Corbis executives have repeatedly stressed that the company's goal is to ease the lives of overstressed, overworked ad-agency creatives. Now, Corbis' new "I Am Buried" integrated marketing campaign puts that promise into action.
"I Am Buried" is a contest that offers 24 winners a chance to score one of many expensive self-indulgent prizes, such as massage therapy, cleaning services, personal assistants, shopping sprees, dinners for 10 or party buses. Creatives are encouraged to enter online by sharing horror stories of late nights, frenetic days, piled-up desks and ruthless bosses.

Participants can nominate themselves or colleagues by uploading personal photos or searching the Corbis collection for images that best represent just how buried they are. Entries will be judged by a jury of creatives from various ad agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather, IMC2, Goodby Silversein & Partners and Amalgame.

Corbis' choice to target the ad industry exclusively is telling in light of current market conditions. Historically, graphic designers have dominated the stills-licensing market by volume, making over half of all image purchases. Yet according to research by The Industry Measure, ad agencies account for the largest share (43%) of the dollars spent on image licensing.

In addition, ad creatives working on multimillion dollar accounts are much less likely than graphic designers to be swayed by the low costs of microstock imagery and video. When it comes to stills, art directors tend to favor less-used rights-managed imagery as opposed to royalty-free, particularly for larger brands. Ad agencies are also the top market for Corbis Motion and rights-clearance services.

Corbis' approach is also interesting when compared to Getty Images. Faced with the same challenges, Getty has lowered its Web-use licensing price point and is launching a lower-cost stills collection. It is also diversifying into new markets with the consumer-facing ViewImages.com and the recent acquisition of music-licensing business Pump Audio. In contrast, Corbis has exited several lines of business and refocused its marketing efforts on what it sees as the most potentially lucrative customer segment.

Running in the U.S. and Canada from Sept. 4- 30, "I Am Buried" is promoted through a Web site, direct marketing, public relations and print and online advertising. The campaign's creative was developed by the Seattle-based shop Creature.