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By: joey
Management Information Systems 70-451 Interim Project Report Monday, October
16, 2000 www.andrew.cmu.edu/~jrahimi/pittsburghmodel.html PittsburghModel.com
Christopher Kim Jaewon Lee Winnie Liang Jawad Rahimi Mi Kyung Our Service
PittsburghModel.com ( www.andrew.cmu.edu/~jrahimi/start.html ) is a database
of men, women and children who are interested in modeling assignments in the
Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. Some are professional models and others are
either looking to make some extra money doing promotional work or are hoping
to be discovered. Pittsburghmodel.com serves as an intermediary between
agencies and aspiring models. The actual service we are selling works both
ways. We are providing aspiring models with a hassle-free approach to becoming
discovered while providing local modeling agencies with access to aspiring
models, thus granting them more exposure. Referral fees and contract
negotiations will be our major sources of revenue, and advertising on our web
site will be our secondary source of revenue. PittsburghModel.com is the only
web site of its kind in the Pittsburgh Area. Although there are thousands of
modeling web sites on the Internet where one can submit pictures and profiles
in order to be considered for modeling, PittsburghModel.com is different. We
take into account that modeling is a very personal process, thus, our services
are targeted for a local market, where we can build lasting relationships with
our models and agencies. The fact that we are only working with aspiring
models in the Western Pennsylvania area will make our business and services
very exclusive. Models that submit their profile onto our web site will be
treated as individuals, not statistics, and since we are putting forth a
personal approach with our models, they will have confidence and trust in
PittsburghModel.com. We generally accept men and women of all weights and
heights as well as children of all ages. What most people don't realize is
that there are modeling opportunities for everyone. Our potential customers
are men, women, and children that are either professional models looking for
more exposure, or aspiring models that want to give a shot at modeling. The
fact that this is a hassle free environment, our primary customers will be
aspiring models. On the other side of our business will be the local modeling
agencies. We will work with all of the major agencies in Pittsburgh and
guarantee them more exposure and access to models, in return for a referral
fee and future contract negotiation fees. Each model has at least one picture
and a profile which includes all of the model's vital information as well as
other information about availability, experience and interests. Models can
optionally have additional pictures in an online portfolio which can be
accessed directly from their profile by potential employers and agencies. All
potential model's information is kept confidential from the general public and
is only viewed by those from affiliated organizations. Contact information is
kept solely by PittsburghModel.com and is available only upon request from an
agency or other participating organization. A public model gallery is
available to show a sample of our models who expressed an interest to
participate. Our Customers Currently, agencies hold events such as Model
Search America, and put ads in the newspapers in order to attract aspiring
models. Based on out research, the Internet has not been used as a primary
source of marketing for modeling agencies, and that is where
PittsburghModel.com comes in to fill the void. If an agency signs up with
PittsburghModel.com, it will increase their exposure, as well as increase the
amount of models they will see. This in turn will provide agencies with more
revenue, and establish a tight knit relationship between PittsburghModel.com
and local agencies. Businesses that fail to market themselves online nowadays
fall behind in the market. We are here to help agencies step up to E-Commerce,
and making their business more profitable. If you're a beginner, or even if
you've just thought about the possibility of being a model, you may find it
very difficult to get started in the business. At PittsburghModel.com, you
don't have to spend a fortune to get started in modeling. Since all of your
information and photos are online, there's no need for expensive composites
and portfolios. If you're an experienced model, or you just have some good
pictures of yourself, you can get yourself into our 'stable' at no cost
whatsoever! If you are not experienced, we can help. We don't take just
anybody. But if we think you have potential, we will get you experience and
pictures at very little or even no cost to you. We have photographers that we
work with that are always looking for new faces who are interested in trading
time for photos. This way, you get experience and you build a portfolio, two
things that are very important to get good modeling jobs. We market our site
to the general public as well as to these advertising and marketing managers,
allowing people that never would normally see you have the opportunity to hire
you. Plus, your online information and pictures are available 24 hours a day,
365 days a year. So when they are looking for someone, your online profile
will be there. You have as much chance as anyone else we represent to be seen.
This means more exposure for you, and hopefully, more work. There is no charge
for putting your information in the database, and once you do, it is likely
that lots of people, including corporate clients and modeling agencies, will
see it. We will make it clear to aspiring models that if they don't think that
you're gorgeous because there are many assignments which don't require unusual
beauty. In fact, most modeling jobs are 'character' work, which may be for
print ads, commercials or other product related scenarios. There's also
promotional modeling, which may involve working at trade shows or other
promotional activities. What we're trying to say is that, sometimes there is
simply a need for a certain 'look', and who knows, you may be just what they
are looking for! In order to keep the site professional, we only accept
quality photos and people that we believe have a chance of getting work. If
you don't have quality photos, we can arrange to get some for you at very
little cost, but you must submit photos in order to be considered. Our
Partners In order to be successful, PittsburghModel.com must establish
relationships with local modeling agencies in the form of legal contracts.
Although these agencies are our customers, they are also our partners. We need
to help local agencies by sending them more models, while they can help us by
making sure all of the models referred by PittsburghModel.com are treated
friendly and professional. Agencies typically charge aspiring models anywhere
from $800-$5,000 to go through modeling training and portfolio development
once signed. PittsburghModel.com will require agencies to provide us with 20%
of any modeling fees incurred by the model we refer to them. Most models never
make it anywhere after this modeling development process, however, those
that do, end up very prosperous. Part of the contract that agencies sign with
us also agrees in giving us 3% of a models contract for as long as they are
signed with them. For example, if a model referred by PittsburghModel.com
lands a job with DKNY for 500,000 a year, we require the model to pay us our
3% for helping them get discovered. It is completely free to join
PittsburghModel.com, but if a model get rich, we will get a small percentage
of their fortune. This partnership that we establish with agencies goes a
lot deeper than us sending them aspiring models. We expect that our
participating agencies (partners), will treat our referred models with
sincerity. We do not want any of our models to get discouraged. Any
discouraged models result in a loss of potential revenue for both
PittsburghModel.com and local agencies. Our potential partners must also
realize that all aspiring models are willing to pay a lot of money if they are
told they have what it takes to become a model. Our philosophy is simple.
Everyone has what it takes to become a model of some sort, thus everyone
should be treated fairly, and be given the opportunity to participate in the
respective agencies modeling process. In other words, we expect agencies to be
lenient in the modeling recruitment process, which will in turn, bring them
more revenue. Our Business Processes 1. Payroll Process Pittsburgh Models
revenues are commissions based on a percentage of a successful referral
between a model and an agency. Thus, the companys partners are paid through
commission based-salaries. The company consists of five partners, each
receiving an equal proportion of company profits. Company commission is the
referral fee of connecting aspiring models to interested agencies. A 20% cut
is made from the agencys fees (i.e. creation of a portfolio, marketing the
client, etc.), which normally range from $800 to $1,200, and is given to
Pittsburgh Model. An additional 5% of a models earnings in modeling jobs,
contracts, etc. is also given to Pittsburgh Model as a successful contract
fee. One potential problem that lies within this process is that because our
revenues are commission based, we must establish contracts between our clients
and ourselves to ensure that we are paid for our services. Aspiring models can
go straight to the agencies themselves, which though highly unsuccessful, does
not require our particular service. Thus with an official contract we can
ensure that our company will be paid its proper dues. 2. Client Registration
Process As anyone is free to aspire to become a model, Pittsburgh Model
registers all of our aspiring clients into our free database. We receive
applications and photos from potential clients, store their personal
information into our database, and send their photographs to our webmaster who
updates our online portfolios and galleries. A potential problem that may
occur is that we cannot possibly post all the information that we receive from
our clients onto our company site, which we must maintain in a very specific
manner. Our site must maintain a very professional appearance for our company
image; any information, unsuitable photographs in particular, that would serve
to harm the image of our site and thus our company should not be posted
regardless of our free database and desire to attain all aspiring models as
clients. 3. Website Update Process This particular process is delegated to two
of our five partners, who are thus also our company webmasters. They receive
applications and portfolios, which are emailed from prospective clients, and
post them onto the company website photo gallery. These updates, as well as
additional ones i.e. changes in website appearance, addition of new models,
etc., are made daily. A potential problem that may occur in this process is
that the expansion of our clientele is virtually unlimited. In the case that
our clientele expands beyond the capacity of our two webmasters, potential
problems could arise that would overflow our database and make this process,
which is already tedious, nearly impossible. Competition and Risks There are
many firms that provide the same services online, but there is not one that is
based in Pittsburgh. Moreover, there are also businesses that are geared
specifically towards minorities, such as Asians, Hispanics, and African
Americans. Some examples of these online firms are: www.webtalent.com,
www.ovationmen.com, www.searchformodels.com, www.hispanicmodel.net,
www.asianmodel.net, and www.africanamericanmodels.net Because
PittsburghModel.com acts as an intermediary between potential models and
agencies, the only substitute for our service is for models to directly
contact modeling agencies, which is somewhat a very discouraging process.
Although we do not feel that we will encounter any difficulties in the near
future, we are still taking into account any minor problems that we might
face. The fact that we have a limited budget might hurt us at first. We are
currently investing our own time and money into this project, thus, the
opportunity cost is significant. Another problem that we might face is with
contract negotiation. Hopefully, models and agencies will not get discouraged
with the percentages that we will take. In Conclusion PittsburghModel.com take
into account a lot of factors when coming up with our decisions. A lot of our
points that we make are based on a number of assumptions. For example, we are
assuming, that anyone, if told they have what it takes to pursue a modeling
career, will try to pursue it at reasonable cost. We are also assuming that
both agencies and models will be willing to share profits with us in exchange
for our services. If our assumptions are correct, PittsburghModel.com could be
revolutionary. The fact that we will advertise this site on the streets of
Pittsburgh as well as in online chat rooms and message boards will provide us
with a limited cost of marketing, that will lead to a large member base. This
large member base will result in more and more signed models throughout our
progression. We would also like to state that we as a group, have actually
bought the www.pittsburghmodel.com domain name, and are in the process of
fully developing our website before we officially publish it online.
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