GIFs Infiltrate Advertising in Relentless March Toward Total Domination of All Communication

Kelly Faircloth — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:41:26 -0400

Is there any dusty corner of the Internet isolated from the fervor of the GIF craze? Now it appears that these mesmerizing mini-movies have crept into advertising. Take, for example, an email that the Standard Hotel's Miami outpost just sent, which employs the best tool for the visual communication since the advent of the emoticon to trumpet its yoga offerings.

The email contains little besides four GIFs, two of which we've provided here:

Accompanying the images is a wryly cheesy little note: "Let us 'gif' guide you to optimum performance in your yoga and fitness practice." What does that even mean?

UPDATED: The Standard reached out to inform us that they, in fact, have an entire Tumblr devoted to instructional yoga GIFs. David Karp must be pleased as punch.

But the Standard isn't the only brand looking to cash in on the GIF-o-mania. Diesel, for example, has converted images from its fall 2012 advertising campaign into cinemagraphs, the better-bred cousin of the sometimes jerky GIF. And given the advanced state of GIF-making technology, the only real question is why it's taken this long for the form to invade advertising.

The real mystery is why email marketers think those asinine subject-line symbols are acceptable. Thanks, LivingSocial, we understand that you're offering deals on flights. The little airplane is overkill.

Betabeat » GIFs Infiltrate Advertising in Relentless March Toward Total Domination of All Communication

GIFs Infiltrate Advertising in Relentless March Toward Total Domination of All Communication