Beth Lamey
We’re celebrating World Photography Week! It’s the perfect time to embrace creativity, recognize unique perspectives and appreciate compelling imagery. Photography plays a major role in marketing, with professionals in the field often utilizing striking visuals and pairing these with bold graphics. We see these campaigns daily, but when they’re done right, they often stick in our minds. Using photography effectively is a skill that can help to translate key messages to an audience.
Here are some of our favorite marketing campaigns that incorporate photography in original and playful ways (and how you can recreate these with Picsart):
Create Your Own World, Pantone
It’s no surprise that Pantone are masters of colorful campaigns – after all, color is their thing. In their Create Your Own World campaign, we see traditional landscapes, but in bold colors out of the ordinary for everyday life. These give the images an intergalactic quality, drawing the eye and making a viewer pause. On closer inspection, these are seemingly mundane photographs, reminiscent of screensavers. The use of colors which are unexpected for the environments pictured is what makes this campaign so effective – it’s a simple concept, well executed.
How you can recreate this: Head over to picsart.com or use the Picsart app, open a new project, upload your image, and then it’s time to play around with the color replace tool until your image is out of this world!
It Starts with a Swipe, Tinder
A recent campaign which incorporated both striking imagery and fun graphics was Tinder’s It Starts with a Swipe. In an attempt to resonate with a Gen Z audience (a younger demographic for the brand), and to move away from the platform’s reputation of a ‘hookup app’, Tinder launched a series of images, each featuring a couple in a romantic, yet common scenario. The images from the campaign are bold and bright, and center connection above all else. These eye-catching photos, paired with relatable (yet still aspirational) text, include phrases such as “That warm and fuzzy feeling” and “A toothbrush at their place”, evoke interest and emotion in the viewer. Each image displays the phrase “It starts with a swipe.” This indicates how easy it is to find connections through Tinder.
How you can recreate this: First, take some photos of your subject. Make these as colorful as possible, featuring bright clothes and settings. Then, using picsart.com or the Picsart app, increase the saturation and vibrancy to the right levels for you. Then, choose a strong font to lay over the top and include your variable phrase. Then, choose another font consistent with your branding for your recurring slogan. Consider how language, colors and everyday scenarios can prompt feelings of warmth, nostalgia and desire.
End Ageism, San Francisco Department for Disability and Aging Service
Although this campaign was launched back in 2019, it is a prime example of photography that makes you stop and stare. High resolution photos of young people with strips across the center of their faces replaced with the eyes of older people force a viewer to stop and consider the key message about age biases. The images include white text highlighted in black, each stating a personality trait that “never gets old”. Some examples include “Courage never gets old” and “passion never gets old”. The contrast of the white text against the black background makes the writing pop.
How you can recreate this: This is a fun idea to recreate with family and friends. You may choose to swap out a different part of the image to convey a new message, or this could even be recreated with new and past versions of product packaging to show how your business has evolved. Head to picsart.com or use the Picsart app to use the crop and remove tools to try this out for yourself.
Say More, Interflora
A lesser known campaign, but one that still packs a punch is Interflora’s Say More. The flower delivery service launched the campaign in 2024, which shows how flowers can help to communicate a deeper meaning. Similar to Tinder’s It Starts With a Swipe campaign, the concept plays on the emotions of the viewer through text and vivid photography, which uses highly saturated images of beautiful bouquets of flowers. Captions across the images include copy such as “I know you’re not “fine”” and “Your success makes me jealous.” The pictures were released along with video content, capturing different moments in a person’s life when flowers may be the best form of expression.
How you can recreate this: Once you are happy with the photos you have taken, use picsart.com or open the Picsart app to change the saturation. Try out different colored backgrounds to see what pops and then overlay white text featuring everyday quotes. This could work for a whole range of products – not just flowers. For a rejuvenating skin care line, the text could be “For busy days after long nights” or for a coffee brand, the quote could read “I need a morning pick-me-up” or “Let’s chat over coffee” or “Making ‘we need to talk’ a little less painful”. Tailor it to your specific need and create some striking content!
If none of these styles fit the vibe of your business, head to picsart.com or use the Picsart app to make your own creations which combine both photography and graphics, perfect for your brand and aesthetic.
Empowering the Creator in Everyone
Picsart is the world’s largest digital creation platform. Its AI-powered tools give creators of all levels the ability to design, edit, draw and share photo and video content anywhere. It’s used by consumers, marketers and content creators for both personal and professional design, and is available to businesses via API partnerships and integrations. Picsart has collaborated with major artists and brands like Discord, PopSockets, Shopify, Taylor Swift and more. Download the app or visit picsart.com.
