Product shots that read at a glance

Picture the counter from the shopper's side: a screen, a register, a rack of gum, someone behind them in line. They look up for a moment. What they need to see is the product, recognizable instantly. Product shots for ads on point-of-sale screens have one job: make the pack readable at a glance, so the shopper knows what to look for on the shelf.

Beautiful photography that obscures the pack fails that job. Plain photography that shows it clearly succeeds.

What makes a pack shot readable?

A clear front view. Show the front of the pack, facing the viewer, as the shopper would see it on the shelf. Angled, artistic shots can look good on a large print ad and become unreadable on a smaller screen.

The logo and the variant. The shopper needs to see the brand and which version this is: the flavor, the size, the variety. If the pack has a color code for flavors, make sure the color reads accurately on screen.

Strong contrast. The pack should stand out clearly from the background. A dark pack on a dark background, or a white pack on a white one, disappears.

A useful test is the shelf test. Could someone who saw only your ad find the exact product on a crowded shelf? If the answer is no, the pack shot needs work.

How should scale and cropping work?

Give the pack room. It should be one of the largest elements on the screen, often the largest after the main line of copy. A tiny pack in the corner of a busy frame won't register.

Don't crop important parts. Cutting off the top of a bottle or the edge of a label can remove the brand name or the variant. Keep the full front of the pack in frame, with a little space around it.

Show the right size. If the campaign is about a single-serve bottle, show the single-serve bottle. If it's about a multipack, show the multipack. For SKU-level campaigns, where a SKU is the specific item being promoted, the pack shot should match that exact item.

What backgrounds work best?

Simple ones. A clean, solid color or a subtle gradient lets the pack stand out. Busy lifestyle backgrounds, such as a picnic scene or a city street, compete with the product for attention.

On-brand ones. A background color drawn from the brand's palette helps recognition, as long as it contrasts with the pack.

Consistent ones. If a campaign has several frames or versions, keeping the background consistent helps shoppers connect them. It also makes production and updates easier.

My opinion: lifestyle imagery has its place, but not usually on a counter screen. Save it for channels where people have time to look.

How do you check a product shot before it runs?

View it at size. Look at the creative at the actual screen size, from the distance a shopper would stand. What looks sharp on a large monitor may blur on a smaller display.

Check color. Screens render color differently from print and from each other. Make sure brand colors and flavor colors look right, and adjust if needed.

Compare with the shelf. Put the actual product next to the screen and look at both. They should be instantly recognizable as the same thing.

And follow the specs. Resolution, file type and safe areas all affect how the pack shot appears. The creative specs page lists the requirements, and digital signage generally rewards sharp, high-contrast images. For help planning creative, contact the NRS Digital Media team.