‘Visual content evokes emotion and tells a story’

At the exchange4media PR and Corp Comm 40 under 40 Summit and Awards 2023, a panel of experts decoded why visual storytelling is becoming increasingly important in PR. The session was chaired by Madhavi Chaudhary, Independent Consultant and the panellists were Abhishek Mazumdar, Deputy Manager, Adani Group; Poorva Joshi, Director - Content, Gnothi Seauton and Murtaza Sadriwala Head - PR & Corporate Communications, Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust.

Chaudhary started the session by sharing a widely heard saying – ‘a picture is worth a 1000 words’. “When you look at visual content, it evokes emotion and tells a story. Text alone cannot do this. Visual content is not just a part of PR now, but a whole new necessity,” she said.

Mazumdar gave an example of how a reel would register better in the minds of a consumer, as compared to an article that s/he might have read that morning. “Visual content reaches in a better manner and creates impact on a consumer. A study also cites that almost 60% of human memory works on visual communication,” he shared. According to Mazumdar, for a company to crack this code, it needs to focus on three factors – increasing shareability, evoking emotions and aligning with the brand.

Joshi pointed out how in the last decade, platforms such as TikTok have really changed the game. “It has all become about short form, snappy and visual content. It adheres to the changing attention spans, so we ultimately only have one minute at most to hook into people’s conscience and attention,” she mentioned. Additionally, with the intervention of AI, everything is at the fingertips. “I can tell a whole story in just a generated picture,” Joshi added.

Sadriwala took the audience back to history and highlighted how mankind has always used visual storytelling as a part of human civilisation. “Now with the advent of technology, the scope has expanded, a completely immersive atmosphere has been created. The short and snackible content that is created and consumed give an elevation to the brand and its story. Because visual elements have been used over the years, it definitely provides an edge over the others,” he added.

He also picked up on the ‘a picture is worth a 1000 words’ saying and added that a strong visual story is priceless. “For us, the visual element is mainly used to connect with our stakeholders, create an emotional bond and to convey the values, teachings and practices,” Sadriwala shared.

Speaking further about the need for visual communication, Joshi gave the example of Amazon’s Alexa. “Alexa initially started off as a voice only assistant. It had no screen, it was just a speaker. But because of the general shift towards needing something ancillary for your eyes, even a product like Alexa had to come up with a screen device,” she said.

Another example, as highlighted by Mazumdar, was an advertisement by Hindustan Unilever where the FMCG giant highlighted how big of a problem the water crisis is. The ad basically showed villagers queuing up to a shower enclosure, followed by a message on the screen which said that the amount of water consumed by an urban person for a bath, an entire village can fulfil their requirements with the same amount of water. “It is about having a parallel communication wherein you are taking a stance and also passing a message strongly. I think what’s trending in the market, what is going on in  the geopolitics should be presented in such a way that it is easy for consumers to understand and cut across masses.”