www.actionpress.de – www.ddpimages.com
www.stellapictures.se – www.picturepress.de
 www.intertopics.com – www.food-centrale.com

action press, one of the largest photo agencies in the world

Since 1970 action press has been represented in the German media market and has established itself as the leading stock agency during this time. Worldwide, we have long been one of the best and largest stock providers.

Since August 2021 action press AG has been the parent company of the ddp photo agency group. In addition to the ddp media GmbH (Hamburg) and Stella Pictures AB (Stockholm) companies, this also includes the Picture Press, Intertopics and FoodCentrale picture agency brands.

action press is the first port of call for magazine publishers and television broadcasters in particular, also when it comes to current picture reporting in the entertainment sector.

The agency sees itself as an interface between photographers, video producers and media clients. Publishers and other media companies will find an outstanding variety of topics and a large selection of current and archive material at action press.

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action press AG: RTL continues cooperation

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, May 21, 2025 - The visual media company and supplier of editorial photography, videos and stock images, action press AG has made a successful start to 2025. Its Hamburg-based subsidiary action press international gmbh is pleased to announce the extension of its cooperation with the RTL broadcasting group. This means that the long-standing partnership will continue for a further period - with the supply of image and video material from the entertainment, celebrity and paparazzi sectors for television, live broadcasts and digital platforms.

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action press strengthens night production with new location in Buenos Aires

Frankfurt/Hamburg, April 9, 2024 – action press AG picture agency group is strengthening its night production with the opening of its third international location in Buenos Aires. The new editorial team in the Argentinian capital started work at the beginning of April. Two editors mainly manage the production of entertainment content in video format during the nighttime hours in Europe. The aim is to strengthen the offer for the early morning hours, which are of great importance for TV stations and digital media.

The editorial office in Buenos Aires is being opened in collaboration with the Grosby Group (Los Angeles) American agency, which is providing action press with both the office and specialized editorial staff.

In addition to Buenos Aires, action press has international offices in Stockholm, where its subsidiary Stella Pictures AB is based, and Auckland, where the agency has been coordinating the official photo production for the New Zealand Rugby Union since July last year. A total of 18 photo editors and photographers are working on behalf of action press in New Zealand and Australia.

During the working hours of the new office in Buenos Aires, numerous events from the world of entertainment and show business take place, mainly in the USA.

With the opening of the new editorial office in Argentina, action press is taking advantage of the time difference and can process content about events that take place during the night in Europe during regular working hours.

Photo: Sven Simon/ddp

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Strategy meeting in Hamburg

Strategy meeting in Hamburg on February 6, 2024 with the CEOs of action press AG, Ulli Michel and Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, ddp CEO Vicente Poveda and Prof. Axel Haas, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of action press AG.

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Annual General Meeting of action press AG

Annual General Meeting of action press AG on October 26, 2023 with 90.17% of the voting share capital represented.

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action press is appointed by SmartFrame Technologies Ltd (London) to capture the official photography of Manchester City Football Club

Frankfurt/Hamburg, October 24, 2023 – Following on from the New Zealand Rugby announcement back in July, it’s great to now be working with SmartFrame on the Manchester City Football Club Official Photography Library: action press will be responsible for capturing all official images at Manchester City Football Club games and events – with the first game having already been captured on Friday – and all images can be found on the Official Photography Library for publishers around the world to embed on their sites, free of charge. We’re looking forward to building out the library with fresh content and further demonstrating our commitment to reshaping the way the sports brands take control over their images and their associated rights.

Ulli Michel and Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, members of the Management Board of action press AG: "The strategic alliance with our technology partner SmartFrame has led to the most significant contract in the 53-year history of action press. action press will supply all photo material from Manchester City Football Club matches, PR campaigns and fan events to SmartFrame from October 21, 2023. As a global content player, action press is focusing on the new industry standard of photo streaming and is strongly expanding this business area with SmartFrame."

Man City official website
Man City LinkedIn page
SmartFrame LinkedIn page
Wallstreet Online Website
kress website
Finanznachrichten website

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action press & SmartFrame are off to a great start

New Zealand Rugby kicks off game-changing new partnership with image-streaming company SmartFrame to gain full ownership of its images
UK-based start-up SmartFrame Technologies has been appointed the official photography and image-distribution partner of New Zealand Rugby (NZR), allowing the national rugby union organisation to uncover new advertising revenues and fan engagement opportunities.

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action press official photo partner of New Zealand Rugby flagship "All Blacks" team

action press becomes a media tech asset and launches streaming business model in the digital sports photo market with UK-based SmartFrame Technologies

Hamburg, July 5, 2023 - The action press photo agency (Hamburg) will exclusively take over the entire official photo production for the New Zealand national rugby team "All Blacks" and distribute it worldwide via the innovative streaming platform of the British software specialist SmartFrame Technologies, Inc. (London).

On this occasion, action press is establishing a technology partnership with SmartFrame for the digital photo market. This enables potentially attractive economies of scale, as a significant portion of the expected revenue is based on the monetization of image views on the Internet. Further photo projects with global reach sports brands are in the pipeline, New Zealand Rugby with All Blacks are the first client in the new streaming business model.

For coverage of all All Blacks matches and other official dates in New Zealand and abroad, action press has built up a ten-strong team of experienced professional sports photographers in New Zealand and otherwise uses its own global network of photographers, established over decades.

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Top appointments at media tech asset action press

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 1, 2023 - As the first picture agency group ever, action press AG (Frankfurt) will map the transformation from the previous print focus to the expected new industry standard streaming of digital media assets with the British SmartFrame Technologies Ltd. (London) in all operational processes and has reorganized its personnel accordingly: In the course of its structuring into the three business areas of classic picture agency, streaming and AI-driven content, it will appoint an editor-in-chief and a CFO (chief financial officer) for the first time in its more than fifty-year history on September 1, 2023.

The new Editor-in-Chief of the action press group is Daniel Nikolic (42), who has been Visual Content and Assignment Editor at action press subsidiary ddp media GmbH since 2017. With his many years of cross-functional management experience in finance and accounting, controlling, human resources and IT, Graduate in Business Administration Frank Glandorf (50) is the new commercial director of action press AG.

“We are very pleased that in Daniel Nikolic we have been able to recruit an editor-in-chief from our own ranks for this important task,” says action press AG CEO Ulli Michel. “In addition to lived pragmatism, Nikolic stands out with his strong digital expertise; we are now opening up strong monetization opportunities for publishers and content providers.” “We are equally pleased to have Frank Glandorf return to action press,” said board member Prof. Moritz Hunzinger. “Glandorf is a strategically thinking, execution-driven entrepreneurial personality with a strong market and customer focus, who also has in-depth knowledge of the image industry.”

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Annual General Meeting of action press AG

Annual General Meeting of action press AG at the offices of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek lawyers in Frankfurt, chaired by Prof. Axel Haas, Chairman of the Supervisory Board; Notary: Dr. jur. Rouven Redeker (Deloitte Legal), 24 January 2023.

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James W. Gerard V., Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of action press AG, meets the 27th United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper today in New York

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How successfully is action press AG already using artificial intelligence?

action press in an exchange with Germany's first Chair of Digitalization, Prof. Dr. rer. pol. habil. Key Pousttchi.

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action press acquires minority stake in NFTARTHOUZE GmbH

Frankfurt, 24. November 2022 – Die Bildagentur action press international GmbH hat eine 5 %-Beteiligung an der NFTARTHOUZE GmbH (Frankfurt) erworben. NFTARTHOUZE erstellt und vermarktet Non-Fungible Token (NFT) sowie andere digitale Produkte. Ziel ist es über ihre Tochtergesellschaft NFT Arthouse B.V. (Frankfurt) eine führende internationale Galerie mit NFTs von höchster Qualität zu schaffen. NFT Arthouse ist ein mitgliedschaftsbasiertes Unternehmen, bei dem man durch einen einfachen Prozess in einem Schritt Mitglied werden und am NFT-Wachstum teilhaben kann.

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“Fairytales & Conspiracies” themed NFT Art by Tobias Rehberger

German sculptor and artist, Professor Tobias Rehberger has created ‘hybrid NFT art’ titled Fairytales & Conspiracies. Using material from the action press, he has created five digitally animated collages – which are 3,750 digital frames.

action press is targeting end users with NFTs for the first time in the company’s entire history; otherwise, we work exclusively for institutional clients.

With ‘Fairytales & Conspiracies,’ artist, Tobias Rehberger is devoting himself to the subject of authorship of art, originality and value. In order to create his artwork for this project, Rehberger has selected images from the stockpiles of action press, one of the biggest databases in the world. With these, he has distorted them and built them into five animated digital collages called Liquid Posters. Composed of a total of 3,750 unique digital frames are the five Liquid posters NFTs.
Rehberger worked with many partners in the creation of ‘Fairytales & Conspiracies’ NFT art collection. Namely, the clips feature quotes from Max Frisch’s book ‘Fragebogen’ (Questionnaire). Also, DJ, Markus Nikolai created the accompanying music. Finally, FINPRO handled the technical implementation of the smart contracts and UI.
A vernissage will be host to the first showing of the five Liquid Posters, starting at 6 PM at the TechQuartier in Frankfurt, Germany. It will not be until 7 PM that the clips can be seen on the website, and the NFTs purchased.
In addition, the creation process of ‘Fairytales & Conspiracies’ involves the viewers and potential buyers. Only when they decide on a frame and purchase is the NFT generated and automatically transferred to a digital Ethereum wallet. In addition to the digital frame, which is unique, part of the purchased NFT is an A1 print on paper of the selected frame signed by the artist – thus also unique – as well as a video file of the Liquid Poster from which the frame originates. Worldwide via mail, the buyers will have the A1 print delivered to their door.

Source:
https://financetin.com/tobias-rehberger-drops-fairytale-and-conspiracies-themed-nft-art/

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Introducing “Fairytales & Conspiracies” by Tobias Rehberger
action press ag gives you a chance to win #NFT:
5 Liquid Posters, comprising 3,750 #NFTs
5 lucky winners will get 1 #NFT each!
All you need to do is:
> like > follow > retweet > comment #FairytalesandConspiracies http://fairytalesandconspiracies.art
#NFTArt #CryptoArt #DigitalArt

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ddp Managing Director Vicente Poveda on the Board of BVPA

Berlin, August 24, 2022 - The general meeting of the German Association of Professional Picture Agencies (BVPA) elected ddp managing director Vicente Poveda to the board on August 18, 2022.

The German Association of Professional Picture Agencies (BVPA) was founded in Berlin in 1970 as a lobby group for German press picture agencies and picture archives. Today, BVPA is the leading authority in Germany and the European region for all matters relating to visual content and represents small and large image providers throughout Europe. The association also represents the interests of companies offering image agency-related services, e.g. technical and legal services such as keywording, rights tracking and distribution.
https://www.digit.de/bvpa-mitglieder-waehlen-neuen-vorstand/

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NFTs from action press: Advanced Blockchain subsidiary FinPro is a technology partner, Professor Tobias Rehberger is an artist and curator

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, April 5, 2022 - As was reported at the January 2022 Annual General Meeting, action press AG (Frankfurt) owns one of the largest catalogs of digital media assets bundled in one company worldwide and sees great potential in its exploitation in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Today, action press AG announced that it has allied with FinPro AG (Cologne), the tokenization-focused subsidiary of Advanced Blockchain AG (Berlin), as a technology partner for this purpose. Advanced Blockchain AG is Europe's leading, publicly traded Web3 incubator and is considered a technology leader in the blockchain industry in Germany. Designer and curator of the first five tokenization projects published by action press is Professor Tobias Rehberger, one of the most important contemporary world renowned German artists.

In his first NFT works, he surprises with the innovative concept of the so-called "Liquid Posters" in which moving and still images as well as the physical and virtual worlds converge. "We evaluate our digital assets and make valuable photos digitally tradable as tokens in the form of digitally unique or limited editions, as a whole or in parts," says Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, CEO of action press.

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"action press Paparazzi": launch of the largest offer of high society press photography in Germany

Hamburg, January 4, 2022 - From now action press will offer the largest range of paparazzi content ever seen in Germany. Productions of the BackGrid US & Australia, BackGrid UK, Splash and X17 celebrity news agencies as well as action press' own photo series will appear every morning under one roof. "There has never been more paparazzi content from a single source in Germany. We are starting 2022 with a highly competitive media offering," says Ulli Michel, CEO of action press international gmbh.

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action press photo database with strong growth: now 146.8 million digital media assets in the inventory

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 9, 2021 - As of today, action press international GmbH (Hamburg) has 72.5 million keyworded photos in its database. Including the photo inventory of ddp media GmbH (Hamburg) of 74.3 million photos, action press AG (Frankfurt am Main) has a new total of 146.8 million photos. As of August 1, 2021, action press AG reported 110 million photos. 
On September 2, 2021, action press AG, one of the largest photo agencies in the world, informed that it had acquired 100% of the shares of ddp. "We are not only continuing our growth organically. If it stays at the new pace we have picked up a year ago, we will soon replace Getty Images as the market leader alongside our Chinese competitors," said Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, CEO of action press AG.

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action press acquires ddp: one of the world's largest photo agencies has been created in Germany action press now with 110 million digital media assets in the inventory, up to 50,000 new photos daily - 5,000 photographers and video producers in 120 countries - 130 partner agencies

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 2, 2021 - It is the second takeover after the acquisition of the photo assets of the smaller competitor face to face GmbH in February 2021 and one of the largest in the entire industry of photo databases: action press AG (Frankfurt am Main), parent company of action press international GmbH, a media agency founded in Hamburg in 1970, today signed a purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in ddp Media GmbH (Hamburg).

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action press: Change in the shareholder structure

Hamburg, August 19, 2020 - action press sets the course for the future. Prof. Moritz Hunzinger joins the group of shareholders and will lead the photo agency together with the long-standing and proven managing director Ulli Michel. Since August 2020, Hunzinger and Michel have formed the Executive Board of the newly founded parent company, action press AG, based in Frankfurt am Main. Both are now also half owners of this "global digital media company." Michel manages the day-to-day editorial business with publishers, media customers, TV stations, photographers and partner agencies. Hunzinger is responsible for strategic development.

"I will establish action press as a leading photo agency in the digital age," says new co-owner Hunzinger. "In Moritz Hunzinger, we have gained a passionate and well-connected media professional who has been closely associated with action press for many years. He will give decisive impetus to our future development," says Michel. With Hunzinger, an old acquaintance is returning to action press. Back in 1999, as CEO of the listed infas Holding AG (formerly Hunzinger Information AG), he acquired a majority stake in action press for 20 million deutschmarks and led the agency as its CEO until 2004. Michel took over action press in the summer of 2018 as part of a management buyout and has been the sole managing director since then.

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Every year, picture agencies and picture brands of action press post thousands of photos and videos in the media, with hundreds on front pages as well.

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action press: The Bigger Picture

50+ years, 200 million pictures and counting: action press aggregates up to 50,000 new tagged pictures from 5,000 photographers and 130 partner agencies in 120 countries – each and every day.