The economics of on-brand images
The cheapest image is not the one with the lowest licence fee. It is the one that fits the brand the first time, is ready when the campaign needs it and never has to be replaced. This page compares the real costs of stock photography, hiring a photographer and creating images with Brand Asset.
The hidden costs of a single image
A licence fee or a day rate is only the visible part. Most of the cost sits in the work around the image.
Search time
Finding a stock image that fits the brand, the format and the message often takes longer than the licence fee suggests.
Everyone uses the same images
Popular stock photos also appear in competitors' campaigns, which weakens recognition.
Licence management
Usage terms, seat limits and renewals have to be tracked, and a mistake can become a claim.
Review rounds
Images that are close but not quite on-brand go back and forth between creators and the brand team.
Off-brand assets in the wild
Inconsistent visuals erode the brand slowly, and correcting published material costs more than getting it right first.
Stock images, photographer or Brand Asset
| Factor | Stock images | Photographer | Brand Asset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost per image | Low per image on subscription, higher for premium or extended licences | High: a shoot day plus planning, styling, retouching and travel | Fixed monthly fee per company workspace |
| Lead time | Minutes to hours of searching | Weeks from brief to delivered files | Minutes from idea to reviewed image |
| Fits your brand guidelines | Rarely exactly | Yes, when briefed well | Yes, built into every request |
| Unique to your brand | No | Yes | Yes |
| New formats and variations | Limited to what exists | New shoot or extra retouching | Generated per format, from 1:1 to 21:9 |
| Your real products | No | Yes, exact | Lifestyle scenes with Product Staging; not exact packshots |
| Approval and audit trail | Separate process | Separate process | Built in |
Typical cost per image
- Stock images
- Low per image on subscription, higher for premium or extended licences
- Photographer
- High: a shoot day plus planning, styling, retouching and travel
- Brand Asset
- Fixed monthly fee per company workspace
Lead time
- Stock images
- Minutes to hours of searching
- Photographer
- Weeks from brief to delivered files
- Brand Asset
- Minutes from idea to reviewed image
Fits your brand guidelines
- Stock images
- Rarely exactly
- Photographer
- Yes, when briefed well
- Brand Asset
- Yes, built into every request
Unique to your brand
- Stock images
- No
- Photographer
- Yes
- Brand Asset
- Yes
New formats and variations
- Stock images
- Limited to what exists
- Photographer
- New shoot or extra retouching
- Brand Asset
- Generated per format, from 1:1 to 21:9
Your real products
- Stock images
- No
- Photographer
- Yes, exact
- Brand Asset
- Lifestyle scenes with Product Staging; not exact packshots
Approval and audit trail
- Stock images
- Separate process
- Photographer
- Separate process
- Brand Asset
- Built in
Three worked examples
The same brief priced three ways, at the volumes most teams recognise. Every figure is a monthly total for the volume named in the heading, so the columns are directly comparable.
Assumptions used throughout: internal marketing time at €65 per hour, a stock licence at about €12 per image with extended rights, a photographer at €1,200 per shoot day including planning and retouching, and Brand Asset at €99 per month per company workspace. These are illustrative examples, not quotations: swap in your own invoices and rates before you use them in a decision.
Small team: 20 images a month
One marketer producing social and web content, with the occasional campaign.
| Cost factor | Stock images | Photographer | Brand Asset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image production | €60 | €2,400 | €99 |
| Searching and selection | €260 | €0 | €39 |
| Briefing and review | €98 | €390 | €65 |
| Monthly total | €418 | €2,790 | €203 |
| Cost per image | €21 | €140 | €10 |
- Stock images
- €418 · €21/image
- Photographer
- €2,790 · €140/image
Show cost breakdown
Before counting the review rounds and off-brand fixes described above.
Growth team: 60 images a month
A small team running several campaigns and channels at the same time.
| Cost factor | Stock images | Photographer | Brand Asset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image production | €720 | €6,000 | €99 |
| Searching and selection | €650 | €0 | €130 |
| Briefing and review | €260 | €975 | €195 |
| Monthly total | €1,630 | €6,975 | €424 |
| Cost per image | €27 | €116 | €7 |
- Stock images
- €1,630 · €27/image
- Photographer
- €6,975 · €116/image
Show cost breakdown
Before counting the review rounds and off-brand fixes described above.
Agency or multi-brand: 150 images a month
Three company workspaces sharing one production pipeline.
| Cost factor | Stock images | Photographer | Brand Asset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image production | €1,800 | €12,000 | €297 |
| Searching and selection | €1,300 | €0 | €260 |
| Briefing and review | €520 | €1,625 | €390 |
| Monthly total | €3,620 | €13,625 | €947 |
| Cost per image | €24 | €91 | €6 |
- Stock images
- €3,620 · €24/image
- Photographer
- €13,625 · €91/image
Show cost breakdown
Before counting the review rounds and off-brand fixes described above.
A simple way to calculate it
Take the number of images your team needs each month and multiply by everything each one costs: licence or production fee, plus the hours spent searching, briefing and reviewing, at your team's hourly cost. Then add what it costs when an off-brand image has to be replaced after publication.
Brand Asset replaces most of that with a fixed fee from €99/month per company workspace. Because your brand guidelines are applied to every request and checked before generation, fewer images need another review round, and approved images are collected in a shared library so they can be reused instead of recreated.
Prices for stock licences and photographers vary widely by provider, market and usage rights. Use your own quotes and invoices when you make the comparison.
When a photographer is still the right choice
Brand Asset does not replace every shoot. Exact product packshots, real employees, real locations and events still need a photographer. The economic win is moving the large volume of everyday campaign, social and web imagery to Brand Asset, and spending the photography budget where it matters most.
Better decisions, not just cheaper images
Fast, on-brand images let teams test more ideas, adapt campaigns to more channels and keep every market on the same visual standard. Read what a brand asset is and how compliance works, or see how marketing teams use Brand Asset.