Although having been around for years, cinemagraphs are quickly becoming one of the hottest commodities in the creative community, with both start-ups and established stock photo sites jumping on the wagon.
Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs, giving the viewer the illusion they are watching a video. Although they have been in existence for several years, they have become popular in social media mediums like Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr, with stock image companies now looking to exploit this for advertising needs.
Facebook has just launched animated profile pics, and the new iPhones have a moving photo creation feature.
Berlin, Germany, based startup Gallereplay, focuses solely on cinemagraphs and sees it as a huge business opportunity.
Gallereplay co-founder Marco Woldt says that he started the company he was aware others would enter the field, but he is hoping the company has had a significant head start as it “taps more artists” and gets more images into its portfolio. He charges $200 for each cinemagraph used in marketing and $100 for use in editorial.
“Since introducing looping video earlier this year, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of cinemagraph posts on Instagram,” says Woldt . “In the last 12 months, the number of cinemagraph posts have increased tenfold.”
He says well known brands including Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Walmart, Dos Equis and Apple, have been increasingly using cinemagraphs in their social media promotions.
Stock photo site Shutterstock, has just entered into a partnership with Flixel Photos and will soon be offering more cinemagraphs.
Robert Lendvai, Flixel’s VP of marketing, says the company’s partnership with Shutterstock will put more than 1,000 new cinemagraphs on that site. He says, “I’m not sure how Gallereplay will be able to compete once we see the big guys move into the space — which is about to happen.”
Instagrams director of market operations says cinemagraphs on the platform are one of the more creative styles embraced by marketers.
He says “People love them, advertisers love them, and they really are a great way of drawing attention to certain aspects of the photo.”
Jon Jackson, partner and designer at Work & Co. which has worked on cinemagraphs for Disney and Target says, “You get a lot of bang with great animation depending on how you do it,” said “Cinemagraphs are the rich man’s GIF.”
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