What Is Visual Advocacy: When Images Get Cheap, What Brands Lack Most Is Something to Say
The short version: visual advocacy is what we at INTENTION (識聚有限公司) call our work. For brands and musicians, we take "what they want to say" and turn it into something you can see, so that what a brand stands for gets understood and what a creator thinks gets seen. The biggest difference from ordinary advertising is that we ask "why make this" first, and only then decide what to shoot and what to make.
Since AI made images very cheap, this has become more important. Here's why.
1. What is happening now
Images got cheap, but demand for video keeps getting pushed up. In a 2026 music industry survey, 75.9% of respondents said video directly affects whether their careers succeed or fail, and 75.3% of musicians feel pushed to keep producing video on top of their music [1]. For people aged 16 to 24, the number one way they engage with music every day is short-form video (82%) [2].
The more there is, the more you need to be "different." In 2026, the world's 100 most valuable brands were worth a combined US$13.1 trillion, and the study concluded that in an age when AI filters content for people, being "meaningful, and different from everyone else" matters more, not less [3]. Another study, analyzing 6.5 billion consumer data points, found that brands that achieved "meaningful difference" had 9 times the volume share and 2 times the average price [4].
People still care who made it. 45% of listeners are uncomfortable with AI writing original music [5].
2. How I see it
The reasoning goes like this:
Images are cheap now, so anyone can make something "good-looking." Good-looking is no longer a reason.
There's more than anyone could ever watch, and people still have 24 hours a day. People stop because something has to do with them, and they can understand what it's saying.
So what brands and artists lack most isn't more images. It's something to say: who you are, and what you want understood, and by whom. When that's clear, the images have a direction. When it isn't, more images are just noise.
I often tell the team: rather than filming every single word literally, getting the vibe right is what matters. What audiences remember isn't every frame. It's the feeling.
I also often say: rather than building an IP, build a world that pulls people in. An IP is a symbol to be remembered, and symbols get old. A world is a set of rules people want to move into. It grows on its own, and audiences, creators, even AI can make new things inside it without it losing its flavor.
3. How it differs from the usual approach
The usual approach | Visual advocacy | |
|---|---|---|
Where it starts | The client gives a brief: one video, one set of photos | First ask: who do we want to understand what, this time? |
What gets delivered | One video, one key visual | A complete way of saying it: concept, cover, press photos, MV, social, all tied together by one stance |
What counts as success | It's made and delivered | Whether viewers got it, and whether the work can keep extending |
4. Three examples
U:NUS, "U:NFOLD" (2026) Their second full-length album. We started from the album concept and took it all the way through the cover and physical packaging, press photos, short-form social videos, and five MVs. Mirror Media's report on June 22, 2026 stated that the album's visuals and overall visual system were handled by INTENTION [6]. See the project →
ADEN Wang, "Be a Lover" (2023) This album is about "love." We built the key visual from floral design and a pink palette, then partnered with AEON Motor so the singer could ride around Taiwan and hold pop-up live premieres. The stance didn't stay on the cover. It went into an actual journey. See the project →
JAYLERR, "NO PACER" (2026) An MV for a Thai singer, co-produced in Thailand by our production arm NOUS ASIA with a team from Bangkok and directed by Pinbo. Focus Taiwan (Taiwan's Central News Agency English service) reported on the collaboration in May 2026 [7]. What you have to say isn't bound by language. Images are the best translation. See the project →
5. My predictions
"No AI" will become a selling point. A research firm predicts that by 2027, 20% of brands will advertise that they don't use AI as a way to stand out (secondary source) [8]. I don't think the point is whether you use AI. The point is whether you have something to say. But this prediction does show one thing: people are starting to care about "who made it, and why."
Money in the music industry will flow toward video and superfans. One investment bank estimates that global music revenue will grow from US$105 billion in 2024 to nearly US$200 billion in 2035, with video content and superfans among the main drivers [9]. That is the market for visual advocacy.
Our own ledger. Our company keeps a prediction ledger and settles each entry when it comes due. Our in-house trend researcher estimates the probabilities:
Our number of new projects with artists and brands in the first half of 2027 will be no lower than in the first half of 2026. The ledger puts it at 55%.
Within 6 months of the directors page going live, at least one client asks for a specific director by name, not just for the company. The ledger puts it at 55%. If it comes true, it means "a person's name" is itself part of what's being said.
6. When it makes sense to work with us
You have an album, a brand, or a new product, and you want people to understand more than "it looks good."
You need one team to take it from concept all the way to images, instead of finding different people for each stage.
Contact: for creative strategy, INTENTION (識聚有限公司) at intention.ltd@gmail.com; for shooting and video production, NOUS ASIA (冉冉創意股份有限公司) at nous.asia.ltd@gmail.com
Sources
Berklee Emerging Artistic Technology Lab, In Sync: Music and Video 2026, 2026-06-04. https://www.berklee.edu/beatl/in-sync-music-and-video-2026 ; https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/berklee-beatl-ai-music-video-study
IFPI, Engaging with Music 2023 (43,000 people, 26 countries), 2023-12. https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IFPI-Engaging-With-Music-2023_full-report.pdf
Kantar, BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands 2026, 2026-07-13. https://www.kantar.com/inspiration/brands/most-valuable-global-brands-2026
Kantar, Blueprint for Brand Growth (6.5 billion data points), 2024-05-14. https://www.kantar.com/press-center/analysis-of-6-5-billion-consumer-datapoints-reveals-the-three-rules-of-brand-growth
Luminate, 2025 Year-End Music Report, 2026-01. https://luminatedata.com/reports/yearend-music-industry-report-2025/
Mirror Media (鏡週刊), 〈U:NUS隔2年推正規二輯《U:NFOLD》〉 [U:NUS releases second full-length album "U:NFOLD" after a 2-year gap], 2026-06-22. https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/amp/20260622-90ent-012147
Focus Taiwan, Taiwan director in on Thai pop star's latest music video, 2026-05-16. https://focustaiwan.tw/culture/202605160013
Decision Marketing, reporting on Gartner Marketing Predictions (Gartner's site blocks automated reading, so this is a secondary source), 2023-12. https://www.decisionmarketing.co.uk/?p=113164
Goldman Sachs, Music in the Air 2025, 2025-08-28. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/global-music-revenues-are-forecast-to-double-to-200-million-in-2035
About the author
陳韋傑 (Aloha jie) is the founder of INTENTION (識聚有限公司, INTENTION CREATIVE CO., LTD.) and a director. INTENTION is a creative strategy and visual production company in Taipei, founded in 2022, working on album visuals, music videos, brand films and social content. Production is handled by its production arm NOUS ASIA (冉冉創意股份有限公司). INTENTION Made is where the team turns the friction in its own creative workflow into free tools.
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