Canva’s global head of experiential Jimmy Knowles said after being stuck inside for two years, the pandemic sparked the resurgence of the experience market due to the “pent-up need” to connect with our favorite brands.
Mo Said, founder & CEO of the creative agency Mojo Supermarket, agreed with Knowles, saying it felt as though “no brands had visual style.”
“Pandemic happened, and that’s when our sweatpants were showing, and everybody was like, ‘Wait, everybody’s the same.’ And every video looks the same. And every brand looks the same … Suddenly we’re like wait everybody’s the same, so now visual communication became even stronger,” Said explained.
Said and Knowles discussed the importance of visual communication in the Variety Studio, presented by Canva, at Advertising Week. Said gave an example of how digital expression can connect brands with users by describing how Mojo Supermarket helped rebrand Truth’s anti vaping campaign.
“Truth, an adult organization from Washington, D.C., telling 14-year-old kids not to vape is a very hard sell,” he said. “We’ve created this animated world, visual world of a fake vape company called Depression Stick, how they would act and what they would look like.”
When creating innovative campaigns, the issue of the concept going over people’s heads is present. However, Knowles said he believes these complicated campaigns can be some of the most powerful ones.
“The ads that stand out to me the most are the ones that I don’t get immediately and then have to either go on my phone or go home and Google and be like, ‘What is this gigantic picture of?’” he said.
