Event work vs brand campaigns in photography: the archive is 77% event
Event work vs brand campaigns in photography: a census of 22 productions in the indexed archive (BRND + HOTSPOT). 17 are event, 5 are campaign: 77%.
not planned brand campaign
If you're a photographer or videographer and want to know what your archive actually lives on —not where the clients come from, but what type of job dominates— here's event work vs brand campaigns in photography, counted: 17 of the 22 indexed productions are event work and 5 are planned brand campaign, that's 77%. It's a folder census across two personal backups, BRND and HOTSPOT, counting sessions —one per directory— not photos.
And it measures nothing else. It's not acquisition channel —how each client arrived, referral or social— because that column doesn't exist in the archive and isn't invented here. It's not a census of an entire career either: these are the 22 productions indexed in these two backups, with Peru (Vichayitos) and other session names that aren't the Balearics or Madrid either (Cieneguilla, Las Palmas) among the place names on record. It doesn't say anything about the Spanish photography market, only about the makeup of this archive.
How much does each type of job weigh in the archive?
| Type of job | Sessions | % of archive |
|---|---|---|
| Event (HOTSPOT) | 17 | 77 % |
| Brand campaign (BRND) | 5 | 23 % |
| Total indexed | 22 | 100 % |
What almost nobody accounts for
77% event work isn't one genre. Inside the 17 productions there are parties, Halloween, New Year's, brand promos inside a venue —and two weddings. "Event" here is any celebration that was already happening, not a narrow category.
Only 5 productions started from a brand brief. 42K Nike, Discoteca QIU, Flor de Caña, Sicurezza and Subaru are the only ones with a brand directing the job before the shoot. The rest of the archive documents something that was already going on regardless.
The count counts folders, not photos, so it has no exclusions. Unlike other archive fiches that depend on EXIF and drop sessions, this one counts one session per directory: no frames to exclude, no clock that can be wrong.
What to do with this if your archive lives on jobs like these
This census says which type of job dominates the archive. It doesn't say how long each one runs: that figure comes from a different sample —EXIF from 6 hand-picked productions, not a folder census— and is in the guide on how long a photo session lasts.
Frequently asked questions
- What's more common in a photography archive, event work or brand campaigns?
- In the indexed archive, event work: 17 of 22 productions, 77%. Planned brand campaign is 5, 23%.
- How is event work different from a brand campaign?
- A campaign starts from a brand brief —Nike, Subaru, Flor de Caña— with direction set before the shoot. Event work documents a celebration that was already happening: a party, a wedding, Halloween, New Year's. The archive has 5 campaigns and 17 events.
- Does this figure say where the clients come from?
- No. It measures job type, not acquisition channel. The archive doesn't record how each client arrived —referral, social, word of mouth—, only the folder where the session was filed.
- Does this 77% hold for the whole photography market?
- No. It's a census of 22 productions indexed across two personal backups, with Peru (Vichayitos) among the place names on record, plus others that aren't the Balearics or Madrid either. It's not a sample of the Spanish market or of other photographers.
If you are planning a shoot of fashion and editorial or product and you want the timing decided by someone who has already run the numbers, write to me: with the dates and the location I will tell you straight away what time to call.
And if you want to see the results, here are the projects y the rest of the journal.
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