What better reason to strive for differentiation in today's environment, where a consumer is bombarded with multiple ads daily? Indeed, though the traditional techniques of advertising are based on features and benefits, these are not often memorable to the buyer. That is where emotional advertising comes in.
Basically, emotional advertising means to make use of feelings for the sale of a brand or any product. At an emotional level, however, it sets up a bond between the brand and the consumer through the triggering of emotions, values, or desires or other affinity arousals. Of course, just like any other form of advertising, this particular one can be done in any channel, be it video, print, or social media.
One of the most incomparable benefits of emotional advertising is its ability to really stick in people's minds for a much longer period. Emotions are very strong drivers, and when a brand can trigger some form of positive emotional engagement from its target, it can definitely establish a relationship that will pay way beyond just one purchase. For example, Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign replaced the logo of the brand with popular names in order to create an emotional attachment between the consumer and the brand. It increased their sales and brand loyalty.
Emotional advertising may help a brand stand apart from its competition. Brands struggling to get away from feature-benefit speak find it hard to push against the tide in such a cluttered marketplace. On the other hand, emotional advertising helps in highlighting values and beliefs of a brand that offer the consumer a motive to choose a particular brand over others. A very good example is Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, which was all about bodies and self-esteem; their target matched with it and made them stand out from every beauty brand.
It also leads to increased social media engagement and word-of-mouth. The more a brand is able to make an emotional connection with the audience, the more likely it is that the consumer is ready to share the ad in social networks and further recommend the brand to friends and family. This kind of organic marketing could be worth its weight in gold for the brands involved by giving them that feeling of authenticity and credibility which traditional advertising could not replicate.
It is through emotion-based advertising that one can affiliate that degree of branding with the audience. On this note, therefore, from consumers' feelings, values, and aspirations, one can manage to build a long-lasting relationship between a brand and the customer base extending beyond just making purchase decisions. Emotion-based advertising will help the firm differentiate its brand from the competitors, raising social media engagement, and drive recommendation. Hence, let us enable emotion-laden adverts that make a difference in connecting well with the target audience.