The business of emotional branding
October 6, 2003 | 12:00am
Emotional motivation is key to brand selling. Today, more and more marketers rely primarily on emotional branding – the development of an honest sensitivity to what consumers want, and then finding a unique way to give it to them to ensure the winnability of their brands versus even the fiercest of competitors. Marc Gobé, author of the book Emotional Branding: The Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People, looks at it as an art of turning a very high awareness score into preference, trust and loyalty. A brand’s E.I. or emotional identity, Gobé declares, is "quite simply the conduit that best connects brands with people, elevating our perception of a product or service to the level of aspiration." Brands with E.I. "own a unique visual and verbal vocabulary – one that stands out from the crowd," he stresses.
In his second book, Citizen Brand, Gobé expounds on the dualistic concept of love and fear as a new way of looking at brands from an emotional perspective. Love and fear are both powerful purchase motivators, but are much more useful to attempt to inspire positive feelings rather than to create fear-based communications. Love, quite simply, has more staying power and overall potential to inspire. Fear, by its very nature, is about adopting a defensive posture in order to avoid something negative – and once the threat is gone, the emotional association is no longer valid. Exploring the notion of love and fear as basis for understanding emotional motivation, Gobé takes us through a list of major current trends affecting our world, our emotional lives, and the way brands and branding should be handled.
We long for a place were we can be ourselves and commune with other special people belonging to the same inner sanctum who share a similar passion or outlook in life. Being with one’s own is like being in the safety of one’s abode. It can make us feel a deep indescribable comfort. Most likely, this trend initially began as a tribute to and a natural longing for the distant memory of extended families, living under one roof and moving around one compound, within tight, well-defined communities.
For some time now, many smart brands have understood the power of the tribal instinct in creating a strong brand. The point here is that by inspiring people about the idea of belonging to a brand club, we are able to build a huge opportunity to market our products, as we provide the warmth of the tribal fires around the brands that they get to trust and love. The tribal trend is bringing people together for a positive experience. Avon, for many years has done a great job of galvanizing women, organizing walkathons around the world for the cause of breast cancer. Apple has motivated thousands of computer aficionados to attend the annual MacWorld Expo.
A tribe needs a language too. To talk to one, a brand will at least need to understand, and importantly, speak, this cultural language meant for the insiders of a particular tribe. A fascinating example of course is the text talk that Gen Y has invented to communicate via wireless devices. Abbreviated letters combined with numbers representing a syllable, an entire word or phrase are used not only for speed and small digital spaces, but also for privacy from any potential prying eyes that would just see gibberish in these messages.
This is all about enjoying the pleasures of creating a beautiful home environment and spending quality enjoyment time in a spruced up surrounding. It signals the increase of home-based activities such as family meals, home entertainment decorating, gardening, and so on. Many of these activities hark back to simple do-it-yourself or homespun pastimes such as crafts, cooking and other hobbies.
"Sweet-Homing" is grand living in the comfort of our own nests – an active exploration of all the wonderful things and activities we can bring from the outside world into our dining table, entertainment nook or bedroom. It runs contrary to Faith Popcorn’s idea of "cocooning" or the couch potato whose only desire is to escape the pressures and responsibilities of the external environment. It is a celebration of the home and the family.
This trend for example makes the Magic Microphone, videoke machines and other forms of home entertainment highly sellable. But as the elements of work and entertainment are increasingly added to our concept of home, we may find other things, such as everyday chores taken away from our routinary existence. Time-starved people, looking to enjoy domicile coziness, may rebel against using the time for domestic duties, and we may see the advent of more services like the valet laundry, aromatherapy, full body massage, and food delivery.
This course signifies a desire to return to simple life. It represents a healthy impulse for coming to terms with an increasingly complex and tense world, a way of both escaping from, and in some cases, attempting to restructure our adult reality. "This is not to say though that sophistication and luxury will disappear. They will just become a bit more streamlined, oriented toward ease and taste – an elegance that can be festive in the celebration of life, but that is less about flashy self-indulgence," Gobé explains.
People are seeking the familiar in this new uncertain world. Sincerity and authenticity have become very vital. Focus groups in the USA have revealed that they would like to see the return of Coca-Cola’s classic "I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony" commercial because they have warm memories of it as a positive, inspiring message of global communion.
This trend challenges brands to find out how their own unique value proposition can simplify people’s lives, reassure them and appeal to the inner child, either through comfort or fun. However, it certainly does not signify an end to the advertising practitioner’s ever-expanding need to explore new, more demanding creative territories. It will require a fresh approach to humor which will be kinder, gentler, uncomplicated and does not thrive on irony or putting down people.
This signifies disenchantment with a flowery, unrealistic perception of the world. Consumers today know better. It is about seeing things as they truly are in recognizing that we are empowered, intelligent, and keenly aware members of society. "The plain truth is that people want to know the truth, as uncomfortable as the reality of the situation may be," Gobé stresses.
A brilliant print ad by The Body Shop, a long-time advocate of reality-based communications, attacks societal views of female perfection head on. The ad shows a plump doll (a la Barbie with a good 30 or so extra pounds) with a tag line that reads, "There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only eight who do." Similarly, a Benetton ad simply showing a happy child with Down’s Syndrome with no tag line continues the brand’s tradition of communications that address real issues, but with more sensitivity and a subtle flavor of optimism that is new to Benetton’s style of advertising.
Whether a brand chooses to address the reality check trend or not depends to a large degree on the brand image. It is not a trend for all brands, and it certainly doesn’t mean that consumers are no longer interested in escapist fantasy. Clearly, the need for soothing, or forgetting entirely the sharper edge of reality, will always exist. "It is fantasy that pretends to portray reality that may well fall under attack given this trend," Gobé emphasizes.
This is the continuation and intensification of the ongoing direction toward individuality or customization. "Down Home" means empowerment in the "emotional economy" – a way for people to regain control of their lives and a sense of self that can be missing in a cold, technology-dependent society. It underscores our need to personalize the world not for ourselves, but in order to feel connected to others.
Big companies will have to learn to speak with a personal voice in order to win the hearts of consumers, and design will be a potent tool for communicating that personal touch to their various publics. This trend is responsible for the huge success of micro or niche and brands whose captivating personal stories invite targeted individuals to be part of the brand story.
This pertains to our impassioned need to actively seek sensations to feel our aliveness and gain a deeper sense of ourselves, whether through the wild adventure of extreme sports or relatively tame activities that involve indulging in exposures that wake up the senses, and everything in between. It relates to our desire for visceral experiences like the adrenaline rush from engaging in a dangerous sport or the profound relaxation of a spa. And since it accentuates a strong universal human need, this trend cuts across all boundaries of generation, background and class, although it is expressed differently among different groups.
Given this learning, a brand must appeal to the senses, from product development to communications. This will make itself rise above the status of mere commodity to become an emotional brand. The spiritual and sensorial factors have clearly become important considerations when purchasing brands, and the promise associated with any product needs to be relevant to these aspirations.
Emotional branding is a continuous process, a business infrastructure that must be constantly built upon. As such, organizations must realize that unwavering dedication is critical to experience both immediate and long-term gains.
E-mail bongo@vasia.com or bongo@campaignsandgrey.net for comments and suggestions.
In his second book, Citizen Brand, Gobé expounds on the dualistic concept of love and fear as a new way of looking at brands from an emotional perspective. Love and fear are both powerful purchase motivators, but are much more useful to attempt to inspire positive feelings rather than to create fear-based communications. Love, quite simply, has more staying power and overall potential to inspire. Fear, by its very nature, is about adopting a defensive posture in order to avoid something negative – and once the threat is gone, the emotional association is no longer valid. Exploring the notion of love and fear as basis for understanding emotional motivation, Gobé takes us through a list of major current trends affecting our world, our emotional lives, and the way brands and branding should be handled.
For some time now, many smart brands have understood the power of the tribal instinct in creating a strong brand. The point here is that by inspiring people about the idea of belonging to a brand club, we are able to build a huge opportunity to market our products, as we provide the warmth of the tribal fires around the brands that they get to trust and love. The tribal trend is bringing people together for a positive experience. Avon, for many years has done a great job of galvanizing women, organizing walkathons around the world for the cause of breast cancer. Apple has motivated thousands of computer aficionados to attend the annual MacWorld Expo.
A tribe needs a language too. To talk to one, a brand will at least need to understand, and importantly, speak, this cultural language meant for the insiders of a particular tribe. A fascinating example of course is the text talk that Gen Y has invented to communicate via wireless devices. Abbreviated letters combined with numbers representing a syllable, an entire word or phrase are used not only for speed and small digital spaces, but also for privacy from any potential prying eyes that would just see gibberish in these messages.
"Sweet-Homing" is grand living in the comfort of our own nests – an active exploration of all the wonderful things and activities we can bring from the outside world into our dining table, entertainment nook or bedroom. It runs contrary to Faith Popcorn’s idea of "cocooning" or the couch potato whose only desire is to escape the pressures and responsibilities of the external environment. It is a celebration of the home and the family.
This trend for example makes the Magic Microphone, videoke machines and other forms of home entertainment highly sellable. But as the elements of work and entertainment are increasingly added to our concept of home, we may find other things, such as everyday chores taken away from our routinary existence. Time-starved people, looking to enjoy domicile coziness, may rebel against using the time for domestic duties, and we may see the advent of more services like the valet laundry, aromatherapy, full body massage, and food delivery.
People are seeking the familiar in this new uncertain world. Sincerity and authenticity have become very vital. Focus groups in the USA have revealed that they would like to see the return of Coca-Cola’s classic "I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony" commercial because they have warm memories of it as a positive, inspiring message of global communion.
This trend challenges brands to find out how their own unique value proposition can simplify people’s lives, reassure them and appeal to the inner child, either through comfort or fun. However, it certainly does not signify an end to the advertising practitioner’s ever-expanding need to explore new, more demanding creative territories. It will require a fresh approach to humor which will be kinder, gentler, uncomplicated and does not thrive on irony or putting down people.
A brilliant print ad by The Body Shop, a long-time advocate of reality-based communications, attacks societal views of female perfection head on. The ad shows a plump doll (a la Barbie with a good 30 or so extra pounds) with a tag line that reads, "There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only eight who do." Similarly, a Benetton ad simply showing a happy child with Down’s Syndrome with no tag line continues the brand’s tradition of communications that address real issues, but with more sensitivity and a subtle flavor of optimism that is new to Benetton’s style of advertising.
Whether a brand chooses to address the reality check trend or not depends to a large degree on the brand image. It is not a trend for all brands, and it certainly doesn’t mean that consumers are no longer interested in escapist fantasy. Clearly, the need for soothing, or forgetting entirely the sharper edge of reality, will always exist. "It is fantasy that pretends to portray reality that may well fall under attack given this trend," Gobé emphasizes.
Big companies will have to learn to speak with a personal voice in order to win the hearts of consumers, and design will be a potent tool for communicating that personal touch to their various publics. This trend is responsible for the huge success of micro or niche and brands whose captivating personal stories invite targeted individuals to be part of the brand story.
Given this learning, a brand must appeal to the senses, from product development to communications. This will make itself rise above the status of mere commodity to become an emotional brand. The spiritual and sensorial factors have clearly become important considerations when purchasing brands, and the promise associated with any product needs to be relevant to these aspirations.
Emotional branding is a continuous process, a business infrastructure that must be constantly built upon. As such, organizations must realize that unwavering dedication is critical to experience both immediate and long-term gains.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
