THE RISE OF VISUAL STORYTELLING 17 jump forward to today. Holy smokes, what do we have available? It’s like mankind’s greatest dream is available at our fingertips. I want to share a story with you, and I Research from Billion Dollar want to share it with you visually: all I have to do is take Graphics has shown that 46.1% a picture and e-mail it to you. I put it on Twitter, or I of people say a website’s design post it on Facebook, Flickr, or Instagram. It’s no surprise is the number one criterion that we are sharing billions of images on those net- for discerning the credibility works. It makes perfect sense—we’ve always wanted 19 while MDG of the company, to share pictures with each other, but we never had Advertising has demonstrated the right technology to do it. Now we do. That, to me, that 67% of consumers consider is the biggest trend in marketing and communication, clear, detailed images to be very period. The “simple” technologies that we now have important and carry even more are enabling us to do what we have always dreamed of weight than the product infor- doing, which was to easily share ideas with each other mation, full description, and in pictorial form. customer ratings.20 We can’t get away from the importance of visuals in our everyday communication. That much is clear. But what does this mean to marketers? Creating images that make the viewer think and feel a certain way is big business to advertising: getting the right visuals is at the very heart of business branding. In 2001, Pepsi budgeted over $1 billion on its image. Not to be outdone, Coca-Cola budgeted $1.4 billion for its image in the same year.21 Empathizing in the intended way to symbols and images is reliant on a shared cultural identity—that is, on an understanding of who your audience is. Different cultures, and even different demographics, will pro- cess symbols differently. Whereas images such as star-spangled flags and eagles can appeal to an American sense of patriotism, the same effect may be achieved by a maple leaf, a lion, or a kangaroo in other countries. And what appears strong and decisive to one audience could seem aggressive to another.