. So we really try to work on that and making sure that we’re looking at the right solutions right out of the gate. Doesn’t always happen. But, you know, you tend to find you’re more successful when you’re doing that thoughtfully. 

[00:30:17] David Yovanno Yeah, I think it’s a great call out. And for me, I mean, that’s really why I like that, that term partnership and partnership so much is that it kind of indicates a two way sort of value sort of thing. It’s not a one way value. And I think that’s the point that that you’re underscoring there. Before I kind of switch gears, I do want to kind of dive into a little bit of your own personal career journey, but one issue and call out just to kind of maybe just demonstrate, like how complex this partnership economy is, you mentioned Canva as an example for Getty where if you’re inside of Canva, you need a design element. You can kind of get that from Getty through Canva. But I was also that that example reminds me of a podcast conversation that I had a couple of years ago. Now I think it was Canva and HubSpot. And so if you’re into just like if you’re in Canva and you need Getty if you’re in HubSpot and you need a design element, you can basically become a Canva customer and for your design element all within HubSpot. And so that just shows how all these things are linked, right? So you could be in HubSpot, use Canva, which could then also pull in Getty. That’s just how dynamic this ecosystem can be. Yeah. 

[00:31:29] Peter Orlowsky And we have those conversations all the time with the HubSpots and the constant contacts. And they might have access to one thing that might be a little different than what someone else has. So it really could vary on, you know, what ultimately their customer base is using. But yeah sometimes it does get to that point where a lot of players we’re working with are integrated in some ways or form. Oh well. 

[00:31:50] David Yovanno Yeah, that’s fascinating. All right. I wanted to switch gears and discuss a little bit about your career journey. Top tips for growing within an organization, especially considering the tenure that you’ve had here at Getty. I think a lot of people listening in here on The Partnership Economy Podcast just find these insights incredibly valuable. These guys are typically looking to level up, take next steps in their careers, and I think you’d be a great person to just kind of learn from here. Could you start by just maybe just describing a little bit about your career path before and at Getty? 

[00:32:17] Peter Orlowsky Yeah. No. That’s great. So I was an athlete in school and I love to compete in sports. And, you know, I hadn’t really thought much about, you know, what I was really going to be other than, you know, if I was going to be a sports person down the road, which usually very rarely happens. But I think what was fortunate for me is, you know, when my college sports career ended, you know, I knew I wanted to do something in sports. So I started down that path. You know, the only jobs you can get, even today, when you’re join into sports is usually a sales job. And back then I was trying to sell tickets or sponsorships, so I sort of got into that. What I realized is, you know, all those, you know, great things I learned, you know, working with others and teamwork and commitment, never giving up. You know, started to shape the type of person I was. So for me and I could speak for that, I had that sort of ethic where, you know, I wasn’t going to stop. I wasn’t going to fail. And, you know, I was always able to build good relationships. And I think that was the beginning of where, you know, I was able to go out and start to build my career, right, and, and build good contacts and keep in touch with them and work really hard and to the best to learn. And, and, and that sort of helped me, you know, get into, you know, from selling sports at Madison Square Garden in the basement, selling tickets and moving on, I got the opportunity. We talked about it all sport to start to help them. They were a young sports photography company and they were taking great photos, but they didn’t really have a business group yet. And, you know, it was an opportunity for me to go out there and call on, you know, Nike and Reebok or Coca-Cola or Gatorade. And it was just, you know, a lot of fun. And, you know, I just kept learning. And I think for me, you know, what I would tell people as I kept continuing to develop was I found people that were there willing to listen to me like, I, I asked a million questions. I always wanted to learn. I definitely didn’t know a lot. And it’s still even today. Like, every time something new happens. You know, I’m not an expert like we talked about. I didn’t know anything about NFTs. I don’t know anything about AI. But you have to be confident that you’re going to go out there and just ask the questions to learn, right? And dig in and surround yourself with people that can help you. But just be fearless in a way that you’re going to do whatever you can to learn that. And if you can that, you know, it’s a great way to continue to, you know, build your career. I think, again, for me along the way. For me personally, you know, I haven’t done the same job for more than couple of years here or there. This one, I’ve actually been doing more of the same role, but it’s continuing, continuously evolving. But I think when you get those opportunities, you know, I was running sales and then all of a sudden my CEO said, Hey, we want you to go into BD. I’m like, I didn’t go to business school. I don’t know anything about that. And he’s like, Well, don’t worry about it. And you got to make a decision like you really can’t say no, right? It’s like you’re saying no. You telling people that you’re not willing to try. So for me, I’m like, All right, I’ll go try. And it wasn’t easy. And you learn and you try to figure it out. And you know, hopefully those things worked and it continues to evolve like that. For me. That’s what kept happening. You know, when I got put into, you know, the the opportunity to try to learn stuff and go, you know, get into consumer where, you know, Getty Images has a business called photos.com. And you can go buy wall decor business. But you know, a picture for your house, your home, your wall. And I don’t know anything about that. So, you know, I spent six, nine months learning about it and figuring out like we talked about, should we do this full time? Should we buy a company like or we partnered and we found a good partner that, you know, makes us a decent amount of money and does it well and off to the next thing. So I think what I would say is, you know, people can follow a dream. I heard somebody say something once an athlete in Wisconsin and I went to my son’s graduation, they said, you know, found your opportunity. And I think that was really, really insightful, right? Because I think that’s sort of what happened to me. Right? I was following my dream in sports. But, you know, it was time for me to get out of sports really and kind of grow and work with bigger and broader things in a way to do that was follow my opportunity. So it was another thing that I learned. But I will I will tell you that, like listening to people, finding mentorships inside and outside your company, asking a million questions, not being afraid to fail. Those were a lot of things that I think have helped me to get where I’m at, and I continually try to use them because it doesn’t matter what level you’re on, nothing changed. I still don’t know as much as I should, still need help of others, still come to work every day trying to figure things out. 

[00:36:55] David Yovanno Yeah. And just to kind of read it back to you like the clear message I’m getting. And I it resonates with me because I give this advice when I can, especially to people who are earlier in their careers to take risk while the people they’re comfortable where they’re at? You know, they feel like they’re doing well. And just like you said, you, you know, got challenged with something new. And they were afraid to take that responsibility on because, you know, they might fail. I think what they don’t realize is those are the opportunities you should be fighting for, right? Because even if it’s slightly successful, right, that’s going to, you know, project you, you know, on and on in your career. 

[00:37:32] Peter Orlowsky Right. So, so what did they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the same result. Right? So with, with your comment I think is so true. You know, you got to take some risks. But what I think I’ve learned from being around really smart people is do some research, get some data, and then take those risk. Right? Take them where the risks you feel are calculated enough, like that you believe in what can happen. And you’ve done some work to do that versus just go out there and try anything. But I do think if you don’t take risks and you don’t change and you don’t try new things and yeah, you’re not you’re not going to have the success you want. 

[00:38:14] David Yovanno I just kind of call out, like, your background in sports is actually something that I personally look for in hiring. I don’t care what position it is. I’m looking for people who have played sports, specifically team sports, and what I have found is that those folks tend to excel in teamwork and collaboration, natural leadership skills. Even if you weren’t the quarterback or the leader of the team. Communication in general, all the resilience, handling pressure, adaptability, problem solving, work ethic and discipline. You know, that whole team camaraderie right on our team down. Goal setting, winning. You know, as a team like networking I can kind of keep going. Like it’s just a very strong cultural sort of experience. I think that that parlays beautifully into business here. 

[00:39:03] Peter Orlowsky And, you know, again, dating myself, you know, when I first started looking for jobs, you know, they used to actually do that. I don’t know if they do that anymore because I don’t look in the one much these days. But they had, you know, looking for sports minded or sports like professionals because I think you’re right. I think we were all being, you know, inadvertently trained to do that. And I’m sure it’s, you know, not just that for sports, I feel like whether you’re a musician or you’re doing other things, wherever you got a commitment that you know, and a drive and a work ethic for whatever it is. You know, even if it’s music or art, I think those are the type of skill sets that transfer well over to, you know, when you have to go out into the workforce. 

[00:39:46] David Yovanno Excellent, excellent. All right, finally, as we wrap up, what trends in the partnerships and digital marketing space in general would you say are top of my view right now? 

[00:39:55] Peter Orlowsky The hot item and the big thing is, you know, AI and for us, you know, without getting too in the weeds, you know, we we took a really strong position that we were going to do it the right way, right? Like, you know, we have done some work with partners where we’ve helped create a tool. So if people want to create generative AI and go text image and make things, you know, we use our library. We partnered with Nvidia and Pixar to basically go out and create tools and services that are responsible, that are safe, that we can identify and can really help brands so don’t have to worry about, you know, are they going to get into trouble? Are they doing the right thing? Are they taking care of the IP and the creators out there that are earning livings and paying them properly? And I think, you know, we were really, you know, leaning into doing that the right way. And I think where when AI came out and still such early days that it’s become more and more important today, what type of content are being created? How are they using it and is it safe? Data licensing has become a really, really huge part of our industry, right? So there are a lot of companies out there that are trying to train models to do different things. Everything from generative art where you can make, you know, text to an image, text to video. But not just that is lot large language models. You know, there’s multi-modals where if you’re asking, you know, ChatGPT or any of the models, what can they do and how they return it? You know, they’re really need data to build whatever they want. So I do see the trend is that if you see all these new companies coming out there, you know, some are getting great love, some aren’t. But ultimately, you know, there’s an opportunity there where they need content and they need content because they need the imagery, they need the video, they need the metadata, the information that comes around that they need that to help build the models that they want to be able to offer, to help others, you know, create things that are going to make it easier for them or different for them or creative for them, or just ways that they want to do that. And I source stat specifically to data licensing, where currently they’re saying it’s about a 2.5 billion dollar space today. But they’re saying within the end of a decade it’ll be about a 20 billion dollar space. So this thing is going to continue to grow. And it’s everywhere from media companies licensing their content to big tech players doing that out there, whether it’s, you know, OpenAI and things like that. So this is the trend. This is the opportunity today. We’re seeing all the data and the metadata and the ability for people to license that and do it. Hopefully we think in a responsible and safe way. We think that it can have an impact. 

[00:42:37] David Yovanno Who would have thought, honestly, I’m just listening to you. And I’m just imagine because we’ve all had our own experiences with gen AI and images now and I’m like, How incredible is it that when you started your career at Getty, like the internet was just happening and you’re still at that same company and now you’ve got another mega transformation like gen AI, and you get to kind of see that through. I think that’s incredibly fascinating, number one. And when I look at like where we’re starting with images and gen AI, it’s like scary like like images or like morphed. You know, it’s like I don’t know how that’s going to play out. But it’s not where I know it’s going to be even a year from now, let alone five years from now. Really genuinely excited and interested in how the image and the video aspect of gen AI evolves. And it’s, you know, with a company like Getty who’s been kind of at the start, you know, so disruptive or, you know, transformational honestly and how you’re evolving. Just very innovative. I have no doubt that you guys will figure it out. 

[00:43:38] Peter Orlowsky You know, it was great that you just said like and I remember that when I did start with Getty, you know, we were pioneers in the industry. And that was the most exciting thing for me. And I remember saying like, you know, this is so great. We get to do something no one’s ever done before. You know, I’m probably never going to be able to be involved in something like this again. And And here we are. Right? Like it’s happening again. Right? And I didn’t. And it’s happening at a speed that just like nothing ever I’ve seen before. Right? And how fast now foreign. And I just think like, you know really really great like twice and in one at least in my lifetime to see that. But yeah, I think it’s pretty amazing. And I think it definitely keeps it interesting. And the thing I always tell people like, you just gotta be fearless, right? And figure it out. But, you know, because definitely this time around was like, wow, this is coming fast and I gotta figure this out. But, you know, once you do, like, you could see where it’s going. 

[00:44:35] David Yovanno All right. Well thank you, Peter, that’s a wrap. Thanks for joining this fantastic episode of The Partnership Economy Podcast. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We’ll see you next time. 

[00:44:45] Peter Orlowsky Thanks for having me.