Karen D’Silva
The first thought that comes to mind when looking at this image is that Burton understands their client base.  The “Burton lifestyle” seems to come to life through their advertisements, as if we were looking at someone’s personal vacation picks.  Not only did Burton choose relevant models to depict this scenario, but they also understood the value the right photographer would bring to the photo.  That is… a photographer whose vision also compliments the “Burton Lifestyle”.

There’s something so instant about this moment captured, which is only further reinforced when you apply this kind of spontaneous light.  As the audience stops at this page in a magazine, you have to imagine they conclude this photograph was created by a point and shoot camera.  They might even see a similarity to their own grab shots.  Someone could even assume that this kind of photograph is easy to take.   Of course, to the seasoned eye, we appreciate the balance found between mixing this specific light source with a clean, graphic composition.  Perhaps it is this very composition that separates an editorial shot from an advertising one.  The eye purposefully travels back and forth through the image from the woman to the man via the Burton bags.  Definitely, not a coincidence.

To me, the image immediately communicates a clear message that speaks about the people in the ad, what sort of lifestyle they live, and of course how Burton fits into their life.  And of course, the moment is even further pushed by the candid moment or rather too familiar expression captured on the male model’s face.


Meg Asaro
What a great human moment.  Makes you remember that underneath all the hoopola of self branding and game playing, men and women are animals who subconsciously think about procreation. We at Spark have been contemplating men, what makes them tick and how marketers target them.  This answer is much harder to discern than it seems since women, and their tasty purse power, have been traditionally targeted.  Historically, men made the money and women spent it.  But, today, things are shifting.  Men and women get married later in life, women yield more financial power, men have gotten ‘prettier’.  Now, men are targeted and directly. Marketers are doing their best to crack the male code.  Usually, sex sells for men.  Look at any men’s magazine, like Maxim or Esquire, and you get the drill.

But, maybe that obvious platform needs a bit of updating for today’s Generation Y (for our purposes, people in their early to mid 20’s). In this split second moment, we see his struggle of lovin’ her booty but also trying to be clever about checking her out.  He is trying to keep his game face and not show his cards to her.  If she knows he is into her, then she gets all the power and how much fun would that be?

Our latest Spark*y is about fathers and the home.  To see how fathers are portrayed in advertising images, we first had to distill male drives.  They are more direct and functional than female drives which tend to be more emotional and sensorial.  In this image, we see a timeless male drive: Men are hunters.  It goes back to the days when men hunted it and women cooked it.  Just because the power between men and women is shifting doesn’t mean this male drive has disappeared.  Men hunt for their food - the main reason the Atkins diet was such a hit is that men participated.  It wasn’t girly, it involved meat and lots of it!  Men hunt for their jobs, they approach job searches methodically and patiently.  And men hunt for women, which this ad so slyly illustrates.  His hunger translates into his strong appetite for sport and his need for Burton products which help support his active lifestyle.  By incorporating these human elements into stock photography, you retain a realness that connects with the viewer and helps it penetrate consumer mind space.  Only upon further inspection do you find the tagline, “Burton Travel Bags Give you More Trunk for your Junk.”  The image supports the tagline so well, you wonder which came first.


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Related Stories:

Visual case study: Sony Vaio 'like.no.other' campaign (May 4, 2007)
Visual case study: State Farm microsite NowWhat.com (April 3, 2007)
Visual case study: Samsung Black Carbon Ultra Edition mobile phone (March 6, 2007)
Visual case study: Sea Island Resorts (February 6, 2007)
Visual case study: Microsoft Zune campaign (January 4, 2007)
Visual case study: California Closets (December 1, 2006)

Meg Asaro & Karen D’Silva are the Principals of Spark Visual Research. For more information about the authors visit the bios for Meg Asaro, Karen D’Silva, or www.sparkvisualresearch.com. D’Silva and Asaro also publish their own newsletter for professional photographers seeking highly applicable market research presented specifically for use in conceptual planning for commercial photography productions.