We leaned into audience perception by connecting the video’s topic with strong, immediate associations. The goal was to capture attention through something bold, familiar, and thought-provoking.
Inspired by Niko Omilana’s “breaking news” style thumbnails, we exaggerated the audience’s first thought when hearing “Afghanistan” - the Taliban. By framing it as a news headline with “Women have no rights” alongside “Taliban” tapped into curiosity.
We designed a cinematic, realistic news-style thumbnail that looked authentic while sparking controversy. The result: 1.5M views and one of the channel’s top-performing videos.