STORYTELLING
notice how boring this page looks without imagery to help tell the story
Storytelling is the oldest and most powerful form of communication
Even today, our ancient history is known only because of storytelling, tales once told around campfires, and dinning halls, eventually transcribed. Our moral and spiritual guidance, a series of stories passed down for generations before eventually written on paper to live on for millennia.
Every brand tells a story..whether they realize it or not
Every day we use stories to SELL our products. This builds value in the consumer’s mind and forms a deeper bond, allowing them to experience something bigger than just the product itself. Creating an emotional connection with a consumer is the best way to build long term customers who are loyal to your brand.
Today, we have an even more powerful form of storytelling available…imagery
What could be said in a single photograph, or a short video clip, might take dozens of pages of written word to describe accurately, and likely a master of the written word to convey the emotion and feel of the scene. But today, the percentage of web searches taking place on a mobile devices continues to grow, estimated at close to 52% in 2020, making space on the page a premium. Using rich visuals to convey your brand identity is more important than ever.
Emotion and Memory
Once we’ve established emotion around something, its much easier to recall accurately. Utilizing imagery to convey emotion to a viewer is a crucial step in a successful sale and in brand recognition. To this day I can think back to stories my grandfather told, and among the most vivid was a story he told from his time in the USAF, refueling the SR-71 in midflight. I can still see some of the slide film in my mind as he talked about the plane struggling to stay in flight at such low speeds, wobbling slightly in the more dense air at low altitudes. Truly dizzying to think about, nerves start to come in, and I can imagine the buzz of the engines and the dry cold of a heavily used plane at altitude. Those images burned into my brain for all time, and without them, the memories would be fuzzy, the details likely lost.
FACTS ARE FOR TELLING
STORIES ARE FOR SELLING
HOW DOES STORYTELLING THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY WORK?
First things first, identifying the raw elements within the brand. Much work goes into building this overall story of the brand.
What makes your product unique?
What are your stories?
Which stories can be tuned towards something that can be visually appealing to the customer?
Who are your customers?
How can we shoot these stories to target specific audiences?
what is the tone you like your audience to feel when thinking of your brand?
From this initial stage of discovery, a storyboard starts to develop, a blueprint for how the story should be utilized through sales material. This storyboard allows us to capture moments that fit certain pivotal moments so that they may flow into something that feels familiar while leaving room for the unexpected moments that can sometimes tell the tale best in their raw form. Whether it be capturing the creation of the product, the people and their personalities, the place and its characteristics, or a combination of all three, all should be shot to flow within this story, not as a separate entity.
EVERYONE’S STORY IS DIFFERENT
I’d love to hear about your brand, and the stories that we can tell together.