Flo Heiss on the Instagramification of advertising
In the latest edition of The Drum magazine, we give The Last Word to artist, designer and adman Flo Heiss, who comes clean about his Instagram addiction and says it's time the ad industry learned to #nofilter.
Arist, designer, adman, Instagrammer: Flo Heiss
It’s happened. We’ve all been in a time machine and now it’s 1976. Have you seen it? It’s everywhere. That look. That washed out, yellowish, warm, lens-flare, carpet-tilecoloured fuzz-look. And every day it becomes more ubiquitous. Like Muzak for the eye.
But who am I to complain? I am guilty. I am very, very guilty indeed. I am guilty of the Instagrammification of our world.
Have you heard of it? It’s spreading across the creative world, blob-like, unstoppable and oh so hungry for more. It’s the filterisation of our lives.
Admittedly Instagramification looks good. It makes our lives beautiful. Every single last facet of it. Our dinner, our kids’ scribblings, our craft beer all look oh so delicious in ‘Rise’. And so it makes us feel good about our lives. And that’s nice.
Additionally, Instagram has produced a bizarre thing where we have to announce that something is #nofilter. And yes, did I say that I love Instagram? I love it. And so I am guilty. Very, very guilty indeed.
Careful though. Have you ever caught yourself looking for a picture to share as opposed to just sharing a picture you happened to take? I have. Loads of times. It’s a line that is easily crossed. Editing your life to make it shareable and not sharing your life as it happens. “This is Instagram gold!” I have that voice in my head. And it’s difficult to silence.
And so a lot of advertising now looks like it’s shot in 1976. It’s beautiful, but it’s not of our time. It’s a borrowed aesthetic. It makes us feel good because it reminds us of the past. Like a warm apple crumble with custard does. But it also quite possibly clouds our judgment. I am guilty. I am very, very guilty indeed.
Here is the question. Is Retromania in culture a threat to originality? Is it possible to create something truly of now? Is it possible to apply #nofilter to advertising? To filter out all the wonderful creations and creators of the past breathing down our necks to create something new? Something now?
I hope so. I think so. I am just not quite sure what it is. And don’t let anyone tell you everything has been done before. Nothing has been done before. Nothing has been done before the way you will make it. I promise you. But you have to start making it.
In music it’s even more difficult to find a sound that encapsulates our time. John Grant is as close to a musician that makes music with no reference to the past that I can think of. His music is truly of today.
But I am optimistic. As our lives are disrupted with endless opportunities and options, simplicity is a choice that presents itself to us in countless new shiny ways. And with all the wonderful tools at our disposal, originality will find a million new expressions. And I for one want to be there to try and make something of now.
Will you?
Flo Heiss is the founder and creative director of Studio Heiss, which he set up in June 2013. Before that he spent almost 13 years at London digital agency Dare where he was executive creative director. Originally from Bavaria, Heiss came to the UK in 1996 to study graphics at the Royal College of Art and has been here ever since. His column is The Last Word from the 19 February edition of The Drum.