BFA on Strategic Expansion and Growth Opportunities in Content Creation

A worldwide chief in images and videography with headquarters in New York and Los Angeles, BFA was based in 2010 by photographers Billy Farrell, Joe Schildhorn, Neil Rasmus and David X Prutting, looking for to assemble a centered and cohesive service throughout events coverage and content.

As an company, BFA has been fast to innovate its choices, adapting to reply the wants of the trade and shoppers, spanning rising artists and style manufacturers to award-winning media and luxurious maisons. BFA now gives a full suite of content material options, spanning specialised groups of photographers for occasions, architectural and, portraiture, in addition to editorial and business videography providers and short-format social video.

BFA has now set its sights on bringing its experience to luxury-adjacent markets, together with actual property and hospitality, and additional constructing its international presence in Paris, Milan and London.

It’s a well timed funding: for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic, customers are more and more looking for extra novel, immersive experiences, from distinctive eating at unique eating places to one-of-a-kind stays at resorts, as acknowledged in BoF Insights: The Lifestyle Era: Luxury’s Opportunity in Home and Hospitality. Gross sales in dwelling and hospitality classes will develop at a compound annual charge of roughly 7 p.c by way of 2026, outpacing pre-pandemic development of 4 p.c, in response to market analysis agency Euromonitor Worldwide.

Now, BoF sits down with BFA’s managing director, Camila Zapata, and vp of worldwide enterprise improvement, Stephanie Ketty, to discover innovation within the inventive content material house and the way BFA is tailoring its providing to new markets.

How has BFA developed over latest years?

CZ: The pandemic was a major change for us. The standard seasonality of occasions went away in a single day, so we needed to adapt, evolve and refocus the corporate in the direction of the choice content material we might present. This time gave us a chance to consider how we might innovate and improve our visible storytelling as an company. We needed to contemplate how we might nonetheless convey worth to the businesses, develop their methods and tailor packages for them.

However evolving the providing isn’t sufficient — it’s important to evolve the interior processes, the workflows, the staffing. All of that has been taking place steadily on the similar time. It’s allowed us the chance to diversify the methods wherein we are able to work with shoppers and speaks to the posh and luxury-adjacent areas, as a result of having all these completely different choices means that you can go into completely different demographics.

Since then, now we have expanded our service choices to markets all through Europe and the US. We now have broadened and re-focused our expertise improvement which serves as a key driver of the belief our shoppers place within the BFA identify. We now have additionally expanded syndication through our numerous companions with a presence in additional than 150 nations and now we have invested in AI options and know-how — launching instruments that enhance productiveness and collaboration internally and with our shoppers.

Which key content material creation techniques and practices have emerged because of this?

SK: Relating to content material creation techniques, having a expertise improvement division collaborating alongside leaders like Camila on the bottom in key markets acts as a essential conduit — pairing manufacturers and expertise to the content material varieties that, on this occasion, act as a finest match, whether or not that’s a model activation or working with their social crew to execute Instagram Reels. It’s about being focussed on serving to them clear up that narrative downside and providing an answer with consistency.

Evolving the providing isn’t sufficient — it’s important to evolve the interior processes, the workflows, the staffing.

CZ: Clearly, business and editorial have lovely cinematic movies, however the quick format idea has been a key space of development. For these tasks, we centered closely on producing compelling short-form movies for his or her social media channels. That format produced thousands and thousands of impressions — and that type of quantity helps justify why it’s so vital to have these inventive budgets.

How do you’re employed with style companies to search out inventive options that match their wants?

SK: A few years in the past, we labored with a model whose inventive technique revolved nearly fully round their style exhibits. We collaborated with that model to evolve its technique throughout a number of activations all year long. Now, we additionally collaborate carefully on featured expertise and have begun to push extra inventive bounds. Not too long ago, we labored collectively on taking pictures a runway on movie.

We now have additionally labored carefully with one other model lately the place we collaborated in a manner which different on the model’s inventive imaginative and prescient. Typically, model representatives will come to us and say, “We now have this occasion, how can we complement it creatively?” An instance consists of the creation of a visible diary, working with a particular photographer in Tokyo. It was a totally completely different work product involving expertise and it’s one other instance of how numerous our inventive tasks with style companies have change into.

CZ: Our precedence is basically understanding how we inform a story for the model constantly throughout completely different codecs. It begins with having these conferences with the manufacturers so that they perceive that it’s not nearly occasions for us. We all know that sure platforms work finest with sure kinds of content material, and we enter conversations with manufacturers with skilled groups that perceive Youtube and longer codecs but additionally Instagram and Reels. We be taught finest practices from our style partnerships groups, and it’s a distinct providing for each single platform.

The place your images land is vital. However what’s extra vital is who’s sharing this content material, how partaking it’s and the way nicely it’s performing. For us, that’s a win, within the sense that we aren’t forcing anybody to share our content material. It simply occurs organically.

What alternatives does BFA see in fashion-adjacent markets and what’s driving this improvement technique?

SK: Collaborating creatively with manufacturers — notably through lovely imagery and movie — is a massively saturated house. As a enterprise, we’re contemplating tips on how to broaden our providing whereas retaining the depth of partnership that now we have traditionally supplied within the style house.

Our precedence is basically understanding how we inform a story for the model constantly throughout completely different codecs.

At BFA, now we have a chance to convey completely different entities into this house of visible storytelling, which seems like an thrilling development alternative.

For instance, we started a partnership this yr with the French manufacturing firm Michelin, behind the long-lasting restaurant and resort score information. They’re a major international entity and the connection between luxurious and nice culinary experiences feels pure. Creatively, it’s all about telling a lot larger narratives that span style adjoining industries too, and collaborating with like-minded companions to assist us construct this.

What does the growth into new markets imply for BFA?

SK: We’re in London, Paris, Milan, and it’s a focus of the dialog once we are speaking about tips on how to execute sure technique ideas and what BFA is bringing to the desk. It’s not only one dialog. We need to assist manufacturers get to the ultimate product and be a part of this dialog. That’s the place the magic has been taking place these days. These luxury-adjacent markets are so vital and it’s about marrying these two issues collectively.

CZ: Culturally, there are large variations between the best way that New York operates in comparison with L.A., France, Germany and London. In the end, it’s about making an attempt to adapt to the environment.

This can be a sponsored function paid for by BFA as a part of a BoF partnership.