Comments on: Lose The Emotion, Lose Your Brand

By: DrewGeldart

DrewGeldart — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:13:55 +0000

There is no denying emotions are powerful drivers of perception and ultimately it is those perceptions that form a brand’s reputation. As you rightly point out Amanda, brands can make a good first impression, but if they fail to deliver on the experienced as promised, it leads to a poor reputation. Good business practice results from a strong brand developed at the c-suite / strategic level, and consistently activated through all parts of the business, from guerrilla marketing to accounts payable.
@ansonwlee wrote a whitepaper “Get It Together” that uses the Dubberly Model of Brand to map our how brands connects to the customer experience. http://su.pr/2Xcu39 Check it out if you have 5 minutes.

By: Jordyn

Jordyn — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:36:16 +0000

You’re so right…it’s the companies who make themselves accessible to consumers that have the strongest brands. Emotional reactions to commercials, whether we admit it or not, are a large part of how we view a brand. I’m usually inclined to like a product if a commercial makes me laugh. I can’t help it!

By: Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire

Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:42:44 +0000

It’s all about creating a reaction in the customer. If you have not done that, then you are trying to make too many people happy, which will, in turn, not sell anything.

Whether you are using fear, sadness, loss, happiness, or any other emotion to evoke a sale, the only ethical issue would be if your product did not do what you said it was going to do.

You cannot convince a person to buy something that they don’t want. People are so worries about beign brainwashed, but don’t take the time to think that maybe the marketer/copywriter was really in-tune with what the person really wants inside.

It is the job of the marketer to make people’s lives better by getting the products they WANT into their hot little hands. If you don’t use emotion to get there, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.

-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire

By: Sharon Eden

Sharon Eden — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:47:19 +0000

Loved this post… Thank you.

Reminded me of Karen Salmansohn from her book ‘Bullsy’ when she said ‘You’re nobody until somebody hates you!’ Plenty of wet lettuces out there, I’d rather my brand was a hot chili.

By: Chris Miller

Chris Miller — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:35:28 +0000

Regarding Apple, at least within AppleCare, I can say they carried their emotional marketing onto their employees – at least while I was working there. I don’t think this is the case now. Like Microsoft and Google, Apple had their own unique corporate culture that really spoiled the employees. I started on as an entry-level tech support, and was promoted three times within a year and a half – mostly, I would guess, from my catching on to that culture. I was accommodated on an emotional level on par with the products we were supporting, so that I was just another fanatic-customer helping other fanatic-customers. Genius.

Sadly, I think Apple has started blowing it by moving to dressed-up Dell computers and PDAs that take a person’s creativity away by closing the platform – exactly the opposite of what Apple was known for. Instead of “Think Different”, they’re moving to “Let Us Think For You”.

My point here is I think emotional marketing on a corporate B2C level can work well, but it’s expensive and takes a lot of fine tuning. It seems like Apple gave up, which leads me to believe it’s probably best to stay away from emotional marketing in big business unless you’re selling kittens.

By: Andrew@BloggingGuide

Andrew@BloggingGuide — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:49:55 +0000

I totally agree with your post. We really cannot separate emotions from humans and emotions from marketing. We have the words love, hate, like or dislike. These are how people may feel about your brand, product or service. It is somewhat unimaginable for people to buy your product/service without feeling anything or without some feeling convincing them to but it. We are not living in a world of robots but rather within a world of human beings.

By: john andrews

john andrews — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:32:49 +0000

Before the Internet, brands were not humans and individuals did not represent brands. In B2C, the C did not get to know a VP named “Mary” at IBM, or even that there was a Mary behind the IBM brand. The consumer simply knew IBM.. the brand.

Today we look into the brands and see the people (because they are exposed via the Internet and communications). Why do we look? Because we want to personify the corporation. We want to understand it better, maybe even own a little of its (emotional) mindshare. So now one of those people wants to remind you that he’s just him, and not The Brand, and it’s not smart to get emotional about “the brand”.

Phooey. Welcome to 2010, in the Age of the Interwebs.

If the corporation makes a deal with me, and I can see the people pulling the strings inside said corporation, I will hold them accountable (emotionally or whatever). Deal with it.

If you don’t like it, stop putting yourself out there with a blog proclaiming this and that thought from you, the guy doing A B or C at Brand X. Tim says of critics “anonymous polemics leave a very sour taste”. Something similar could be said of big egos, braggards, or undersocialized geeks in many contexts. Fortunately for us, we can choose what to read (and who to ignore).

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:12:53 +0000

Interesting question, Lisa.

The thing is, emotional marketing has been around a lot longer than social media. Marketers have played to our emotions through TV ads for animal shelters; through documentaries for aid-stricken countries (maybe not marketing as such, but still “selling” the need for our help); charities playing on our emotions to donate.

Then you have the “must have item”, that advertisers or marketers make you feel less a person if you don’t buy. A certain brand of beer; a car; a vacation (try telling your wife that she doesn’t need 5-star over 4.5 stars!).

Social media offers a few more options to play on the emotions; but it’s not the medium that’s suddenly made it all possible. Heck, I bet even the Romans sold gladiator matches on the emotions of the crowd ;-)

By: Volkai

Volkai — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:45:13 +0000

It seems like this post and Tim Bray’s post come from significantly different viewpoints, and taken together add up to this:

It is useful to a corporation for that corporation to evoke emotional reactions from individuals.

It not is useful to an individual for that individual to react emotionally to corporations.

By: Chris Miller

Chris Miller — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:31:19 +0000

I think it’s important to separate “customers” here – B2B is much different from B2C, and even B2C can be divided into demographics quite a bit. Consumers like to have emotional motivation, and some rely on it – but it depends on the customer, the business, and the industry. If you’re in the business of selling stray kittens and you post a commercial on Lifetime about the practicality of bringing yet another pet into your home, I think you missed the mark. Likewise, If you’re a business selling replacement drill bits on eBay, nobody really cares how nice you are on Twitter. All these customers care about is prices and percentage of positive feedback.

In B2B, there’s even less room for emotional marketing. In BP’s case, I’m not an expert in the oil industry (although I did just move from Alaska), but I really doubt they care what any of us consumers think. Oil is B2B, if you don’t like BP gas stations you’re still gonna buy their gas from Shell, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, or whoever buys off their excess at the refinery. Obviously nobody is going to buy less gas because of an emotional decision.

I would say that if there is emotional value to your product or service, then by all means market that emotional value, just as you would any other type of value. If you’re selling kittens, 100% of your value is in emotion – so the campaign should be 100% emotional. If your product is discount drill bits, forget emotion and focus on other marketing efforts. If you sell something in the middle like running shoes, adjust your campaign accordingly – but if all else fails and you’re not sure, focus on your customers and the rest should fall into place.