Stock photos can leave anyone with a negative or non-existent impression of your brand's true image.
Why is that woman laughing at a forkful of salad? WE DON'T KNOW EITHER. We are, however, confident that content should accurately represent a brand's personality. Meaning, if your salad brand doesn't have a comical element to it then why is that model laughing at the roughage? It's a little odd, and more importantly-it's not on brand for many.
Food styling items, props, and aperture setting can all affect your brand's image. If a brand's pictures were all lying on the floor mixed in with other brand's photography a consumer should be able to discern and group brand images. That's how clear branding needs to be for it to resonate with your customer.
Stock Photography isn't shot with the end-medium in mind:
During the client intake process and storyboarding processes JCR will go over intended uses and ensure you have the best media files for each platform.
Specialist.
We are food and beverage r&d/photography/videography specialists. It is all we do. Learning what it takes to make bacon that looks crispy yet savory on camera is an art in itself.
We take great pride in the research & development processes, photography, and videography because it is truly a passion we were dedicated to educationally and now professionally. You can check out the laundry list of qualifications that went into our respective specialties here.
It's not a 1:1 exchange.
Even if your brand takes their stock photography to the "next level" and decides to purchase a membership to a licensing site where you can download an assortment of photos for either a monthly or price per each basis. You are not the only user of that site nor that photo. You want multiple consumers to identify with you- not brands. Visual assets are the wrapper of a brand's personality. Brand Personalities like people should be unique, so why wouldn't this correlate to your brand's visual representations?
Branding Consistency.
Omni-channel marketing quickly moved from being a buzzword to a best practice. Which also reinforces our first point about shooting/sizing for the proper platform, but it also means that capturing content that is synergistic and undeviating style-wise is vital. Over the several touch-points that it will take to convert a consumer ultimately; brands cannot afford to be confusing. Clarity, consistency, and accuracy in targeting are the trifecta that all brands should continually strive for when trying to speak to the end consumer.
We are always here for your food & beverage questions and/or salad jokes. Contact us here.