An article on the Poynter journalism site asks why Sunday newspaper front pages are so boring. Sunday fronts no longer seem special but look the same as any weekday edition.
The author suggests that newspapers are no longer taking (design) chances. Newspapers are trying to appeal to everyone and in that process, quality design gets lost. Sunday front pages are now packed with anything and everything in the attempt to attract interest from anyone and everyone.
Why is newspaper quality going downhill? There are no surprises here.
Newspaper staff reductions, smaller budgets, over-worked staff and shorter deadlines have had a detrimental effect. In the rush to produce faster and cheaper newspapers, quality has been sacrificed. The end result, according to the Poynter article, is that Sunday front pages no longer attract reader attention because the pages don’t surprise the reader.
An article on the Harvard Business School site talks about a recent study that examined viewers’ reaction to online video ads.
Most online video ads, like TV commercials, are ignored by viewers simply because the ads fail to attract viewer attention.
Why don’t these ads attract attention? There are no surprises here.
In an attempt to appeal to anyone and everyone, many video ads don’t take chances. As these ads become more bland, they become easier to tune out.
Using eye-tracking technology and facial expression analysis, the study proved that online video ads which somehow evoked an element of surprise earned viewer attention. If that ad also created a sense of joy, it retained that attention.
What does this have to do with business and corporate photography?
When a company does public relations photography or other marketing photography, (and let’s face it, all pictures on a company web site are a form of public relations or marketing), these pictures must get viewer attention. The only way to do this to evoke some kind of surprise. Surprise = provocative, unusual, unexpected, an interesting story being told.
Ribbon cuttings, cheque presentations, sod turnings, group photos of executives, someone talking at a microphone, all have absolutely zero surprise. Pictures like this are boring and push readers and media editors away.
Cheap stock pictures of a woman wearing a telephone headset, men in suits shaking hands or happy, shiny, anonymous people just standing around, never get attention because they’re tired, bland clichés.
A company needs its photography to include some sort of story element, something the readers don’t expect, something that will get and retain viewer attention. There should be surprises here.
