Here’s Why Posters And Print Still Matter:
Posters have been a popular way of marketing events, products, and brands for many years, but in the age of social media, are they still effective? Today, brands and agencies have a plethora of online platforms and digital mediums to choose from when launching marketing campaigns. So why is it still important to utilise the techniques surrounding posters and print?
Although social media marketing has drastically improved the ability for brands to effectively target and reach their audience, it can often lack the long-lasting impact that offline tangible marketing can provide. Indeed, today’s digital users are becoming immune to contemporary marketing tactics, scrolling through a constant stream of digital media, often without fully registering it. Large-format prints on the other hand, due to their scale and situation, can have a profound and enduring impact on those who see them. As a result, the core message of a poster becomes indelibly etched in the viewer’s mind, creating a long-lasting impression.
The physical scale and location of printed media cannot always be replicated digitally. However, I believe that the creative process involved in the production of an impactful poster could be successfully reapplied to social media content and campaigns. Indeed, the creation of a poster begins with a blank canvas that can be filled in any way that the designer chooses to respond to the brief. This freedom helps to break down the objective of the design into its simplest/rawest form and ultimately leads to far more innovative and original content production.
In addition to being an impactful form of marketing, posters are often considered as artwork in their own right. While they are typically used in busy public spaces to attract attention, they are frequently framed and presented in homes, businesses and galleries. The idea that a campaign creative can be of such high quality that people pay to share it in their own homes, speaks volumes on the importance of this medium and the creative process involved.
Social media has arguably provided posters with a broader reach than ever before, yet digital content production is seemingly moving in the direction of quantity over quality, and repetition over originality. At Influence Digital we believe it is important for our work to not lose touch with the analogue world, as we strive to deliver impactful and innovative creative campaigns.
By Ned Carr, Digital Creative
