Key visual
The main image of a campaign that carries its idea and is adapted across all formats, from billboards and print to social, packaging and point of sale. A strong key visual works without the headline and keeps the brand's distinctive assets in view. It is a common term in European agency work; the risk is a pretty picture that every adaptation crops in a different way until nobody links it to the brand.
Where it's used
Used in integrated and retail campaigns where one image has to work in many sizes and channels. Good when the brief asks for one recognisable campaign look across media.
Example
One image, forty formats
Illustrative scenarioA sparkling-water brand plans a summer campaign with posters, store displays, banners and social. The key visual is a bottle sweating in hard sunlight on the brand's blue, with the logo on the bottle itself. Every format, from a 48-sheet poster to a 300 by 250 banner, keeps the bottle and the blue. Shoppers see the same picture on the shelf that they saw on the street.