Marketers have had to learn to bust out some quirky moves to get noticed and stand out in an increasingly busy market-place. Creativity and innovation are the life source of any brand, and with the ever-growing media platforms from social and online to TV and print, we need to keep those limbs nimble and tap shoes shiny.
In such a competitive new world, I am baffled as to why so many brands are blatantly lazy when it comes to picking their marketing images. Did all these marketing teams go through the same checklist?
• Use a person, check.
• Choose a pretty female, check.
• Ensure she’s ethnically “neutral”, check.
And they all arrive at Ariane. For those who don’t know the most utilised photo-stock image girl, let me introduce you…Ariane, a Canadian business-savvy model,has been used in so many brands across the globe that she even has her own Facebook page: “Ariane -The overexposed stock image model”.
Used over and over again in a variety of unrelated brands, Ariane has become a fitness- junkie, cookie-baking, travel-bug, job-hunting, house-cleaning, gin-drinking lawyer, nurse, girlfriend, student.
Her reach is far and wide, from Africa to Asia, US to the Ukraine, and here on our sandy shores. In Cayman, Ariane has been seen drinking juice, kickboxing and working at the grocery store. I am tired of seeing this multi-tasking, super talented, always smiling girl wherever I go. It’s unoriginal, oversaturated and uninspiring.
Ariane is not the only stock image that makes me want to put in my Mr Potato Head angry eyes and scream, “do you take me for a fool, marketers?” I am referring to those ridiculously cheesy and unrealistic images, you know the ones, the business man running on a track with his briefcase, the manically smiling woman with a definitive ‘thumbs up’ or the high-five moment between the office team. Unless you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole into a world run on hyper-emotion, how can anyone relate to this type of image in real-life?
Marketing images should be used to inspire, stir emotion and encourage a meaningful connection. Don’t become a ‘deja vu brand’. When it comes to finding the right quality photo to connect your message to your customer, remember this:
Use large beautifully shot images that the viewer feels they could be a part of the scene.
Use people looking to camera or scenes of nature to encourage a connection.
Be artistic, original and creative in your artwork choices.
Stop using cheesy istock photos.
No more Ariane please!
