Can Brands be Emotional? Part 2

Many thanks for your valuable comments which lured me to write this Part 2.

As per my previous posting, it is Brands’ stage of maturity in the marketplace what allows them to approach consumers with an emotional content in their marketing messages. Let’s keep in mind that what companies pursue with their marketing campaigns is either retention or conversion. This ultimate objective is achieved upon the consumer completing a call to action.

One of the commentators stated the efficacy when introducing a brand with emotional slogans which I find totally valid. Many thanks to “endpoint” for allowing me open a second tier of discussion for this interesting topic.

Here comes my two cents. The decision of buying a product responds to a series of processes that happen in the brain. (I will write later about the difference in these processes within B2B and B2C landscapes).

For products with low monetary investment involved, the decision of purchasing a new product based on emotional messaging may be instantaneous as investment risk is not an issue and manufacturers are bidding for consumers willing to try the product. For those so called big ticket items, a strategic approach when introducing a brand to the marketplace should be taken into consideration.

Let’s take for example the brand Cisco (Cisco Systems), a major player in both B2B and B2C landscapes. They have years in the technology sector, one with strong competition and considered to certain extent not as sassy as many manufacturers would like their brand to be perceived.
Cisco has reinvented itself by switching gears using a very emotional tagline “together we are the human network”,( they have recently added the word together). Moreover, they are using celebrities such as Ellen Page who highlights the efficiency of Cisco’s new product in helping her stay connected. Cisco is a brand imprinted already in consumers’ and influencers’ minds. The latter involved in B2B decision making processes which we are going to cover in a later posting and in which I’ve been involved for many years. The tagline “together we are the human network” opens an intangible yet precious channel of communication with the consumer later to yield to a connection and consumer experience.

We can name numerous brands that have achieved success when tackling the concept discussed in this post. I would like to highlight though a brand which has established a milestone in the marketing and advertising industry. Dove and its “Campaign for Real Beauty” is the epitome of creativity in tackling one of the most deep human emotions, self-esteem. Dove’s campaign which resulted in an unprecedented peak in sales revenues, explored women’s potential by profiling models to which the majority of women can relate to. It was genius and a big success that have opened synergetic campaigns that are benefiting many groups.

At the End of the Day an effective branding management program obeys to a deep understanding of consumer behavior, market observation and an overall holistic approach.