The State of the Static Image Is coming to an end
This traditional model of marketing has counted on the consistency of 1) gathering user data, 2) using data on targeting tools and 3) presenting the user with advertising or content that is personalized in some way, say through copy or product suggestions. There is one important aspect, the image, which has remained in the past.
Pictures talk. They produce an immediate emotional response and form perceptions quicker than text. However, when everybody observes the same longstanding image, it interferes with the capacity to communicate to them.
Hyper-personalized images are now on the verge of breaking that trend.
What’s Different Now?
The idea of personalization is not something new. Even use of tailored emails to landing pages based on locations has been in use longer than 10 years. However, it took a revolutionary step toward real-time visual personalization, or in other words, images that change in real time, made possible by AI.
Live user signals which can dynamically generate or alter an image are now possible with the latest technologies:
- Geolocation
- Time of the day
- Weather
- Device type
- Browsing behavior
- Purchase intent
That makes it possible to engage in visual experiences that may still be called a broadcast, but they do not feel like one. In this example, a travel agency could display a beach in Bali to a customer in cold and wintry London, and a mountain retreat to a customer in a hot and sunny part of the world. Different emotional appeals to the same campaign.
This is what hyper-personalized images can do.
Why Static Visuals Fall Short
The old underlying methods are segmental. In the case that you are in "Group A," then you get Image A. However, such a strategy is not sufficient anymore. Customers no longer find it attractive when there is surface level personalization anymore, instead, they want to obtain relevance on a pixel level.
Stagnant images find it hard to remain contemporary. Although you can update messaging as frequently as once a week or once a month, the situation is such that your image asset might not show current mood and context and behavior. The result? An opportunity lost to make a connection with your audience on the emotional level at the right time.
Marketers invest thousands of dollars to test all the call-to-actions, hues of buttons, tone of the copy, but the visual level has been left behind. Until now.
AI Makes Real-Time Visuals Possible
There is a transition between pre-imagined graphics and life objects. Consider every picture as a dynamic canvas that the artificial intelligence can manipulate to command.
Even the current tools already assist in foundational functions:
- Background removal - It is possible to separate the products or people in an instant.
- Dynamic cropping - Cropping to the screen of each user.
- Style adjustment - Tone, filters, and themes may be changed according to the users.
- Context-sensitive improvement - An image can be brightened, darkened or subject to matching the colors of a specific digital setting they are viewed in.
AI makes it so that any asset becomes a multi-version, multi-mood experience without any manual effort. That is not only efficient. It is scalable and quite attention getting.
From Segmentation to True Individualization
Marketing was a matter of segments. It is now individualistic.
Hyper-personalized images allow you to get past, User X is in Segment Y, etc. You begin to treat each member as an individual with a real time need and preference. The lighting, shade of tone and even the angle of the product etc may vary, depending on the user.
Suppose one of the customers is inclined to use minimalist designs. AI is able to present an image, whose background is white with neutral colors. What other user reacts to the bright colorful looking stuff? They will have a brighter, more contrasting one. All out of the same original asset.
What it produces is not merely visual attractiveness--it is emotional understanding.
Marketing Dynamic Storytelling
An audio-visual display restricts narration options since it is comprised of object movement. You develop one version of a story and you wish that it suits everybody. However, with the help of dynamic imagery, it is possible to continue the story at various points of user interaction.
Someone searching outdoor equipment possibly as a newcomer to it may be exposed to aspirational imagery, with the emphasis on lifestyle. When they come back to cross-reference models, the visuals may change, pointing out performance, specifications or price. Again, the images may change once they reach the check out- this time to the urgency, integrity or short offers.
It is smooth, interesting, and really personal. It creates confidence and pushes the initiative.
The Hyper-Personalization Competitive Advantage
The latest research shows that 8 out of 10 consumers prefer to shop at the stores that provide them with personalized experiences. It is not a trend, it is a basic change of expectation.
Today, brands that create hyper-personalized images are taking their brands to the next level. They are providing relevance in the time frame of user attention which will be in milliseconds.
In the meantime, the companies, which retain their stationary visuals will be left behind. Their message will always be too late or be too generic.
The Fluids of the Future
The most important trends in marketing are that it is shifting less toward campaigns and more so on systems. A fixed banner that used to take days to be designed and implemented is now transformed into a living image, which is able to adapt in real time and directed by data, driven by AI.
The use of visuals is what would move away with the novelty factor as the more smart and intelligent the tools to create become, dynamic visuals will become the norm. It is not that we are designing assets, rather with adaptive experiences.
This is because in this new era, visual content will not be a reflection of the world of the user anymore. It will mirror it.
