In many industries, competition isn’t about product quality anymore—it’s about perception. Companies spend billions not to make better products, but to convince you their products are better. This focus on image over substance was perfectly captured in Canon’s “Image is Everything” campaign of the early 1990s.
Their spokesperson was Andre Agassi, complete with mohawk mullet, denim shorts, and a rebellious attitude that screamed authenticity. The slogan was meant to sell cameras, but it became an unintentional commentary on marketing itself. Because nothing about Agassi’s image was real. His flowing hair was a wig. His denim shorts were leftover Nike apparel that John McEnroe didn’t want. And the rebel persona was a mask Agassi hid behind, in a sport he no longer wanted to play.
We Don’t Buy Products—We Buy Images
David Ogilvy understood this decades ago. In Ogilvy on Advertising, he uses whiskey as his example: “Why do some people choose Jack Daniel’s, while others choose Grand Dad or Taylor? Have they tried all three and compared the taste? Don’t make me laugh.”
The reality, Ogilvy explains, is that these brands have different images that appeal to different kinds of people. “It isn’t the whiskey they choose, it’s the image. The brand image is 90 percent of what the distiller has to sell.”
To prove his point, Ogilvy cites researchers at UC’s Psychology Department who gave students distilled water. When told it was distilled water, most said it had no taste. When told it came from the tap, most said it tasted horrible—the mere mention of “tap” conjured images of chlorine.
Give people Old Crow and tell them it’s Old Crow. Then give them the same Old Crow but tell them it’s Jack Daniel’s. They’ll swear the drinks taste completely different. As Ogilvy puts it: “They are tasting images.”
When Image Becomes Your Reality
This psychological phenomenon is so powerful you can taste it. Have you heard of “Charbucks?” There is a vocal group of haters that think Starbucks roasts their coffee beans a bit too long. Burned and bitter. But what happens when you give them a cup of Starbucks Blonde Roast? Can they taste the difference?
By now, the answer should not surprise you. If that blonde roast is in a Starbucks logoed, fully compostable cup, they are going to taste that “Char,” I guarantee it. The image doesn’t just identify the product—it changes the actual sensory experience.
The Hidden Cost of Image Obsession
Image sells, but it’s an expensive way to run a business. Before long, you’ll be shape-shifting, changing your image for different segments, for different seasons, and the product will get lost in the shuffle.
Abercrombie & Fitch, once a respected outdoor clothing supplier, jumped on the image treadmill and completely lost their way. They tried to be all things to all people. You can own a category, but you can’t own every category.
The Path Back to Substance
When you’re trapped by image, there’s only one way out—and Agassi found it.
In his autobiography Open, Agassi revealed how deeply he struggled with Canon’s slogan. While the campaign successfully sold cameras, it also exposed how marketing had become a game of perception rather than performance. His tennis career had followed that same path.
The irony? Agassi didn’t become a tennis legend until he abandoned the image. He cut his hair, dropped the rebellion, and focused on the game itself. In a world obsessed with appearances, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is drop the act and deliver something real.
The lesson isn’t that marketing doesn’t matter—it’s that when image becomes everything, you risk losing the very thing that made you worth marketing in the first place.
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