Photos are a Brand's Best Friend

Copy writers will have a fit. They'll choke on their toast and marmalade, spit chips, fall off the bus and miss their deadline. They won't like it but I'm going to say it anyway. In the 1 to 3 seconds a designer has available to capture the attention of a magazine reader, direct mail recipient or TV addict, a picture can create an impression on that person far faster and more comprehensively than words can. Extend that to 10 seconds and I may have to pay up on the $10 bet. Get the designer and copy writer to work together to combine a great photo with a great headline and you're on the road to success.

Let's talk about photographs. As far as photo libraries are concerned, the photos they offer tend to fall into two categories – predictable and inspired, mostly because they have to cater for a wide range of tastes and applications. Slowly but surely the typical 'americanised' shots from the big agencies are becoming more universal in their appeal. Photo libraries are big business. The impending sale price of Getty is rumoured to be $1.5 billion. Photo libraries got wise in the '90s to the fact that talented photographers see the opportunity to shoot for a photo library to be far easier and more secure financially than the heart breaking routine of touting portfolios around creative agencies hoping for the big shoot to appear.


When we talk about branding we're essentially talking about the ability to create an impression OR put another way, the ability to create within a person a positive perception of a product, service, individual or organisation. Photography plays a key role in achieving this. Branding is also about differentiation. Being able to make something or someone stand out in the crowd. Giving them an unfair advantage over competitors. To achieve this you have to appeal to one or more of the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Although there are several creative agencies out there extolling the virtues of experiential branding and brand theatre, the two senses that brand communicators rely on are sight and hearing. Take websites for example. we look at them and read them, therefore graphics and words are vital. We also listen to them when audio files are played. Therefore the human voice and music can command our attention and influence our understanding and appreciation.

The visual sense is the most important. Static images, moving images and words. As far as moving images are concerned, broadband and the rise of sites like YouTube have revolutionised the way video is regarded and consumed online. Quality is an issue and will be until ultra high speed web access is achieved.


Photography is used quite differently. And here is where video directors will hate me, but I'm going to say it anyway. Video does not rely on getting every second's worth of tape perfect. Photographers however strive to get every single image as perfect as possible. Content, composition, lighting, colour balance, visual effects obtained later in Photoshop and more. Photography today integrates creative talent with technical mastery. Canon's latest top end professional SLR boasting 21.1 megapixels is not for the faint hearted.

So where's all this leading? As part of the brand development process, your brand consultant/designer will consider the creation of a portfolio of images in a recognisable and consistent style that you can 'own' as a key component of brand expression. When these photos are regularly featured in communications and marketing materials, audiences will begin to recognise their style and increasingly associate them with your brand.

Sporting goods manufacturers, automobile manufacturers and fashion houses for example devote huge attention to detail when commissioning photographs which exude the absolute essence of the sporting lifestyle, the SUV pounding across the desert or the stylish black suit on the catwalk model. As far as branding goes, we're not talking about the content so much as the recognisable style of the photo. If the name was covered up would you still recognise it as Nike, Toyota and Boss?


It is important therefore that you identify the brand values that the photos must project before the designer or art director embarks on a photo library search or prepares a brief for a photographer. Failure to do so will devalue your brand and make life difficult for your copy writer. And we don't want that now do we?

Photographing people is especially difficult, demanding a fine balance between creative talent, people skills and technical mastery. Few photographers have this balance. Check out Paul Simcock at www.paulsimcock.com – one of San Francisco's finest when it comes to delivering on tough brand building assignments. We show some of his fine photos here on this post.

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
tony@heywood.com.au
www.heywood.com.au

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