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# People want empty beaches — Kelford Labs Daily
- URL: https://kelfordinc.com/people-want-empty-beaches-kelford-labs-daily/
- Published: 2026-02-05T11:24:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-05T11:24:23.000Z
- Description: Not logos.
- Author: Joel Kelly
- Tags: brand, advertising, content, creative, Daily Labs, mistake, popular, presentation, visual

Years ago, back when I spent [all day, every day](https://kelfordinc.com/kelford-labs-daily-all-day-every-day/), doing tourism content marketing, I discovered something that really frustrated brand agencies.

For a particular southern destination, famous for its beaches, I stumbled upon the discovery that the fancy, branded graphics created by the brand agency didn’t perform *near as well* on social media as photos of empty beaches, contributed by real visitors.

In fact, a grainy photo (with that weird digital timestamp cameras used to add) that featured miles of empty sand and blue ocean would outperform polished, high production value imagery any day of the week.

**Because people want to see what *they* want to see, not what we *want them to see*.**

The brand agency wanted them to see, well, the brand. All the expensive logos, iconography, styling, modelling talent, and art direction they’d invested millions of dollars into.

While I just wanted people to visit the destination.

And I knew that *those people* wanted to see the beaches they could visit or fantasize about visiting, not a logo or a model they couldn’t relate to at all.

My work has never been overly flashy because, even as a kid, I always wanted to know how things *functioned*.

**In fact, I would never be certain I knew *what something did* until I knew *how it worked*.**

So when I started working in marketing, my question would always be, “But did it *work*?” Not, did people notice. Not, did it win an award. Not, did it look flashy and impressive to my peers.

But did it *work*.

**It’s tempting to think marketing needs to be about *us*, but it’s actually about *them*.**

What *they* want, not what *we want them to want*.

So before you invest thousands or millions into flash, prestige, or peer-focused advertising, ask yourself this:

What do *my customers* want to see? And am I showing them?

**Or am I showing them what *I* want them to see?**

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[***Kelford Inc.***](https://www.kelfordinc.com/) ***shows you the way to always knowing what to say.***