WALK THE TALK – green deal sustainability
Perfect Artwork to create content with a wow effect.
Consumer decision-making is slowly but surely shifting into the digital world. Products now need to look good in multiple formats: in online shops, in 360° views, as animations or as GIFs on Instagram and the like. This has radically redefined product presentation. Brand manufacturers are facing the enormous challenges of providing creative visual content extremely rapidly and, above all, consistently for all digital channels. Traditional methods are simply no longer up to scratch because they are neither fast enough nor do they meet today’s quality standards. Automatically generated digital content is increasingly seen as the solution.
Ten different images of a deodorant spray produced instantly for ten different countries, … a 360° animation of a bag of snacks – against different backgrounds… beer labels announcing or commentingon the latest World Cup news – for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter… Digital transformation means brand manufacturers have to ensure their products are displayed perfectly on a variety of digital platforms while still maintaining consistent analogue presentation.
Companies usually put a lot of effort into cultivating their brands and invest a great deal of money in brand communication. There are many different aspects to brand presentation: colours and materials may vary, and then there are the specific variants or seasonal items to consider. All of this calls for meticulous visual design. Successful communication must meet the requirements of each specific consumer context and must be absolutely consistent across all channels, otherwise it may damage the brand’s image.
Even back in the “analogue” days this was a task for highly experienced specialists. Each detail of the design is decisive: do the proportions, layout and text blocks fit the packaging? How do the lettering, graphics and images look? And last, but not least: what about the colours and the logo? Do all these elements together reflect the brand’s personality? Does the overall look live up to the premium claim of a brand?
When translated into the digital world for a global point of sale, the tasks and challenges increase exponentially: budgets are tight, timeframes tighter still, and ubiquitous visibility is paramount. Is the brand logo still easy to recognise when a drinks can moves in the animated 3D view? If it isn’t, then a serious rule has been broken whose effect is all the more harmful given that the brand is being displayed all over the world via social media. Anyone who sees their favourite beer, shower gel or biscuit on their tablet or smartphone should be able to tell from the picture whether it keeps the brand promise. This is where brand guardians with knowhow come in.
The Linked2Brands production agency uses its brand mindset and production expertise to mediate between brands and consumers. Our specialists know that time is of the essence when it comes to producing visual content. For swift implementation, they rely on Grip, an online tool that automates visual content production for physical goods. Instead of all the images having to be created by hand, this system draws on a library of data, thus meeting the growing demand for visual content that covers all marketing channels and customer contact points.
INPUT IS THE KEY
“Top-class artwork is essential if the visual content thus generated for all possible touchpoints is to meet our own and our customers’ standards,” Stefan Hilss, Managing Director of Linked2Brands, emphasises. “Virtual versions of the product can only be created if our input is top quality. Only then will our customers benefit from the shorter production and lead times that speed up market launch and allow more output at the same cost.”
On the one hand, Hilss and his team know how important the specific and exact preparation of data is. All elements like logos, images and text need to be scaled and positioned correctly so that they live up to the care and attention that goes into the design of products, packaging and labels. After all, that is what makes a product stand out, arouse curiosity and feel right. In the process, Grip takes the creation of e-commerce images to a new level, accelerates production (so that it takes minutes rather than days) and maintains rigorous consistency: a coding, a form, an aesthetic DNA – across the world.
On the other hand, Linked2Brands takes charge of endowing brand products with emotional appeal for social media. In their role as brand guardians, they exploit the full potential of existing content and use suitable artwork to prepare it for new applications, such as films, stills, animations or mood pictures. Hilss is aware that exploding consumer demand for visual content at all digital contact points cannot be satisfied with an analogue, i.e. traditional, linear production model: “No matter how hard we work to improve the KPIs year for year … if we seriously want to meet expectations at different digital touchpoints, we need a radically new system.” According to the chief brand guardian, it will take not evolution, but a revolution to make all presentations fit a brand, generating an unmistakable experience. In this way, brands will not only stay up to date, but move ahead of their time.
