Remember that tune by Bonnie Raitt, “Let’s give them somethin’
to talk about?” It referred in its own lyrical way to word of
mouth, you know, “people are talkin,’” and whatever they’re talking
about is fast getting passed around.
Well, these days it’s not so much that people are talkin’ and
passing stuff around but, rather, that people are viewing,
recording things on their smart phones, and “sendin.’” Word of
mouth, as a social dynamic, is quickly being replaced by what brand
consultant Julie
Cottineau recently coined as “word of eye.” We live in a
culture whose technological advances have made images so simple to
capture and disseminate—and in which images are fast becoming the
currency of news and information—that this visual currency has
become the currency of choice. As a brand professional, I don’t
think words are over (I very much admire the brilliant writers in
my midst), but I do think that in a world saturated with screens of
every size continually demanding our attention, where events from
the totally inconsequential to the wholly earth-shaking play out
nonstop, smart marketers must reevaluate the importance of what
people see, and then want to photograph and share relative to
brands. The bottom line is that companies must ensure that their
brand experiences are click, shoot, and send worthy.
If there’s any doubt about sharable photo opportunities being a
key to success in branding, all one needs to do is walk down any
street and watch how anyone and everyone documents everything
imaginable with their smart phones, Apple, a master at using
strong, beautifully crafted visuals to show how its products fit
into peoples’ lives, just this week launched a new ad for its iPhone that follows the arc
of a day as people take pictures of everything imaginable to share
with their friends and family. It has but a single sentence of
voiceover dialogue, letting the action convey the message. It's the
ultimate in meta-word-of-eye branding. It’s a wonderful piece of
moviemaking—and brand building.
It’s obvious that digital technology is accelerating the speed
at which we learn about things. And it’s obvious that the younger
generation is leading the charge in the use of pictures as the de
facto way to communicate. Facebook, Foursquare, Pinterest, and
Instagram are all about real time visual immediacy. I’ll send you a
photo from my smart phone to document where I’ve eaten, what I’ve
eaten, the store in which I bought that super cute outfit, the view
from my hotel window, or the view from my seat at the concert.
People want to share things they feel passionate about, that they
like and enjoy, and they have the means to do so. Brand
organizations must pay heed to this fierce desire to document and
share all we see and use it to unlock the huge marketing potential
wherein everyday consumers are willing and able (no-cost)
advertisers of products and services.
When speaking to Julie Cottineau about the importance of visual
communication in today's marketplace, she told me, “If your brand
doesn’t have a signature, sharable image, you won’t be part of the
conversation. Think of the travel industry, for example. Posting a
picture of your vacation spot versus writing about it is quicker,
it’s easier, and it more credibly captures the experience. You need
to be able to show what your brand does, or stands for, in a way
that is telegraphic and evocative of the experience. People don’t
have time for lots of words. Increasingly we’re finding that it’s
the visual process, the ‘show me don't tell me,’ that gets
consumers hooked. Brands that want to thrive must think of their
products, literally and figuratively, through a visual lens, be
able to tell the brand story through pictures. It’s images that
differentiate brands, whether it’s the castle in Disney’s Magic
Kingdom, the fountains at the Bellagio hotel in Vegas, or the
clean, simple packaging that Method uses to distinguish its
cleaning products. Everything today is documented immediately, from
hard news to cultural events. Images travel fast and get the point
across more quickly. You’ve got to be able to figure out how to
differentiate your brand through images.”
Cottineau went on to remind me how much strong visual branding
is part of the success of Virgin America—Virgin’s domestic airline,
which launched in 2007 as a contender to the tired traditional
airlines, and in just six years has won numerous travel industry
awards and expanded its routes to 23 cities. “Virgin America pays a
lot of attention to the visual aspect of the experience. From the
moment you walk into the plane you can see a difference. There’s
purple mood lighting and white leather seats that really reinforce
the airline’s promise of a Breath of Fresh Airline. You
can literally hear people ooh and aah, and then watch them as they
reach for their cell phones to snap a picture to share the
experience with friends, all before they’ve even left the ground.
Take a look at Flickr, Pinterest, and Instagram and you’ll see tens
of thousands of shots and pins of the Virgin America planes. That’s
word-of-eye branding at work.”
The fact of the matter is that the busier we are, the
faster we need to be able to process information. Pictures are
simply easier to scan. Like it or not, people don't have a lot of
time, or patience, for words. That moment of truth that visually
captures the experience of the brand is worth a thousand words, and
thousands of dollars in free advertising for a brand. Smart
marketers know well the value of word of eye and they make sure
that their brand’s experience is worth capturin’ and sendin.’
First published on Forbes.com