Of Age and Underpaid

To my surprise, today a Facebook photo tag divulged my presence in a Boston venue’s online photo gallery.   It got me thinking about the functions of these establishments’ photographers and related PR possibilities.

For some locales, like the Rumor/Venu and Estate/Suite households, web albums promote to roving investigators of nightlife niches on a personal level.  We all want to see what it actually looks like in there and how existing customers seem to like the offerings.  Content, content, blah blah blah.

But these galleries also narrow community boundaries. Some young customers even stalk venues’ sites until the photos are posted, lending them a Facebook-like quality.  The albums create a network of people with common interests and neighborly relationships.

“Who made the cool kid list?” a loyal college-age client phrased it for me.  Apparently I did?  Aside from a few shots of newcomers and unknowns, most of the 25 or so pictures chosen feature the same in-demand clients.

Another less apparent effect of these galleries is the benefit to employees.  Bartenders, upper management, waitresses, DJs, promoters–employees at all levels–will appreciate the acknowledgment and inclusion.

Indeed, I have watched a friend employed in the hospitality industry log on alongside coworkers to check for new albums repeatedly.  Snapshots serve as a kind of product of their labor and as reminders of the fun they had while working.  The simple effort propels cyclically a sense of personal pride in the company they work for.

This just reminded me of the first time I explored the Marc Jacobs site as a teen. I didn’t understand why the brand would post photos of subjects with whom only a select few share close friendships or even mutual awareness of existence.

But I just used select unconsciously. And I did remember MJ’s photos. In fact, I can recall some quite vividly. There was definitely an album highlighting a birthday party and another from a work-related event.

While some companies profess to desire a distinctly up-scale and limited clientele, event-driven enterprises depend more on an  inflated customer base.  Without everybody and their brothers, the room would be empty.  No guests, no partay.

MJ presents another example of such extremes: I can stumble in right now and buy a $1,500 bag or a pair of $10 rubber flip flops.

But if I were buying the bag I would have to walk upstairs.

Lifestyle brands must stroll along a tightrope that lies equidistant to aisle 6 at your local Wal-Mart and a company branch that caters to an entire region of the U.S. or even the world.

These web albums might just achieve the perfect balance to relate to both high-end clients and their own executives as well as middle-to-lower level employees and average college kids and twenty-somethings…and everyone else in between.