Emotional Connection

It would not be Mother's Day without P&G making you shed tears. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B51Bs4u10ZA.

In the domain of marketing and branding, there's a concept called "emotional connection". Recall Petronas' videos released during Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali.

Sometimes brands can help people feel certain emotions, emotions that may even be only tangentially related to the products themselves. Brands can create tremendous appeal by linking to or promising desired emotions.

For instance, people long for freedom. Brands that offer people freedom tend to be in demand. Harley Davidson promises freedom of the road along with the comradeship of kindred spirits. The Marlboro Man was created to be a symbol of independence. In part, it was designed to make post-adolescent youth declare their independence from their parents (http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/)

The emotion that a brand evokes in someone — or more importantly, in a specific group of people — has a big impact on a company’s success or failure. Emotions play a huge role in how consumers act and react. Emotions drive decisions, prompt actions, and change mind-sets, leading to strong loyalty and a deep personal connection with a given brand that can extend beyond its rational attributes.

These emotional connections are more psychological than logical, and are usually subconscious feelings. Brands that develop distinct personas in people’s minds project an image that people want to buy into. Someone may buy a product because it makes them feel smart, affluent, or sophisticated (e.g., “I’m really stylish and have good taste because I wear these shoes.“) Generally, people buy products that are consistent with their positive, or aspirational, image of themselves.

One of the best-known books about the importance of emotional connections between consumers and brands is Lovemarks - The Future Beyond Brands. Written in 2004 by Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, the book tells the evolutionary story of how products, trademarks, and brands become “Lovemarks.” In this groundbreaking book, Roberts said that by building respect and inspiring love, businesses can move the world. When brands — and branded content, by extension — make strong emotional connections with consumers, the feeling goes beyond brand loyalty and leaves an indelible mark that cannot be replaced.

Behavioral psychologists have long argued that only 30% of human decisions and behaviors are actually driven by rational considerations. This means that more than 70% of consumer loyalty and spending decisions are based on emotional factors.

Marketers that look beyond the transaction to focus on the softer side of the business relationship - the emotional connection between the brand and the customer - will gain a distinct competitive advantage.

Despite many marketers' belief that a brand's emotional benefits are important to consumers, nearly two-thirds of brand messages focus on the brand's rational/functional element.  (source:http://www.ana.net/content/show/id/579 )

Fifty percent of every buying decision is driven by emotion. Which, for anyone responsible for bringing a product to market, makes a Forrester Research survey a concern. It reported that 89% of the respondents felt no personal connection to the brands they buy. Some product specialist have identified eight forces that have a profound and lasting impact on a product’s relationship with its audience http://bit.ly/8Keys

What emotional connection can healthcare brands develop?