Why The World's Biggest Brands Rely on Visual Marketing Campaigns

When looking at some of the best marketing campaigns from top brands around the world, many of them have one thing in common.

Visuality 👀

In this article, we’re going to be explaining exactly what visual marketing campaigns are and why they work so well, including examples from famous campaigns that were huge successes.

What are Visual Marketing Campaigns? 🤔

Visual marketing is the use of anything that appeals to the eye in an attempt to sell a product, service or experience.

It uses colour and design in a range of media types such as photographs, videos and graphics which can be used online, in person, in print or on the product packaging itself.

Visual marketing primarily appeals to the sense of sight, with the ultimate goal of converting target audiences into customers.

Why Does Visual Marketing Work So Well? 🧠

Visual campaigns are one of the most successful methods of marketing due to the way in which humans process information.

Research has found that 90% of the information we absorb is visual and that it takes just 13 milliseconds for the brain to process an image– that’s 60,000 times faster than it takes to process text!

This means that visuals are a lot quicker and easier to understand compared with other ways of transmitting information, so you can get your message across a lot faster.

Studies have also shown that 80% of people remember what they see, compared to the 10% who remember what they hear and the 20% who remember what they read.

Additionally, people are likely to remember only 10% of information they have heard three days after hearing it. However, when a relevant image is paired with the information, people are likely to remember 65% of the information three days later.

So when it comes to making your brand memorable, creating engaging visuals is your best bet!

Different Types of Visual Content

There are endless ways to capture your audience’s attention with eye-catching visuals. Here are some examples of different types of visual content you produce as part of your marketing campaigns:

• Photos

• Graphics

• Videos

• Animated gifs

• Data driven visuals e.g. charts and graphs

• Infographics

• Memes

• Presentations (slideshows)

• Colour typography

• Quotes on a graphic

• Interactive visuals such as 3D images, visual tours

• Cartoons/comics

Examples of Visual Marketing Done Well 🌟

Is a Barbie Body Possible?

In 2013, mental health treatment centre site Rehabs.com, released a series of infographics alongside a lengthy article in an attempt to highlight the unrealistic body proportions of a doll that many young girls have seen as a role model for the last 50 years.

The first section of the infographic compares Barbie’s physical proportions to that of the average US woman in a table, along with a photo-realistic rendering of a life-sized Barbie next to an image of an actual woman.

The second section of the infographic shows ‘Barbie Up Close’, taking a more in-depth look at the doll’s measurements and how they would actually impact her ability to function as a human, such as a 16 inch waist (smaller than her head) that would allow room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine.

The third section of the infographic looks at the probability of finding an equivalent measurement in the general population, comparing the likelihood of finding someone with Barbie’s measurements with the likelihood of finding someone with measurements of the average model or individual with anorexia.

These infographics are an ideal accompaniment to the article, with brightly coloured, eye-catching visuals and a well-known pop culture icon.

This significantly increases the chances of it being shared by publishers who want to create their own piece around the infographics.

In fact, the original article itself has been shared more than 55,000 times and has been linked to from over 200 websites, including big name publishers like the Daily Mail and Huffington Post!

Resident Evil 3D Billboard

Ahead of Netflix’s release of the new Resident Evil series, the company commissioned a 3D billboard in Times Square.

The billboard shows Licker (a terrifying human-zombie mutation) bursting its way out of captivity by smashing through the glass screen, crawling out, sticking its tongue out and making its way round the digital ad.

When viewed from certain angles, this ad is very convincing and is sure to give passerbys a fright.

Videos of the billboard went viral across social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Twitter within days of its launching, raising awareness of the new upcoming Netflix series.

Visual Marketing Tips 💡

Define a Goal for Each Piece of Content 🎯

Many marketers make the mistake of trying to create content that meets as many goals as possible, however, when you try to target too many different goals, they can often undermine each other and audiences can be confused or feel overwhelmed.

Instead, choose a single goal and optimise everything, from the messaging to the art, to ensure it all works harmoniously together.

Know Your Audience 👥

There’s no point creating an amazing visual campaign for Instagram if that’s not where your target audience is.

Do lots of research into your target audience, including their preferred modes of communication, social platforms and the way in which they shop or use social media.

This can help to give you better direction when developing and distributing your campaign and reach a more relevant audience to your brand.

Create a Visual Strategy 📔

Generally, a visual strategy will come under your brand guidelines, however, if you don’t have a defined style for your brand’s visual content, including imagery, font, colour schemes etc, then you need to create one.

This helps to ensure your visual content is cohesive across your marketing efforts and makes you a lot more memorable.

For example, you’ll notice some of the most popular brands such as McDonalds and Coca Cola rarely stray from their iconic colours, fonts and logos when creating visual content.

Of course, there are some exceptions, such as the ‘Is a Barbie Body Possible’ campaign, which uses similar styling to that of the Barbie brand, which worked incredibly well.

Get Help from the Experts 👩‍💻

If you’re looking to create an incredible visual marketing campaign but don’t know where to start, it might be best to seek help from the experts.

At Statuo, we have a team of fantastic marketers and designers who can develop an effective visual marketing strategy to meet your business' goals.