The Undeniable Power of Photography in Advertising
As a creative production company, our strength lies in partnering with in-house teams to deliver content that drives real impact. In a media landscape where video often takes center stage, the unique role of photography in advertising can sometimes be overlooked. But looking back on the past few years, we’ve done a lot of it—and its power is undeniable.
A single, well-composed image has the ability to stop a scrolling audience in its tracks, evoke emotion in an instant, and serve as a visual anchor for a brand’s identity. Unlike video, where multiple frames build a story, a single still must communicate everything in one shot. It’s storytelling is distilled to its purest form where every detail is intentional. Even more critical is the human element in photography. Audiences don’t just connect with brands; they connect with people. Authentic, well-lit, and thoughtfully captured human portraits bring warmth, relatability, and credibility to a brand.
So, it’s time to shine the spotlight on some of our favorite non-moving images, broken down into three types of production so we can try to pinpoint why some of the biggest and best brands in the world like Adobe, Hilton, Intuit QuickBooks, Lululemon and Starbucks keep working with us.
The types of stills shoots we do most often are for Social, Over-the-Shoulder and Brand Expression.
SOCIAL CONTENT STILLS
The scrappiest of all production models is all about volume and flexibility for tight budgets. Our approach leverages the “chronically online” nature of our social-first creatives. We lean into what they know, which is the style trends and what will hit, pairing them with ever-resourceful producers to deliver nimbly for clients like McDonald’s, T-Mobile and Silver Jeans among others.
OVER-THE-SHOULDER
We also pride ourselves on flexibility and right-sizing our productions for each client’s specific needs. Sometimes (editor’s note: all the time) they just need more assets. We offer OTS photography as an add-on to any production we do. As the name implies, this approach leverages the lighting for the video shoot and maximizes those in-between moments to capture and deliver hard working assets for digital and social channels and extend campaigns.
BRAND EXPRESSION
Our process to achieve Brand Expression work has been honed over the past three years on the annual Brand Photography Catalogue shoots for QuickBooks.
The goal of this project is to create a best-in-class body of work that captures the unique essence of QuickBooks, and the small businesses they champion. This is a six day shoot, in two different major North American cities, and features 7-8 real small businesses.
We take a high touch and labor intensive approach. We lead the search for those businesses, partner with our hand-selected commercial photographer, Chad Kirkland, to develop a unique lighting scheme, photo techniques and color style that fit within the existing QuickBooks family of photos, and continue to evolve the look and feel with the guidance of key stakeholders.
We’ve used a version of this style with many other clients including IKEA, Adobe, Silver Jeans, as well as for other product categories in the Intuit brand.
SEE SILVER JEANS AND IKEA WORK
Last but not least, we never miss an opportunity to delight our clients with creative plus ups like .gifs, or mixed media experiments.
At The Heist, we love two things: solving complex problems and creating content that works for you. Whether it’s a high-touch brand campaign or fast-turn social content, we know that photography is more than just a supporting asset, it’s a core driver of brand storytelling. The right image doesn’t just complement a campaign; it can define it.
