Is life really more beautiful through rose-tinted filters? Do specific platforms enhance the value of brand creative?
Speaking at the IAB’s Mobile Engage on Thursday, Facebook’s director of Creative Shop, Rob Newlan, unveiled new research to reveal just how powerful social platforms can be – and how much of an influence they have on consumers’ perception of advertising creative.
When faced with the same image on three different social platforms, a higher proportion of respondents thought that the image on Instagram was significantly more “artistic and inspirational”, which Newlan said demonstrated the “transformative power” of the platform to automatically enhance the world.
A fifth of survey respondents also said that Instagram is a “gallery of the future”, while a third think that there is a “real art” to posting “Instagram-worthy” photos.
At just five years old, Facebook-owned Instagram already has 300 million users across the globe, with 70 million photos shared every day – and since 2014 advertisers have had the opportunity to capitalise on people’s love of sharing photos, through sponsored posts.
However, it’s not just brands wanting to advertise on Instagram, with a third of users saying that they use the platform to “advertise their lives.”
However, despite the ever-growing global accessibility of Instagram – giving all users the opportunity to be creative – Newlan does not think that the platform devalues the art of brand creative.
“I worry that a lot of people are saying creativity is being democratised,” he said. “But I think it’s the complete opposite.
“There’s a vast acceleration of creativity, and by putting these tools in people’s hands we’re giving them the opportunity to really appreciate and see creativity through a different lens.”
