Stir emotion to push your promotion
In advertising and brand marketing, making your message stand out from the crowd is only half the battle. Once you’ve attracted the elusive attention of the consumer, how do you keep it long enough to communicate and how do you make sure they remember what you’ve said? They key is to engage their heart as well as their mind to make sure your content is retained by both.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
If your brand identity can be associated with positive emotion then your product is more likely to be remembered, to be sought out and ultimately to be sold. Making your audience feel something in response to your brand or advertising efforts can be tricky, but if done right can establish enduring brand loyalty which can last for years, perhaps a lifetime.
Organic produce – an example of clever marketing in action
In a world where we’re encouraged to care a bit more about the environment and feel a little better about ourselves for recycling, the idea of ‘organic produce’ seems an attractive one. On the face of it, it sounds better for the environment with the associated belief that it’s better for us. While sometimes this is the case, in others it’s neither. But that doesn’t stop people buying. Even though organic produce is normally more expensive than the produce of equal health and environmental merit sold for less alongside it. There are even cases of ‘dirtying’ cleaned carrots with a little compost to give them the ‘organic look’. Other words to look out for are ‘Farm Fresh’ on labels (which is more or less meaningless but conjures an image of healthy farm produce) and the question of just how free a free-range chicken is.
Does it matter which emotion my brand marketing inspires?
Making your audience feel something in response to your content is a reliable way to make sure your marketing is memorable, however, the context of your brand should guide you as to exactly how you should stir the feelings of your audience. Happiness, sadness, disgust, anger, nostalgia and many other feelings besides are sure to make your marketing stick in the minds of the audience who experience them. Be careful which emotions you stir.
A perfect time to see a multitude of marketing messages all aimed right at the heart of the audience is around Christmas time. Some brands practically own Christmas when it comes to marketing, if you don’t believe that, then consider that Santa’s outfit was green before Coca-Cola made it red. How does their annual ‘Holidays are coming’ ad’ make you feel? On the opposite side of the scale are the charity adverts featuring wide-eyed children and animals, monochrome colour palettes and slow, subdued Christmas songs. How do they make you feel? Finally, think about the chain stores who use all kinds of emotional cues to tug at the heartstrings. A happy dog on a trampoline, an old lonely man watching the world through a telescope and a pair of Teddy Bears taking a trip together. Chances are, you can recall those ads clearly.
Set the scene to steal a heart
Marketing which inspires an emotional response is far more likely to be remembered, to be shared and to influence buying decisions in those who see them. With this being the case, it’s important to make sure that the imagery in your campaigns whether that be still photography, video content or both are expertly produced so as to set the right theme, the right mood and in the right way to have the maximum impact on your audience.
At Ikon, we’re experts at capturing inspiring imagery, powerful pictures and stirring videos. From concept to location shooting, to set design and final production, you can expect the very best content, created with the latest tools and techniques. Speak to us about how we can help you speak to the very souls of your audience. It’s sure to make you happy too.
