Simplicity, Clarity and Visual Impact in Advertising28/09/11
The recent death of Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, led to numerous plaudits of his work and contribution to the company from many different industries and professionals. Under his guidance, Apple has become one of the world’s leading companies, and inarguably has one of the strongest, and most desirable product ranges ever.
Yet one particular aspect of Apple’s modern 21st century image was largely shaped by its advertising and intertwined with its product design: simplicity.
Of course, having a strong product is vital to the success of any advertising campaign. But the importance (and ubiquity amongst successful brands) of simplicity and clarity in their advertising is evident: Nike, Virgin, Amazon, and eBay are four companies whose international status is, at least in part, due to the success and simplicity of their previous advertising campaigns. Both the iPad and Amazon Kindle campaigns are current examples of simplistic advertising. They simply display the product and demonstrate what it does.
However, the emergence of CGI and digital software to manipulate and create images and motion in contemporary advertising should be viewed in tandem with this simple style of advertising. At Taylor James, our motion work regularly demonstrates our belief in simple advertising, paired with our expertise in using CGI and retouch to achieve a stunning visual impact. Working with Y&R, San Francisco in our advertising campaign for Citrix Systems, we were asked to further promote the company’s computer virtualization services. Though we used both live action photography and CGI, the result is a crisp and clear motion result, which demonstrates the product simply, but with the visual impact that we are renowned for.
Starbucks are another internationally recognised brand opting for a simple advertising campaign for their ‘however-you-want-it’ Frappucino drinks range. Yet because the advert is dependant on the juxtaposition between sounds and visuals, the advert is only screened in cinemas, where the volume and impact of the combination is at its most powerful. The advert also has a consistent white background, and is simply a demonstration of the wide variety of customers who buy Starbucks Frappucinos – it is simple, crisp, clear and visually (and audibly) impacting.
Yet as well as motion advertising, the importance of simplicity in print advertising can never be underestimated. Brands have long championed print adverts that are founded on simplicity and good design; the classic Guinness adverts such as ‘My Goodness, My Guinness’ and ‘Lovely Day For A Guinness’ are now of iconic status. Today’s print advertising is increasingly dependant on the digital manipulation of images to achieve the maximum impact possible whilst still maintaining clarity; examples of this are now commonplace at bus stops and on billboards.
Working with Mullen, North Carolina, we produced our Nature Train project for CSX, the freight rail company to promote their fuel efficiency. Our retouch team worked on transforming the train from steel and iron into riverbanks and trees, and yet whilst the work and skills required for the project were far from simple, the final message is.
Simplicity in advertising is at the very heart of the industry’s concept: to promote a brand, service or product as clearly and efficiently as possible to generate or maintain consumer interest. In an age where people want their information faster, and have less time to decode adverts, a foundation of simplicity and clarity has never been more important.
The feature image for this blog is “Campbell’s Soup”