Image Isn't Everything

Now, how about a snapshot of that transaction in the new economy? A designer surfs Getty's integrated Web site, where most of the company's brands, ranging from funky photo art to serious illustrations, are available in one location. A key-word search plows through more than 200,000 images, and returns a series of relevant images to the designer. A rough image is available immediately for free to drop into layouts. Buying a final image is simply a matter of entering a credit-card number and downloading the image. A cumbersome process that used to take days or weeks is now a streamlined process that can take minutes.

Getting to this point required money and technology, extensive training, and radical business restructuring. More than anything, though, it required cultural changes. Getty Images was, and is, an amalgam of acquired entities, most of which were once competitors. Getty began with two big acquisitions: London-based Tony Stone Images, one of the world's leading stock-photography brands, known for its superior artistic quality; and Seattle-based PhotoDisc, a startup that pioneered a new business model -- images delivered on CDs and available for a flat, onetime fee for nonexclusive rights.

The companies could not have been more different. Mark Getty recalls that in his early days of helping to run Tony Stone Images, people there railed against digitization in general, and fought against the royalty-free model in particular. "People from Tony Stone refused to let PhotoDisc become part of the industry trade association," recalls Getty. "Then we bought PhotoDisc. There was complete shock."

From that rancorous beginning, Getty and his senior colleagues had the task of developing a new culture that would be digital, creative, and consistent. Sally von Bargen, 51, president of the company's professional division, says a summit meeting proved to be a turning point. The management teams from both companies talked about the merger, and about the likelihood that the integration would fail. Each group was asked to rate its own culture as well as that of the other group, and to identify strengths and weaknesses in both cultures. "In that moment, the teams came together, because we recognized that we had a common agenda -- and that was to redefine both cultures and to move them closer together," von Bargen says. "We had an opportunity to create something new -- to bring forward the best of both companies."

Another factor helped to develop the new culture. The company reorganized its business (and launched its Web sites) around customer types rather than around brands. Four distinct Web sites segment the market: gettyone.com targets advertising professionals and designers; gettysource focuses on the press and editorial users; gettyworks aims at small-business customers; and art.com is for individual consumers.

But the biggest factor driving the cultural change, most everyone agrees, has been the growth of the business itself. For example, revenue for the Tony Stone line grew by 30% during its fourth quarter last year, while revenue for the stock-photography industry grew by about 8%. Business success has a way of calming fears.

John Hallberg, 43, president of art.com, offers a case in point: "About a year ago, one of the longtime account executives for Tony Stone was in on a Saturday. He had been out of the office the day before, and he noticed that a client had done some business on our Web site on the day he was out -- and that he had gotten a commission on the transaction. All of a sudden, he understood the difference that the Web would make for our business and for him. The account executive said, 'I think I'm going to like this Web thing just fine.' "

Service-with-a-Smile.Com

Shannon Ballon, 25, winces slightly at the sound of her own voice booming through the computer's sound system. A few of her colleagues in the room -- customer-service reps in gettyone's call center -- smile sympathetically. They are all research specialists who help customers find images from Getty's vast collection, as well as troubleshoot customer problems. They've gathered for an "opportunity forum," in which they critique each other's responses to customer calls. Each of them will get a turn in the hot seat.

"Hello, this is Shannon. How may I help you?" Her tone is professional and friendly, the equivalent of a hotel concierge wearing a suit and gloves. A calling customer would never guess that the person dispensing this service is a woman with spiky red hair and a tongue stud. As the call continues, it's clear that this customer is Web-challenged. Ballon's boss has left her a note instructing her to go to gettyone.com, to review some images for a design project, and to order them -- if they haven't been ordered already by someone else in the department.