Pakstockphoto, Pakistan’s own stock image library has been launched on 23 March, 2017 in accordance with Pakistan Day. The image library currently exhibits 1000 high-quality images with different licensing options as per the image quality level.
Founded by Saqib Riaz and Abid Azam, the startup aims to help the marketers, publishers, and content generators produce high quality localized content by utilizing licensed images available on the platform. In the absence of local stock image library, Pakistani agencies have been relying on content from our neighboring country India, which has resulted in the lack of representation of Pakistan on digital space and advertising avenues.
Interestingly, the founders when researching identified the same pain points. In Pakistan, major publishers and advertising agencies are relying on either Getty Images or Image Bazaar. Both are huge platforms but lack cultural content for Pakistan owing to their different target markets. Pakstockphoto is aiming to tap into this gap through its high-quality image database.
While speaking to TechJuice, Cofounder of Pakstockphoto, Saqib Riaz said that the team is focused on creating a meaningful community of photographers and a vibrant library of images. Once the community is self-driven and gains some momentum, the startup will explore more avenues. The startup is also ensuring that contributing photographers are valued and recognized for the work they do.
The company’s founder, Abid Azam added, “Our business model is built upon supporting photographers and giving them direct access to organizations and brands which they may not have been able to reach previously. Pakstockphoto will provide photographers with a platform to showcase their work and open doors to new opportunities for talented photographers.”
The process of publishing is very simple. Just like other stock image platforms. The contributors and photographers apply with some samples for approval. Once accepted, the contributors can freely contribute creative content on the platform.
The collection of images on the platform will be related to Pakistani culture, people, heritage, diversity, nature, landscape, rural, urban, professional, health, and various brand themes. In Pakistan, several stock photo startups have emerged in the scene during the past few years but none of them have been able to make a dent. Pakstockphoto is the most recent entrant in that segment, which, if learns from shortcomings and failures of its predecessors, can hugely benefit itself and its direct market.
