Tickling your fancy with a fun new way of photo-processing

Tim O'Halloran, left, and Aaron Ward have plenty to laugh about. Picture / Richard Robinson

The bright blue Tickle pods popping up round Auckland are part of a crusade to rescue photos from shoeboxes and computer hard drives.

Aaron Ward and Tim O'Halloran believe photos should be enjoyed, not hidden away in storage.

With their business, Tickle, they have set out to provide a new and easy way for camera-users to process their photos and bring them to life.

Tickle customers drop off their films or upload the memory card of their digital cameras at the pods, select and edit the photos from the internet at home, and then get the photos delivered to their door.

The pair, who have a background in telecommunications, came up with the Tickle concept over lunch in a kebab shop.

"People were saying film was dead. But we saw an opportunity in that and thought, let's see if we can do something about it," said Ward.

They now think their naivety as newcomers to the industry has worked to their advantage.

"The starting point was, how should we do photos from the customer's point of view?" said Ward.

One thing they wanted to change about film processing was the way customers had to pay for the whole film to be developed, when it often contained photos they did not want.

Also, they wanted to allow film users to manipulate their photos digitally in the same way digital photographers could.

Tickle pods were locally designed and developed in partnership with a kiosk and web development company, and the pair say they have not seen anything like them elsewhere in the world.

They aimed to make using the service fast and simple.

Tickle customers spend less than a minute depositing their film or download their CD or memory card at the self-service, touch-screen kiosk.

The photos then appear for free viewing on the Tickle website, where customers, sitting at home, can select and pay for the ones they want.

The photos are then processed and posted out within a few days.

Customers can also edit the photos online by choosing between black and white or colour, cropping, adding borders, enlarging or reducing the size and choosing the type of paper they want them printed on.

Images can also be printed on T-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, calendars, greeting cards or produced as a jigsaw puzzle.

"The idea is to get people enjoying their photos in different ways and to make them part of their everyday lives," said O'Halloran.

 

A new Tickle service allows customers to compile a photo album using their images on the site. The album is sent out as a bound copy.

The first four Tickle pods were launched in December. There are now eight in Auckland, at SkyCity, BP stations and Les Mills gyms.

This number is set to grow after the pair signed an agreement with Foodtown-Woolworths stores and Video Ezy chains this month.

Thousands of film drop-offs are received each week, exceeding expectations.

The pair are also surprised by the volume of national sales, despite not yet having a presence outside Auckland.

Ward and O'Halloran are the major shareholders and have financed the business with the help of a number of individual investors.

The business is a lean operation, running with two other fulltime staff who manage "customer promise" and "customer delivery".

The name Tickle was chosen from an early list of 680 names.

Ward said the photo industry was dominated by big companies branded with soulless, primary colours with hard lines and no personality, which did not reflect what photography was all about.

"The name needed to be about fun, movement, colour and personality. Tickle's a brand people will have affection for."

One of the challenges in building the business was getting people used to a new concept for processing their photos. Another was overcoming opposition from inside the industry.

"Everyone said kiosks were only for digital photos or that the photos would have to be printed on the spot. But we're saying, you can do it all in the comfort of your home," said Ward.

They now like to think they have designed something that will outflank the rest of the industry.

"We want to see Tickle pods on every corner," said Ward. "There are no boundaries to where Tickle can go, across geographic and industry borders."

The Tickle concept

* Tickle is a new photo-processing service.
* It allows users to view and edit their photos on the internet and have them delivered to their door.
* There are eight Tickle pods round Auckland and the number is growing.