South Florida Artist Entrepreneurs

By Jerry Bader (c) 2012

Website Engagement Techniques: The Caricature Effect

Marketing is all about getting noticed, getting remembered, and
motivating people to action. Whether it’s a website, display ad,
or video, it must first grab people’s attention, it must stop
the viewer from going onto the next website, turning the
magazine page, or clicking the stop button. In order to
accomplish that increasingly difficult task, you must
understand the Caricature Effect.

The Caricature Effect

The Caricature Effect simply stated says that what we notice is
variation from the norm. Caricature artists exaggerate reality
because that is how we visually distinguish one person from
another. Human beings are preprogrammed to look for patterns and
variations in those patterns, it’s how we recognize who people
are, and it is a basic survival mechanism that helps us recognize
danger and distinguish friend from foe.

By distorting an individual’s prominent facial features the
caricature artist mimics the human brain’s way of remembering
who’s who. Our brains are not cameras that take pictures and
file them away for future reference. Our memories are malleable,
they change and alter over time and experience, and as a result
the things we remember best are the things that stand out,
things like Bob Hope’s ski-jump nose or Albert Einstein’s wild
white hair. The reason caricatures are so effective is because
they emphasize the distinguishing differences that we recognize
and remember. So how do we use this fundamental, hard-wired
human characteristic to further marketing agendas?

What We Notice Is Variation From The Norm

Getting noticed is job-one of any marketing vehicle, so in order
to get people to stop, look, and listen we need to use all the
available communication elements at our disposal.

When developing a video campaign we use concepts that demand the
mental processing of information by shocking, stimulating,
puzzling, or tickling the funny bone of the viewer. These
techniques force the audience to think, process, and decode the
message, and by generating this mental activity we embed our
client’s message in the audience’s consciousness. Depending on
the brand and/or product, implementation can range from subtle
to obvious with the trick being to make people sit-up and take
notice by forcing them to think.

Pattern Recognition – The Same But Different

Human beings have evolved to watch for patterns and when an
audience recognizes a familiar scenario they leap to a
conclusion. It’s a way of making quick decisive decisions that
can either help or hurt communication. Properly used pattern
recognition can lead your audience where you want to take them,
but if the pattern is too obvious or hackneyed, it can lead to
viewers dismissing your message.

Let’s face-it, consumers have become increasingly jaded by too
many ads that yell at them like a Billy Mays commercial, or
promise improbable results like so many diet schemes, or scare
the hell out of people with legal disclaimers warning of
everything from headaches to heart attacks like most
prescription drug ads. These feeble attempts to standout like
a pair of John Daley golf slacks only succeed in reminding the
audience how completely desperate, or disengaged the advertiser
really is.

If you want people to remember your message you have to alter
the pattern by varying from the norm so that it forces people to
mentally process your information. It’s as simple as a story
with a twist like how a comedian sets-up a punch line, or how a
magician sets-up an illusion.

In other articles I’ve written extensively about techniques for
using video but here let’s discuss something even more universal
- photography. It is one of the most economical ways to create
the kind of mental stimulation that makes people remember your
site and your message.

Photo-Visual Engagement Techniques

Most every website has photography of some sort on it, but like
most video implementations, it is rarely used to its full
potential. Obviously, do-it-yourself snapshots reek of amateurism
but even professional royalty-free images can be as innocuous as
DIY snaps are unprofessional, and as we have stated, bland,
featureless images are just not going to stimulate anyone’s
memory.

Cinegraphs

Cinegraphs are photographs that move. They are created by
combining a series of still images into a gif animation. The
best cinegraphs use subtle movement like hair or clothing
blowing in the wind to cause the audience to take a second look.
What appears at first to be a regular photograph creates a “Did
I just see it move?” reaction, and that’s the kind of subtle yet
powerful feature that can get people to remember your site, your
product, and your brand.

Like any technique you have to know how and when to use it in
order to enhance your presentation and reinforce your message.
Just parachuting in a technique for technique’s sake is no
better than a meaningless royalty free image used as filler.

Sequence Images

A sequence image is a still image that combines a series of
images into one photo. Unlike cinegraphs, the image doesn’t move
but it does provide a kinetic quality by showing a series of
varying poses all combined into one photograph. This kind of
image can be very striking and powerful and can cause your
viewer to take a moment to decode the story it tells.

Selective Color

Color is another area that often gets forgotten. Different
colors have different psychological effects depending on the
context in which they are used. In addition to the color choice,
using color as a consistent marketing communication element
helps enhance and embed your identity and brand image. Many
Internet entrepreneurs pay little or no attention to color
imaging and it is really unfortunate as it is often an
inexpensive but effective way of making a profound impression.

Photographs today are generally full color images but if you’re
not controlling the color in your images then you’re missing a
great opportunity to make a memorable impression. Of course lack
of color (black and white photography) can be just as powerful
if used properly. Jack Daniel’s is a brand that uses black and
white and selective color extensively in its marketing.

There are several ways to use selective color in your
photographic imaging. Jack Daniel’s uses a lot of black
backgrounds or B&W photos and copy combined with color product
shots of the bottle that has a B&W label but is filled with the
golden elixir.

Another effective implementation of selective color is a B&W
photograph that has been adjusted so that part of it is in
color. For example, a clothing designer might want a black and
white photograph of a model but with the dress she is wearing in
color so that the garment stands out and not the model.

Illustrated Photos

Combining a photograph with a drawing can be a very effective
way to make a unique impression on your website visitors.
British film director Alfred Hitchcock used a similar technique
for the introduction to his 1950′s television show, where he’d
walk on set to lineup with a simple background drawing of his
unique and readily recognizable profile. It is a classic example
of the Caricature Effect that combines an actual caricature with
a photo thereby creating a clever signature style. The image of
Hitchcock lining up with his caricature outline is an enduring
image of the director that is still recognized more than a half
a century later.

It’s The Differences That People Remember

These examples are only a few of the ways Internet entrepreneurs
can use the Caricature Effect to enhance their image and embed
their brand in the minds of their audience. Whether it’s a
display ad, video, a website, or even the design of the product
itself, the thing to keep in mind is that it’s the differences
that people remember.

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Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design
and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing
Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com,
http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com.
Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

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