Every morning we wake up and step into a world that is increasingly faster and more complex. A world that makes it easier to create and achieve more and more.
This is a world that will produce over 4.6 million pieces of content today, with up to 10,000 of those vying for your attention as the day unfolds. (Important to note, these stats are only estimates as the counting cannot keep up with the speed this is all moving at). Technology is making this rapid advancement in content and image creation possible. It’s ever easier for individuals and brands alike to make, create and generate imagery, and places for it to go. In every pocket is a very capable camera, photoshop is the next app over, and AI is just a few taps past that. The days of waiting days for a hand painted image to be produced seem so distant (although not without romance), even though this was the norm just a few decades ago.
So this is great right? Absolutely. Brands can get their products and imagery online, on-social and in app quicker than ever before. But with speed comes risk, and image creation is no exception. In a fast paced, image saturated world, just creating visuals is not enough. Making sure they uniquely reflect your brand amongst those other 9,999 examples is vital.
Good photography lets you join the bunch. Great photography separates you from the crowd.
Great photography supports your brand, and clarifies your message. The right image will tell a buyer in a split second whether this car is great on fuel or goes really fast. It'll help an expert mountaineer understand if these boots are made to make it up Kilimanjaro, or better suited for the weekly expedition to Woolies. With 90% of online buyers saying that photo quality is the most crucial factor in an online sale (according to Etsy and Justuno), the decisions brands make around imagery are more important than ever.
Behind the scenes and in front of the lens during the Gold Class food and beverage shoot. (Photographer Andrew Richey, Stylist Vicki Valsamis).
While investing in great, brand-aligned imagery can be daunting, the rewards are easy to see. Our reshape of Village Cinemas Gold Class food photography and menu to better reflect the luxurious cinema experience resulted in spend per customer increasing by $1.20. From first glimpse to last bite, the photography tells the story of the special and elevated cinema food experience befitting the Gold Class brand.
The new Gainsborough style guide is another example of how imagery can be leveraged to shift brand perception. The brand is moving to make stronger connections with the design focused side of the building world, and needed their product to be considered by interior designers and stylists. Hive helped Gainsborough by creating a set of imagery that is on trend, exciting and most importantly, elevates the exceptional design qualities to appeal to the design savvy.
Gainsborough style elevation on-set and end results. (Photographer Garth Oriander, Stylist Jacqui Erskine).
Both these approaches are made possible by a knowledgeable team of stylists, photographers, designers, editors, retouchers and of course, insightful clients. And while not every project will have the budget to engage a comprehensive team like this, the decisions that lead to image creation at any level are the same.
How should you best capture your subject to best capture your audience?
Caino (no-one at Hive calls him Michael) leads our creative team with over 17 years of communications and design experience accumulated across many different industries. From toy design to advertising and everything in between, Caino has thrived in solving varied visual and communicative problems for many leading brands and their customers.
