The Original Free Entry ModelGirl Contest

ModelGirl, London's original free model search, is on again at last!

It's been dormant for a few years, mainly because we just didn't feel the time was right, but now ModelGirl has been relaunched for 2012.

We first ran our ModelGirl contest back in 1992 - in the dark days before just about everyone had internet access. At first, we tried to promote it ourselves as a small, local event. Part of that promotion involved sending press releases to every local newspaper we could find to try to get something published about the contest. We were lucky, because the then largest local newspaper group in East London heard about it.

That started a close, cooperative relationship which lasted for almost fifteen years.We ran the contest each year through the local 'papers. They provided free coverage in exchange for our work in shooting all the pictures and administering the whole thing. Clearly, they were happy to have the extra readership the contest brought and to be associated with what became a very successful annual event.

In the mid 2000s, the newspaper group were bought by an even larger publishing company - one which, it has to be said, did not share the same enthusiasm for promoting local events.

That coincided with our hopes to take the whole thing onto the national stage, extending the idea further with a travelling roadshow-style of mobile studio, intended to cover most of England.
As the support from the newspapers declined, we put a huge effort into promoting through every other conceivable channel - supermarkets, health clubs, beauticians, model agencies - you name it, we spoke to them, agreed terms and set things up. Sadly, it was just too inefficient to do things that way and the project was abandoned. Abandoned, but not dead.

As the internet as grown in popularity, it was only a matter of time before we felt it was possible to restart the contest, promoting it through the medium which has grown to replace local newspapers for most people as a source of news and events information.

The continued popularity of similar, TV based contests also convinced us that the time was right.

So, We're running it at www.gibsonsphoto.co.uk/modelgirl and promoting through several internet channels. The search is on!

There's google adwords, of course. That's been driving a couple of dozen entries each day towards the promotional pages on our site. Then there's social media such as facebook, twitter and such.

They all have their place in the overall scheme of things and we expect their influence to grow.

Right now, things are gathering pace. Previous experience suggests we'll see a big infux of entries in the new year, as people start to think more about their futures, careers and what they really want out of life.


While that can sound like just so much marketing speak, the truth is we have 'discovered' quite a few successful models over the years. Some of our entrants, finalists and winners have have success on TV in presentatation roles, in fashion as catwalk models and yes, on Page 3, too.

The contest seems to give those individuals both the confidence and the experience to approach the things they want to do more positively, and that's vitally important in this business. Certainly, we do everything we can reasonably do to help - in the past we often used our network of 'names' to put our models in touch with the right people. And of course, having a pretty full portfolio of high quality pictures to show doesn't do any harm either...

So, while we won't try to pretend it's not a money-making opportunity for us, it's much more than that. It really is a genuine step onto the ladder of success for many of our models.

Of course, we also recognise that there are a LOT of girls who have no intention of following a modeling career, but just want a bit of fun and the excitement that goes with being a part of something like this. That's fine - we'd never exclude anyone. The funseekers are sometimes the most genuinely enthusiastic models of all! They get their buzz and they can get pictures of themselves the like of which they'd otherwise probably never see at prices that are extremely reasonable. We don't try to hard-sell and we don't try to oversell. We do offer a great deal on pictures for those who want them, but with no pressure at all.

Is that so hard to believe in today's manipulating, misleading, rip-off culture where a so-called 'free makeover' can end up costing those fooled into participation a small fortune? I suppose it is. The difference about us is that we're a business that's been established for sixty years. Not sixty days. We have every intention of being around a lot longer, not disappearing as soon as we feel we've milked every possible penny out of our marketing budget and have a reputation that smells like a farmyard.