The perfect world in sight
Illustration is increasingly being used again in advertising
Illustration is increasingly being used again in advertisingBy Ernst Weber Illustration is increasingly being used again in Swiss advertising campaigns. They allow for a detailed and targeted presentation of a product or lifestyle. The question remains as to whether the renewed increase in illustrated appearances has to do with consumers' fears or merely with the zeitgeist.
In recent years, illustration has not played a leading role in image and brand advertising. Apart from exceptions such as the animated films for Red Bull, which supposedly gives you wings, and the Always sanitary napkin, or the appearance of Mobiliar insurance, Swiss umbrella communication was visually dominated by photography. The use of illustration was limited to subordinate advertising media such as individual motifs and promotional advertisements as well as to visually livening up annual reports, for example.
Illustrations can be used to advertise (almost) anything
Photography will probably remain the primary means of visual expression in advertising in the future, but illustrated umbrella appearances and brand campaigns have been increasingly appearing in the long-closed ranks of photo campaigns for the past year.
This is not the first time that an accumulation of this kind has occurred. Thomas Lüber, CD at Lesch + Frei (L+F), Zurich, and Zurich illustrator Christian Kitzmüller observed the phenomenon back in the early 1980s. At that time, airbrush technology was in vogue. Illustrated campaigns also came into fashion for a short time in the middle of the following decade (WW 42/95). And now a new wave of illustration is rolling over Swiss advertising.
This is reflected, for example, in the fundraising campaigns that L+F designed for Zoorama - the children's zoo at Zurich Zoo - and for the aid organization Swissaid. In the latter case, the impetus came from Swissaid. "A photo could have given the impression that a specific person was meant," says Werner Küng, Head of Information and Fund Raising at Swissaid. Furthermore, in a photo-realistically illustrated image campaign by the same agency for the Eichhof brewery. Euro RSCG, Zurich, also recently used the illustration in an appearance for the virtual Habbo Hotel of telecom provider Orange. The fashionable horrors spread by the Big fashion brand in a poster designed by Ruf Lanz are depicted using a combination of photography and illustration. In a new reader campaign for the NZZ Folio, also designed by Ruf Lanz, illustrated visuals carry the core message. And on television commercials, a fluffy illustrated bear is currently explaining the properties of the new Charmin toilet paper to viewers.
The most recent example of an illustrated brand image is a campaign by Wirz, Zurich, for the legendary Italian post-war scooter Vespa, which was invented by Corradino d'Ascanio and Enrico Piaggio in 1946. Piaggio, owner of an armaments factory that was shut down at the end of the war, wanted to prevent his 12,000 workers from being left on the streets by building the Vespa.
Today's pin-up style illustrations are in keeping with the history of the scooter. It doesn't seem artificial that they try to evoke the Italian attitude to life that accompanied the reconstruction of the country back then. Surveys have shown that this memory is still alive in today's target audience: "The Vespa brand was associated with names such as Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, and respondents somehow mourned this vanished world," says Sven Oeschger, Strategic Planner at Wirz.
The massing can be explained logically and plausibly
Various reasons are given for the relatively sudden increase in illustrated appearances. Wirz-CD Matthias Freuler, Thomas Lüber and agency owner Markus Ruf - all of whom only use illustration when a conceptual necessity demands it - attribute the massing to coincidence. The cyclical appearance of drawn advertising messages is explained several times by an oversaturation of perception that occurs after a prolonged photographic period. Lüber says: "Photography is probably a little exhausted at the moment, which is why people are now resorting to the stylistic device of illustration again." Both Matthias Freuler and Christian Kitzmüller associate the increase with a shortage of money, which at the moment often leads to budget cuts.
"Orders are increasing at the moment, even if not everything is realized. In order to save the costs for the model, the extras, the location, the stylist and the make-up artist, illustrations are being used more often for elaborate pictures," says Kitzmüller.
The greatest consensus is the perception that every illustration - no matter how photorealistically drawn - is an illusion. Lüber, for example, attests to "an additional dimension that photography can no longer express". Kitzmüller classifies photography as suitable for presenting something as particularly realistic, sober and credible. Banks and insurance companies in particular often use it for this reason. "With a photo, you always have the feeling that it is a reflection of reality. But if you want to portray an illusion or dream world, illustration is more suitable," says Kitzmüller. Zurich-based illustrator John Hollander agrees: "Many people think that a photo is more credible."
Are illustrations piling up in times of discomfort?
The question remains as to why the advertising world has chosen the present moment of all times to escape into the illusionary world of representation. The attempted answer is based on the philosophical view that people cannot bring anything into the world that is not already inherent in them - a common feeling, for example, that moves an entire society at a certain time, such as the Italian post-war feeling described above.
The prerequisite for this is, of course, the ability of artists and creatives to perceive overall feelings of this kind and unconsciously reflect them in their advertising work.
According to this, one answer to the more frequent occurrence of the illustration could be that consumers currently feel an increased need for illusions. This need can be triggered by a feeling of uncertainty, for example. A feeling that has been on the minds of many since the economy has clearly been in decline, violence is on the rise, crises are escalating and fear of terrorism is rampant.
Since it is the task of advertising to present things in a favorable light, it tries to satisfy this longing of the consumer. To do this, it presents them with the illusion of childlike innocence, which illustration probably expresses per se. Drawing is an activity that is primarily practiced by children with no specific ("innocent") purpose.
Daniel Süess, communication and media psychologist and lecturer at the University of Applied Psychology in Zurich, says: "Illustration is certainly more abstract than photography and is therefore further removed from the depiction of reality. In the public's perception, it is more strongly designed and further removed from everyday life. If everyday life is experienced as difficult and oppressive and is associated with anxiety, then people prefer to turn to a designed world in order to develop positive feelings."
This assumption is supported by the fact that the two most recent clusters also occurred in problematic times: At the beginning of the 1980s, forest dieback dominated public debate. There was a general awakening of environmental awareness. In the mid-nineties, the USA intervened in the Balkan conflict. Europe's powerlessness to resolve the wars in the former Yugoslavia on its own became apparent.
In recent years, illustration has not played a leading role in image and brand advertising. Apart from exceptions such as the animated films for Red Bull, which supposedly gives you wings, and the Always sanitary napkin, or the appearance of Mobiliar insurance, Swiss umbrella communication was visually dominated by photography. The use of illustration was limited to subordinate advertising media such as individual motifs and promotional advertisements as well as to visually livening up annual reports, for example.
Illustrations can be used to advertise (almost) anything
Photography will probably remain the primary means of visual expression in advertising in the future, but illustrated umbrella appearances and brand campaigns have been increasingly appearing in the long-closed ranks of photo campaigns for the past year.
This is not the first time that an accumulation of this kind has occurred. Thomas Lüber, CD at Lesch + Frei (L+F), Zurich, and Zurich illustrator Christian Kitzmüller observed the phenomenon back in the early 1980s. At that time, airbrush technology was in vogue. Illustrated campaigns also came into fashion for a short time in the middle of the following decade (WW 42/95). And now a new wave of illustration is rolling over Swiss advertising.
This is reflected, for example, in the fundraising campaigns that L+F designed for Zoorama - the children's zoo at Zurich Zoo - and for the aid organization Swissaid. In the latter case, the impetus came from Swissaid. "A photo could have given the impression that a specific person was meant," says Werner Küng, Head of Information and Fund Raising at Swissaid. Furthermore, in a photo-realistically illustrated image campaign by the same agency for the Eichhof brewery. Euro RSCG, Zurich, also recently used the illustration in an appearance for the virtual Habbo Hotel of telecom provider Orange. The fashionable horrors spread by the Big fashion brand in a poster designed by Ruf Lanz are depicted using a combination of photography and illustration. In a new reader campaign for the NZZ Folio, also designed by Ruf Lanz, illustrated visuals carry the core message. And on television commercials, a fluffy illustrated bear is currently explaining the properties of the new Charmin toilet paper to viewers.
The most recent example of an illustrated brand image is a campaign by Wirz, Zurich, for the legendary Italian post-war scooter Vespa, which was invented by Corradino d'Ascanio and Enrico Piaggio in 1946. Piaggio, owner of an armaments factory that was shut down at the end of the war, wanted to prevent his 12,000 workers from being left on the streets by building the Vespa.
Today's pin-up style illustrations are in keeping with the history of the scooter. It doesn't seem artificial that they try to evoke the Italian attitude to life that accompanied the reconstruction of the country back then. Surveys have shown that this memory is still alive in today's target audience: "The Vespa brand was associated with names such as Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, and respondents somehow mourned this vanished world," says Sven Oeschger, Strategic Planner at Wirz.
The massing can be explained logically and plausibly
Various reasons are given for the relatively sudden increase in illustrated appearances. Wirz-CD Matthias Freuler, Thomas Lüber and agency owner Markus Ruf - all of whom only use illustration when a conceptual necessity demands it - attribute the massing to coincidence. The cyclical appearance of drawn advertising messages is explained several times by an oversaturation of perception that occurs after a prolonged photographic period. Lüber says: "Photography is probably a little exhausted at the moment, which is why people are now resorting to the stylistic device of illustration again." Both Matthias Freuler and Christian Kitzmüller associate the increase with a shortage of money, which at the moment often leads to budget cuts.
"Orders are increasing at the moment, even if not everything is realized. In order to save the costs for the model, the extras, the location, the stylist and the make-up artist, illustrations are being used more often for elaborate pictures," says Kitzmüller.
The greatest consensus is the perception that every illustration - no matter how photorealistically drawn - is an illusion. Lüber, for example, attests to "an additional dimension that photography can no longer express". Kitzmüller classifies photography as suitable for presenting something as particularly realistic, sober and credible. Banks and insurance companies in particular often use it for this reason. "With a photo, you always have the feeling that it is a reflection of reality. But if you want to portray an illusion or dream world, illustration is more suitable," says Kitzmüller. Zurich-based illustrator John Hollander agrees: "Many people think that a photo is more credible."
Are illustrations piling up in times of discomfort?
The question remains as to why the advertising world has chosen the present moment of all times to escape into the illusionary world of representation. The attempted answer is based on the philosophical view that people cannot bring anything into the world that is not already inherent in them - a common feeling, for example, that moves an entire society at a certain time, such as the Italian post-war feeling described above.
The prerequisite for this is, of course, the ability of artists and creatives to perceive overall feelings of this kind and unconsciously reflect them in their advertising work.
According to this, one answer to the more frequent occurrence of the illustration could be that consumers currently feel an increased need for illusions. This need can be triggered by a feeling of uncertainty, for example. A feeling that has been on the minds of many since the economy has clearly been in decline, violence is on the rise, crises are escalating and fear of terrorism is rampant.
Since it is the task of advertising to present things in a favorable light, it tries to satisfy this longing of the consumer. To do this, it presents them with the illusion of childlike innocence, which illustration probably expresses per se. Drawing is an activity that is primarily practiced by children with no specific ("innocent") purpose.
Daniel Süess, communication and media psychologist and lecturer at the University of Applied Psychology in Zurich, says: "Illustration is certainly more abstract than photography and is therefore further removed from the depiction of reality. In the public's perception, it is more strongly designed and further removed from everyday life. If everyday life is experienced as difficult and oppressive and is associated with anxiety, then people prefer to turn to a designed world in order to develop positive feelings."
This assumption is supported by the fact that the two most recent clusters also occurred in problematic times: At the beginning of the 1980s, forest dieback dominated public debate. There was a general awakening of environmental awareness. In the mid-nineties, the USA intervened in the Balkan conflict. Europe's powerlessness to resolve the wars in the former Yugoslavia on its own became apparent.
