This is a great post from Copyblogger titled What My Five-Year-Old Taught Me About Marketing.
This is a great read as it really dives into the underlying meaning of some of today's advertising.
Here is a section of the post that really grabbed my attention

Most advertising is based around associative conditioning, which is taking something that you already like and pairing it with something that they want you to like. Or with someone you already like, in the form of a celebrity endorsement.
You may be standing up and denying angrily that you don't fall for any of those things, but billions of advertiser dollars say either that you’re quite unique or that you’re mistaken. Maybe you don’t come out and say, “Ooh, Tiger Woods. I want that!” but it happens anyway — deep down, at the inner child level.

Everytime I look at a property website and I don't see people in the pictures I wonder why the Multifamily Industry doesn't believe in associative conditioning. The best marketing minds in the world subscribe to this way of thinking. I would bet my bottom dollar that they are right.

Instead of just showing a playground, why not show kids playing on the swings? Instead of just showing the pool, why not show some beautiful people enjoying it on a nice summer day? Instead of just showing the model, why not show a happy family cooking dinner together with the family dog smiling in the background?

Our marketing material should not just show the amenities, but how the amenities are going to ad value to your life. If Fortune 500 companies spend millions of dollars a year advertising this way, I think it's a concept worth considering.