National rugby union organization spearheads a new model for the sports image ecosystem, uncovering new advertising revenues and fan engagement opportunities
London UK, 5 July 2023: SmartFrame Technologies, a leading UK-based tech start-up that is redefining the digital image standard, has today announced its appointment as the official photography and image-distribution partner of New Zealand Rugby (NZR).
SmartFrame has enlisted the services of action press international – a leading photography service provider – led by Ulli Michel, former Global Pictures Editor of Reuters, to capture all official photography of the All Blacks, Black Ferns, Māori All Blacks, and NZR’s other Teams in Black.
SmartFrame has also partnered with leading digital asset management specialist picturemaxx, whose platform is used to store and distribute all images within the library.
The SmartFrame model assigns the rights to these images to NZR and allows the organization to profit from the revenues generated by occasional in-image advertising that will be displayed within the images. Under this new com