SALT helps SmugMug make your pictures matter

August 1st, 2005 – Bold statements are not new to Chris MacAskill, CEO of SmugMug®, the online photo-sharing site that is gaining a cult-like following from the likes of Steve Jobs, Craig Newmark and Walter Mossberg. With rave reviews and awards by PC Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Consumer Reports, and of course their loyal users – or “Smuggies” as they like to call them – the bold statements have substance and credibility. SmugMug is the latest business from MacAskill, who back in 1995 started Fatbrain™ in his garage and turned it into a $100M public company. This time he has his lens set on creating the best online photo site – a highly competitive arena populated with big names like Ofoto™ (now owned by Kodak™), Shutterfly™, Snapfish™ and Flickr®. However, unlike most of their competitors, you have to pay for Smugmug and the difference is obvious. Most photo sites make their money from prints and offer basic free hosting and services. By charging an annual fee, Smugmug has built not only an incredibly powerful site, full of easy to use tools, it has avoided the pitfalls of many competitors … the site actually looks good.

Walter Mossberg, the consumer technology champion at the Wall Street Journal agrees, “SmugMug’s templates for displaying photos are elegant and sophisticated and allow for lots of customization.”

And that’s the aim. Photographs on SmugMug are BIG. They’re arranged in beautifully displayed galleries, free from ads, pop-ups, and promotions. SmugMug is so adamant in preserving the integrity of the pictures (regardless of whether they are family snaps or the work of established professionals), that they back it up with proof points and comparisons to their competitors.

“It’s simple,” said MacAskill. “Our customers are against ads.”

That’s where SALT comes in. SALT has worked with MacAskill on all his ventures since branding Fatbrain back in the dot-com heyday. This time MacAskill wanted to find the right way to make his new business compelling and reinforce the values he was after.

“There are an awful lot of photo sites out there,” said Paul Parkin, Creative Director of SALT, “and most of them suck. When something’s free, they really let you know it. If your photos matter, then you want to be able to look at them without all the clutter. You wouldn’t put ads in your photo albums would you?”

SALT partnered with SmugMug to redesign the website – focusing around the photos themselves, the distinctive black backgrounds and an easy navigation and user interface. Then they created the language necessary to articulate it. An ad campaign and promotions followed, and hence the brand’s claim to be “The ultimate in photo sharing … and we can prove it!”

The design and strategy seems to be working. SmugMug is growing rapidly, and the brand is becoming the standard for photo quality on the web. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

For more information on SmugMug please visit http://www.smugmug.com

About SALT
SALT is a full-service branding, design, and communications company that helps build leading brands. With its distinctively practical mindset, SALT provides a full range of integrated branding services including brand strategy, naming, design, communications, advertising, and corporate culture. SALT has developed leading brands and programs for a diverse set of companies ranging from Fortune 500s to VC-funded start-ups, including Avaya, Bank of Hawaii, Coca-Cola, Disney, EMBARQ, Fatbrain, Genentech, Glu Mobile, Microsoft, Mobile365, Nissan, Palm, Sprint, Wellpoint, Wi-Fi, and Xerox. SALT – the essential ingredient for branding leaders.

For more information on SALT, please contact:

Paul Parkin
SALT Branding
415.616.1506
paul@saltbranding.com