NEW YORK: As a growing number of brands use Instagram as an advertising channel for their campaigns, the natural visual style of the photo-sharing app is causing many creatives to adapt their work to make it fit well with the medium.
As reported by Adweek, design teams are beginning to see the benefit of moving away from over-lit and over-edited photos to a more "authentic" look and this approach increasingly is being used for campaigns.
One example was a campaign organised by agency Deutsch LA for Taco Bell, the fast-food chain, in which the photography focused on post-purchase moments, such as friends eating tacos together on the beach, to give the images a more "honest feel".
Nathan Iverson, evp and design director at Deutsch LA, said: "We kind of call it 'perfectly imperfect'. People will call you out pretty easily if your food looks overly propped or overly perfect, because that's not how it is."
He added that Instagram is not necessarily inventing anything new, but is allowing designers to tap into old photographic techniques to "give life back to photographs that not everybody had access to".
For Alex Nassour, an art director at North Carolina agency McKinney, Instagram is also encouraging creatives around the world to embrace new trends.
"Now Instagram especially is responsible for speeding up the rate that we try to push aesthetics and try new things," he said.
Meanwhile, Chris Corley, group creative director at VML in Kansas City, said advertising has to adapt to Instagram and so agencies are starting to hire photographers who are respected on the platform to shoot for both digital and print.
With authenticity becoming a "huge part" of the evolution of photography, he expected that an increasing number of campaigns, including print, will move away from looking too overproduced and instead seek to offer a more first-person view.
As reported by Adweek, design teams are beginning to see the benefit of moving away from over-lit and over-edited photos to a more "authentic" look and this approach increasingly is being used for campaigns.
One example was a campaign organised by agency Deutsch LA for Taco Bell, the fast-food chain, in which the photography focused on post-purchase moments, such as friends eating tacos together on the beach, to give the images a more "honest feel".
Nathan Iverson, evp and design director at Deutsch LA, said: "We kind of call it 'perfectly imperfect'. People will call you out pretty easily if your food looks overly propped or overly perfect, because that's not how it is."
He added that Instagram is not necessarily inventing anything new, but is allowing designers to tap into old photographic techniques to "give life back to photographs that not everybody had access to".
For Alex Nassour, an art director at North Carolina agency McKinney, Instagram is also encouraging creatives around the world to embrace new trends.
"Now Instagram especially is responsible for speeding up the rate that we try to push aesthetics and try new things," he said.
Meanwhile, Chris Corley, group creative director at VML in Kansas City, said advertising has to adapt to Instagram and so agencies are starting to hire photographers who are respected on the platform to shoot for both digital and print.
With authenticity becoming a "huge part" of the evolution of photography, he expected that an increasing number of campaigns, including print, will move away from looking too overproduced and instead seek to offer a more first-person view.
Data sourced from Adweek; additional content by Warc staff
