Why use authentic imagery?
FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT
It’s been proven that using images can increase brand recognition in a positive and effective way, as images are more quickly understood than text only. A 2013 MIT study found that the brain can recognise images seen for as short a time as 13 milliseconds – so those genuine emotions which the viewer sees in the model will be where they look to for a gut reaction and snap-second view to identify what the brand stands for.
Why using authentic lifestyle imagery should be part of your brand’s A-game and how to recognise it
MEMORABLE CAMPAIGNS = MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
The wish to shy away from inauthentic imagery has grown with the understanding that content with a more genuine take on life is more likely to resonate with consumers, making for stronger emotional connections and a boost in loyalty to your brand. Dove’s campaign for ‘Real beauty’ in 2004 (and still used today) was one of the first to buck the trend of traditional beauty standards in using real women, not models, to advertise their products. Mastercard’s ‘Priceless’ adverts can also be added to these types of campaigns, which show that time and time again, relatable content that draws emotional responses makes the associated brand more memorable. This bottom-up strategy of understanding what motivates your audience first – and then aligning the content you use to this knowledge – makes a very powerful step towards effective campaigns that connect with your audience.
SOPHIE BASILEVITCH CURATION MANAGER, ALAMY
How can you find images that feel authentic from stock photography platforms like Alamy? If you’ve ever had to source images for a campaign, then somewhere along that journey either someone’s told you to avoid images that look ‘too stocky’, or you’ve discovered yourself that there’s a wide range between what feels real and what looks fabricated. Lifestyle images have sometimes been viewed as being too contrived, with ‘fake’ models and bland studio-scenes that don’t really reflect our own day-to-day experiences. But over the past 20 years, there’s been a significant shift in the desire for a different sort of lifestyle content, with clients wanting images that ‘feel real’, with believable moments and models in natural poses. At Alamy, we’ve seen the rise of this content being submitted from agencies that looks authentic, feels genuine, and is more relatable to our everyday lives.
In our sliding scale of ‘authentic’ photography, this differentiation has been made even more apparent with the development of AI-generated images. They’re outside of the authentic scale in that in being fictional they’re always qualified with ‘…an AI-generated image of…’. Photography shows real people in real settings, linking them to time and place. It offers us a vision of true expression through a type of shared storytelling – what it feels like to have been somewhere or to experienced something – and using authentic photos is fundamentally one of the strongest ways you can connect with your audience. With true diversity of content to be found in original lifestyle photography, here’s why using the authentic narrative in campaigns is more likely to resonate with audiences, and how to recognise authentic imagery…
BUILDING TRUST
With the ‘new normal’ of social media presenting multiple perspectives and insights, consumers have become more discerning in reading between the lines when brands present their campaigns. Brand values shared to wider audiences have to match their practices, lest they get accused of making claims they don’t adhere to, such as ‘greenwashing’. Accepting that any photos used commercially with people will be model released and ‘set up’ by necessity, choosing imagery that is easily imagined to be real is paramount to building a foundation of trust with the consumer. Authentically styled photographs add to the ‘honesty’ of a brand too; there is a moral argument to use images where the model has been paid fairly, and images have been sourced ethically.
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