Visuals are Powerful

Visual communication is most important of all, because sight is our most valuable sense.

One can surely get by, although with great difficulty, without the ability to hear - but the same can't be said about living without the ability to see. We as humans depend on our eyes to navigate through our world, communicate through body language, avoid dangers like open manholes and speeding cars, and whatever else you can imagine. Due to this, we naturally place a great emphasis on the use of images, gestures, and written language. For me, I respond to visual communication the most, and it's my belief that it's because of these reasons.

 I recall one time in my childhood aimlessly flipping through the pages of a magazine when I found myself transfixed by a full page ad with a dark background and a beautiful shade of green that almost seemed to glow from the page. This was, of course, an ad for Kool cigarettes (Not the exact ad, but a similar one:)

Though below the legal purchasing age, I immediately got one of the older kids from my neighborhood to buy me a pack of Kool cigarettes. When I got them in my hands, I chain-smoked the entire pack. Would I have done that without seeing the ad first? No. Aesthetically speaking, the ad was an absolute work of art. From then I realized the power of the visual advertisement, and of images in general. Images convey what we are supposed to buy, what we are supposed to desire, what we are supposed to respect, what we are supposed to hate, and basically any other communicative end.
Images, in my opinion, are the most authoritative tools of communication.

An image is a snapshot of a true or engineered reality, and communication doesn't get any more effective than that.

Besides the Kool ad, there are other very effective visual pieces that come to mind:

Redbull

I've always loved this logo and pack design for how it differentiates itself from other beverages. The checkerboard style 4-panel design evokes racing and speed, while the two bulls colliding in the logo give it a kinetic feeling. The type is bold and purposeful, putting the design more into the territory of “performance” than “enjoyment”, which I think accomplishes their branding goal.

Starbucks

This is the previous Starbucks logo. It communicates quality by organizing the elements into a seal, which gives it a kind of “royal” vibe. The color is an agreeable, smart shade of green that evokes nature (mountains, forest) and freshness. The woman at center of the seal has a goddess-like quality that gives a healthy sense of mystery and intrigue to the design.

The ultimate proof that visual communication is key is in our advertising. Simply check the prices of radio ad time versus television ad time, you probably won't not be surprised by which one is more expensive.