Question

Emotional branding: definition and examples

Answer 1

Emotional branding: definition
Emotional branding vs. emotional marketing
How does emotional branding work? The ten commandments of Gobé
Emotional branding and the art of persuasion
Emotional branding: examples
What does the future of emotional branding hold for us?
Ethos
Pathos
Logos
Color psychology
Customer engagement
Customer loyalty
Ideals and values
Flexibility and relevance
Focus on the customer
Emotional storytelling

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Emotional branding: definition and examples

What do you think of when you hear the word Coca-Cola? When you hear McDonald's, Apple, Volkswagen or Tesla, what goes through your head? Do you see the products in front of you? You can probably imagine a frosty cold glass bottle on a scorching summer day, a sophisticated and futuristic car, or a sleek smartphone sparkling like a jewel. But why do we see images just by hearing a brand name? The answer is emotional branding..

Index

1. Emotional branding: definition
2. Emotional branding vs. emotional marketing
3. How does emotional branding work? The ten commandments of Gobé
4. Emotional branding and the art of persuasion
   1. Ethos
   2. Pathos
   3. Logos
5. Emotional branding: examples
   1. Color psychology
   2. Customer engagement
   3. Customer loyalty
   4. Ideals and values
   5. Flexibility and relevance
   6. Focus on the customer
   7. Emotional storytelling
6. What does the future of emotional branding hold for us?

Emotional branding: definition

The English term? Branding? It comes from when farmers marked cattle with an iron. In the context of marketing, it refers to trademarks. In emotional branding, the brand image is reinforced with intense emotions so that it is marked? On fire? in the customer's memory.

In this way, emotional branding aims to create a lasting emotional bond between the brand and the customer . The emotional context builds customer trust and loyalty and increases the reach and value of your brand. After all, the client's heart is not reached with logical arguments, but with feelings. Or, more specifically, with emotions. Unlike feelings, emotions arise before we know it. They are constituted in the limbic system, a very primitive part of our brain that, to a great extent, escapes our consciousness..

Marc Gobé is considered the founder of emotional marketing thanks to his book The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People (2001). Gobé claims that understanding the human brain and cultural behavior is more important than any economic theory. According to Gobé, you cannot buy love with money, but a strong brand can seduce your customers. Customer-brand relationships must be emotional bonds based on trust, loyalty and respect .

Strong emotional branding appeals to customers' wishes, hopes, fears and needs , and conveys the feeling that the brand stands for just causes. The emotional identification potential of a brand is crucial, and must take into account factors such as design, color psychology, ethical aspects, political and charitable commitment, and emotional marketing..

Emotional branding vs. emotional marketing

When we talk about emotional branding, the term emotional marketing is always linked. However, branding and emotional marketing are not the same concept. They differ mainly in their approach.

Emotional marketing is used to promote movies, concerts, parties, cars, and tourist destinations, among other things. With this form of advertising, you can use a wide range of tools to create emotion-based marketing campaigns . Through colors, music, guerrilla marketing, influence marketing or viral campaigns on social networks, you can associate emotions with your product or message and promote it. However, emotional marketing is not only used for brands or products: there are many charities that draw attention to social or environmental problems with this method.

Emotional marketing works in the background, regardless of the brand. Emotional branding, however, aims to anchor a brand in people's consciousness and lives through emotional influence and inspire lasting customer loyalty .

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How does emotional branding work? The ten commandments of Gobé

To understand how emotional branding works, you must know the ten commandments of Gobé's emotional branding , with which he illustrated how, through well understood emotional branding, the brand does not sell simple products, but above all experiences and emotions.

1. From customers to individuals : Customers must feel that the brand sees and respects them, not just as consumers, but as individuals.
2. From product to experience : Products must not only satisfy a need, but also fulfill the wishes and hopes of customers and become part of their lives.
3. From sincerity to trust : Customers take the sincerity of the brand for granted, but will only become loyal to it if it inspires trust and sympathy.
4. From quality to preference : Products and brands can only be trusted to deliver quality if they are tailored to the lifestyle of customers. Customer preferences determine which brand you choose, but these can change. In order to be preferred, brands must always know the preferences of their target group.
5. From notoriety to aspiration : it is good that they know you, but that is not enough to get to the emotions. Brands that make customers feel they add value to their lives create emotional ties through their aspirations and needs. Remember the cases of Apple, Tesla and Gucci, which for customers are not only part of their lifestyle, but also of their personality.
6. From identity to character : There are many brands with recognition value, but a clear brand identity does not necessarily imply character and charisma. Like people, brands must represent ethical and moral values. Likewise, they must be versatile to adapt to the demands and lifestyles of clients without sacrificing their own consistency.
7. From functionality to tangibility : Products should not only offer practical solutions to customer needs, but also represent emotional experiences and aesthetically appeal to their senses. The smartphones , which image has evolved from bulky to stylish and elegant pots devices are an excellent example of this.
8. From visibility to presence : it is not enough to be visible. It is essential that the brand is present in the places and media where the desired target group is located.
9. From communication to dialogue : announcing the advantages and benefits of a brand is a one-way communication that does not build a relationship with the customer. Dialogue between the brand and the customer through interactivity, reviews, social demonstration and accessibility build their loyalty.
10. From services to relationship : A brand that only wants to sell products and services does not build relationships. Customer loyalty is only earned by taking into account their cultural preferences. By expressing criticism and suggestions for improvement, which actually flow into the brand and products, customers have the feeling of participating and being part of the brand, not just paying for it.

Emotional branding and the art of persuasion

Emotional branding works best when it is based on the three pillars of the rhetorical art of persuasion, which the Greek philosopher Aristotle described as ethos, pathos, and logos .

Ethos

In emotional branding, ethos represents the communication of credibility and moral character . Brands that not only stand out for the quality of their products, but also convey the feeling of supporting ethical and moral values, earn the trust of customers. The spirit of a brand can be strengthened through political commitment, corporate transparency, reliability, fair working conditions, customer satisfaction and environmental sustainability. One way to convey it is through visible communication with customers in the form of testimonials and social demos.

Pathos

The pathos attracts the attention of customers arousing emotions and specific needs , such as the sense of urgency to buy, fear of missing something (fear of missing out (fomo) and feelings of belonging and security. Brands can handle a visual vocabulary and musical to awaken deep emotions such as amazement, curiosity, love, fear, hope or the feeling of security and thus establish a direct relationship with customers. Emotions determine 95 percent of all purchase decisions, so pathos is one of the most important points of emotional branding.

Logos

The logos refers to the logical and statistical aspects of marketing and aims to reinforce emotional ties with customers through convincing and rational arguments. After increasing customer receptivity and awakening their interest through emotions, the product should continue to prove its worth with its quality and performance.

Emotional branding is based on the three pillars of ethos, pathos and logos

Emotional branding: examples

There are no limits to the possibilities of applying emotional branding. There are two particularly important aspects: on the one hand, which target group do you want to reach? On the other hand, what emotions do you want to trigger and associate with your brand?

A Facebook experiment in collaboration with Cornell University demonstrated the effects of emotional manipulation tailored to users. Over the course of the study, 689,000 Facebook users were exposed to mostly negative or positive messages from their friends through a news filter. Users did not know that they were guinea pigs, but in their online behavior they tended to share and post messages of a more positive or negative tone depending on the emotions to which they were exposed. This phenomenon is called "emotional contagion": a kind of infection by emotions.

Today, it is almost impossible to move in the context of brands without exposing yourself to forced emotions. Therefore, it is even more important to surprise and excite customers in their daily life, already flooded with stimuli. It doesn't matter which channel you use for your marketing campaigns: classic media like film, TV, radio, sports, and music events, or newer media like social media, sponsored ads, and brand ambassadors. Brand construction can work both symmetrically and asymmetrically. You must dare to experiment.

The following examples of emotional branding show what aspects are important when designing a brand.

Color psychology

Actually, statements like? Red is passion? or? yellow is happiness? they don't make sense out of context. Colors are mostly signals to the subconscious. In the first instance, they reinforce the intensity of sensory impressions and emotions. Thus, yellow can represent both joy and illness, and red, both love and anger. Colors increase the emotional impact of the brand . If you design your logo with color psychology in mind, you will associate your brand with a spectrum and color palette.

A famous example of the psychology of color in emotional marketing was provided by the charity One Campaign with its licensed brand (Product) Red, launched in 2006. Companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike and American Express supported the RED campaign at the fights HIV / AIDS in Africa by offering its own products in shades of red under the (Product) Red brand. 50 percent of the proceeds were donated to the Global Fund and participating charities.

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Customer engagement

The active interaction with customers not only allows the brand to draw attention and grow in scope but also deepens the emotional bond. The brand should not be limited to being merchandise or to be part of the background of their lives, but should be part of the lifestyle of the customers, complement their identity and be present in their social life.

For example, Coca-Cola increased customer engagement with the Share-a-Coke campaign. The bottles had personalized labels that, instead of the brand, showed the most popular first names in different countries. Coca-Cola encouraged customers to share images with their personalized Coca-Cola through social media, increasing global revenue and brand reach on media.

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Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty or customer loyalty is something that brands have to earn. Faithfulness is founded above all on feelings. People who associate a brand with positive experiences and feelings are drawn to it.

Starbucks aimed squarely at the heart in the truest sense of the term when it first launched the? Meet at Starbucks? Campaign. in 2015 in collaboration with the dating app Match. Match users were able to arrange their first Starbucks date through the app. The campaign aimed to create emotional ties between people and thus, unconsciously, strengthen the bond with the Starbucks brand. Since then, Starbucks has included Valentine's events in its successful and popular standard repertoire.

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Ideals and values

Brands should not shy away from socio-political statements . In this age when social media reigns supreme, customers want to be able to trust not only quality, but also the ideals and values ​​of a brand . Fair trade, human rights, fair production conditions and protection of the environment play an important role in a brand's image. Brands can base their emotional branding on supporting veganism, inclusion, human rights, and fair production, because customers who feel that a brand supports the vision of a better world stay true to it.

Oatly, a producer of oatmeal milk substitute drinks, has always placed its product in the context of protecting the environment.

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Flexibility and relevance

It is important to preserve the recognition value of a brand and, at the same time, update it before any change. The best example of this is Apple. The company began by producing rather crudely designed computers, such as the Macintosh, which was the first personal computer, Apple II, and Macintosh Portable. However, he decided to change the style with the colorful iMac lineup in 1998, the sleek iPod in 2001 and the first iPhone in 2007.

Apple's history is marked by changes in the design and marketing of its products: for example, the legendary Macintosh ad inspired by 1984 or the iPod campaign with U2. Apple's marketing is geared directly to the needs, aesthetic demands, and wishes of customers. After all, in most cases, people who buy Apple don't look at the price, but the logo.

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Apple has become a cult and cultural phenomenon using new technology and emotional branding to find a way into homes, ears, pockets, and every corner of social life. Apple's success illustrates the importance of the versatility and mutability of a brand that adapts to the needs of new generations, while maintaining its continuity and relevance .

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Focus on the customer

To create an emotional bond between the brand and customers, it is essential that they feel the center of attention. Unexpected changes in design, price or offer that do not take into account the wishes of customers are perceived by them as an offense.

An example of this is the reaction of customers when Ferrero changed the Nutella formula in 2017, risking the trust of his target group. The change was not announced in time and the reasons were never clearly explained, raising suspicions from customers and affecting their confidence level. Something similar happened with the Toblerone chocolate bar. In 2016, the manufacturer Mondel? Z International decided to launch a shorter tablet with more space between the tips of the triangles on the British market. Customers felt it contained less chocolate, sparking such loud protests that Mondel? Z reversed the change.

Focusing on the client and communication are essential in order not to lose their trust. In a recent example from the UK, the transport company Uber demonstrated its focus on customers during the coronavirus pandemic by offering free rides and food deliveries to medical staff, the elderly and other affected groups.

Emotional storytelling

We remember a story twenty-two times faster than a pure fact. Stories increase our brain activity by a factor of five. But the most important thing is this: stories inspire and awaken feelings .

IKEA never ceases to amaze with its business-to-customer storytelling . Slogans such as? Welcome to the independent republic of your home? they are part of the imagination of an entire generation. IKEA's emotional branding has also been developed through original storytelling. Advertising shorts, characterized by wit and empathy, have become a hallmark of IKEA. Who does not remember the IKEA ads for Christmas, or its short and emotional videos with scenes from everyday life?

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What does the future of emotional branding hold for us?

Emotional branding can offer many advantages to your brand. It serves to attract attention and increase sales. Allow your customers to develop an emotional relationship with the brand, trust it more and trust it. Your brand will occupy a place in the lives of customers and thus gain more reach.

With a good strategy, a brand can emulate Apple's example, which sometimes matters more than the products themselves. Increasing digitization, wearable technologies , 5G and the influence of big data in markets offer a world of possibilities for the creation of emotional branding. In her bestseller No logo , writer and brand critic Naomi Klein warned against the ubiquity and monopoly power of brands like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Apple and Microsoft. Back in 1999, he predicted the world shaped and defined by brands that we live in today.

In fact, brands have become political forces and are increasingly influencing people's image and social coexistence. A good example of this is Amazon: in the beginning, it was little more than a digital supermarket / bookstore. However, the company grew not only in size, but in scope, becoming a film producer, desktop publishing house (Amazon Publishing) and space tourism agency (Blue Origin), with a view to offering trips to the moon.

The situation is similar with Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX brands. Musk may not only be the owner of the first private space agency to land on Mars, but he also transports astronauts in Tesla vehicles. There is probably no emotional branding with more vision and emotion .

Brands like Facebook and Google, on the other hand, receive harsh criticism due to their problems with data protection and the political influence of neuromarketing and data sales.

Taking into account the potential of brands, it is even more important not to lose sight of customers as protagonists through an emotional branding guided by emotions and values . A brand doesn't have to reach the ends of the world: it just needs to be kind and personable enough to reach the hearts of its customers.

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