Visual storytelling is becoming increasingly important across industries.
Brands like Applegate Natural & Organic Meats are using photos on social media to drive sales. Colleges and universities like Bates College are using visual content to engage students, alumni and staff. Nonprofits like the Global Heritage Fund are using images to demonstrate impact and increase donations. Destination marketing organizations like Visit Greenland are using visual content to shape travelers’ perceptions. Pro sports teams like the Sacramento Kings are using visual storytelling to share announcements and build a strong brand.
Even Morton Salt, whose products have been on the shelves since 1848, just launched a stunning video project with the indie-rock band OK Go to catch the attention of millennials and communicate the brand’s values in a new way.
So what do these trends mean for our future? How will our methods of communication change? Which technologies will break through?
We asked these questions to a panel of experts at our event with Startup Socials NYC, Visual Storytelling and the Future of Photos. Watch the video to get their take on the future of photos and videos, trending formats (and the formats they think are a flash in the pan), new technologies, our attention spans and the real pronunciation of the word GIF.
Meet the Panelists
The panel, moderated by TIME Magazine’s LightBox Editor Olivier Laurent, brings together experts who each have a unique perspective on the changing landscape of visual communication. Before the panel, we asked the panelists to share a bit about their backgrounds and answer a few warmup questions. Meet each of our panelists in these three posts:
7 Tweetable Quotes from Visual Storytelling and the Future of Photos
Our attention spans might be short, but @peterkrogh says it’s “an increase in visual literacy.” #visualcontent
“Photography has always been linked to memory.” @melchp on #photography as a memory tool
“Video is more fluid, it’s more like a novel.” @melchp on the difference between photos and videos #videomarketing
“Ephemeral but sequenced #visualstorytelling is an interesting thing to play with.” @peterkrogh on #Snapchat stories
“How can brands give you ads you want?” @benplomion asks in a discussion of #nativeadvertising on #Instagram
Pronunciation decision – “it’s #GIF with a hard G for graphic image format, not giraffe-ic image format” @peterkrogh #visualcontent
“The money is in the content rather than the hardware.” @melchp on #photography, #VR and #AR
