Stock Imagery/Video/Music FAQ

Stock can be photos, textures, video and audio that are already taken, edited, and ready to be used.

• Are stock assets free to use?

  • A big and resounding NO. The photographer or author of a stock asset makes it available for licensing, meaning you can pay a fee to get the right to use it in your designs legally.

• One of the most popular license types is that of Royalty Free, which gives a wide range of usage rights for a very low cost.

• Stock images are not limited to photographs, you can find illustrations and vector files –including video clips, soundtracks, and more.

A Royalty-Free license is customized for every agency, but in general terms, it gives you the right to use any image in commercial, editorial, and personal projects, without any limitations regarding geographic area or duration.

A one-time-only fee for an individual Client (This is what its name means, which should NEVER be mistaken for them being free photos: Royalty-Free photos are NOT FREE).

It's important to note that what you are buying when you buy stock photos is a license that gives you the right to use them in your work for the Client you purchase it for. You are not acquiring ownership of the asset/image, the author still holds the copyright for it.

Short answer, NO

· They are not considered “Royalty Free”

· For an image to be royalty free to use commercially, all rights have-to be cleared. Image copyright is only one of them. If the photo/asset includes people, each of them need to sign a model release document allowing the use of their likeness. And the same goes for private property, including brands, specific designs and even landmarks. When these rights are not cleared, even if the copyright owner has given permission to use the photo/asset for “free”, we may encounter legal accountability for paying thousands of dollars in compensations to authors, models, legal fees.

· Misconception, “I’m only clipping a small part of the image, no one will notice”. That may be true, visually, however, there is software that has been developed to track images, fonts and proprietary content online to identify individuals/companies of misuse. The metadata is imbedded into the assets and is trackable.

Publicis has 6 main online stock houses that have been fully signed on at a global or local level.

These sites offer Publicis a guarantee that we are getting any/all assets with full indemnity disclosures signed, ie, model releases, property releases, photographer releases, best competitive pricing, and the ability to still negotiate bulk rates on bulk purchases when required.

1. Shutterstock (Global Account, managed by Publicis/Optic Nerve)

2. Getty Images (Global Account, managed by Publicis/Optic Nerve)

3. iStock (Global Account, managed by Publicis/Optic Nerve)

4. Hero Images (Managed by Publicis/Optic Nerve)

5. 123 Royalty Free Images (Managed by Optic Nerve Studio)

6. Envato (Managed by Publicis)

7. Alamy (Managed by Optic Nerve Studio)

Please don't use any stock imagery in your designs that was not sourced from the list above.

We are always adding more companies and are happy to review any that you may have and check back here as this list gets updated.

Courtney French will put forward a request to our vendors and you will receive a unique login

Courtney.French@publicisna.com

A big and resounding NO!

Any images not purchased that make it into a live campaign open us and our clients up to liability and financial penalties.

Always inform your account lead and project manager if you have used any stock images and share with them where to purchase them before any ads make it in market. This goes for fonts, music, video, plugins etc too.

Connect with your Account lead or Project Manager.

The Project Manager assigned to your account will purchase the image and ensure it's been tracked for future records and billed back to our clients.

• Please share with your Project Manager the site you pulled the stock asset from along with a link or stock asset #, along with the project # associated with the campaign the stock asset was used for.

Need help with purchasing an image/hard cost? Guides: https://lion.box.com/s/zew0l02hl21x7pt610buq00civbl296f

· Optic Nerve – Cherie.rudy@optnerve.com

· Head of Design - Helder Defreitas helder.defreitas@publicisna.com

· Publicis Digital - Megan Maloney megan.maloney@publicisna.com