How to Produce Executive Portraits

By Ron Owens

Besides packaging places, products, and people, modern executives find they must “package” themselves as well.

Until recently, for instance, photo portraits of executives were usually black-and-white, head-and-shoulder shots. Placed mainly in annual reports, they often offered unflattering, stilted images of company executives.

Today, with corporate imagery stressed heavily in marketing, the era of the corporate mug shot have ended. No longer confined to annual reports, executive portraits have taken on color, action and spontaneity.

Portraits of faces alone or full bodies have become commonplace. Often, executives are shown in their offices or factories, posing with their projects or doing actual work. A single full-length photo can be cropped in many ways and used in color or black-and-white for various corporate needs.

These new-style photos appear in everything from newspaper ads to sales brochures to business cards. Other uses include press releases, corporate newsletters, displays in company headquarters and regional offices.

Many firms have produced portraits of all company executives on a regular basis. However, whether the agency arranges the photo-taking session or not, executive photographs should be updated every three to four years to keep pace with changing hairstyles, fashions and appearances.

There are several tips for executives to be followed or strongly considered at portrait time.

  For men:

1.     Dark suit or sport jacket, preferably in a solid color or subdued plaid.

2.     Tie or shirt should create a “color accent.”

3.     Don’t wear “wild patterns or extravagant styles.”

4.     Hair should be trimmed or styled a few days before the photo session.

  For women:

1.     Wear long or three-quarter length sleeves.

2.     Wear dark or medium-toned clothing.

3.     Don’t wear “busy patterns.”

4.     Wear scarves and jewelry for accents

5.     Wear glasses, if you normally do.

6.     Wear your everyday make-up, possibly adding, for highlights, a touch of make-up to cheeks and gloss to lips.

7.     Keep your normal hairstyle making sure hair is clean and shiny.

Admittedly, I can only provide guidelines to women, especially when it comes to make-up and hair. My advice to women is to use your best judgment.

Ron Owens is President, Ron Owens & Associates, a market consultancy specializing in market development, diversity & Inclusion, recruiting & retention and multicultural marketing. He is the Past President, Ad Club of Metropolitan Washington; Governor, Mid-Atlantic Region of the 4A’s; Lt Gov, American Advertising Federation (AAF); member, Association of National Advertisers; co-founder / principal, LMO Advertising; VP, Diversity & Inclusion, TMP Worldwide and VP, Bozell Worldwide. Ron is a frequent guest lecturer and speaker at many of the region’s colleges and universities. Reachable via [email protected]