VISUAL RESONANCE—PART 7
As a member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City , I was privileged last month to attend a very exciting meeting at which Stefan Mumaw (Director of Creative Strategy at Hint) was the presenter. Drawing from his rich experience, Mumaw did an excellent job sharing an amazing array of ideas, tips, and observations that would be helpful to anyone involved in social media strategy, advertising, and marketing. His presentation was entitled “Visual Resonance.” It focused on the characteristics of images and videos that help to evoke a passionate audience connection and result in increased shares. Mumaw defines visual resonance as:
“ The ability to evoke or suggest personal images, memories, and emotions. ”
To facilitate visual resonance, Mumaw highlights authenticity. I agree with him in that our images must capture real moments of real people. Audiences are jaded by the unreal continuously replacing the real. People are smart enough to see through that. To that point, Mumaw articulates what should be an immutable law of the creative:
“ Just because we have the power of Photoshop does not mean we should wield the power of Photoshop. ”
In a world in which the unreal has replaced the real for far too long, people are hungry for authenticity. When they see that which is real connected to an organization, its brand elicits increased respect and power. No organization can afford to lose that opportunity.
The organization or creative that wants to connect with its audience must always remember authenticity. In a world that has too often been robbed of authenticity, people will beat a path to the door where they find it.
