Getting Rational with Emotions
Do brands understand the mechanisms of emotional marketing? From strategies, data analytics to emotional ethics, some critics raise their eyebrows Don’t walk like a girl. Don’t throw like a girl. Don’t talk like a girl. These stereotypical insults were taken on-screen with the hopes of shattering the derivative statement “Like a Girl.” With over 90 […]
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Do brands understand the mechanisms of emotional marketing? From strategies, data analytics to emotional ethics, some critics raise their eyebrows
Don’t walk like a girl.
Don’t throw like a girl.
Don’t talk like a girl.
These stereotypical insults were taken on-screen with the hopes of shattering the derivative statement “Like a Girl.” With over 90 million views and 177,000 #LikeAGirl tweets in three months, Always succeeded in transforming the insults into a bold statement. The Emmy and Cannes Grand Prix recipient, this digital campaign emotionally empowered every girl and woman worldwide.
Now, what if Always had tried to use the same sensitive social issue with a slightly different perspective and marketing strategy? There was a high possibility of the whole thing collapsing into a spectacular, brand scarring episode.
For instance, Pepsi’s Join In campaign featured Kendall Jenner as a protester who handed a police officer a can of Pepsi to diffuse the tension. Within hours, the backlash began on the social media platform Twitter. People found the ad offensive and tasteless. Critics called out the marketing creatives for neglecting market research. The global citizens agreed.
Experts reckon that sometimes marketers hold a loose interpretation of emotional marketing. Experts lay out some hard-hitting statements for the industry.
Many marketers hold the belief that customers love their brand. On the contrary, some experts opine that customers don’t even ‘like’ brands. Brand loyalty is rare and brands should not primarily focus on establishing an emotional connection with customers. The objective should be to get customers to buy through an ad that can hold their attention for a few important seconds.
Many companies adhere to the Benefit Ladder where their employees are expected to not only write product briefs but go further into the product features and discover more emotional benefits. Experts claim that there is little evidence about the benefits of establishing an emotional connection. It might help brands understand customer problems but no amount of emotions can beat rational product demonstrations. Customers might be emotionally swayed by a marketing campaign for a minute, but their true interest in the brand only entails the involved technology and quality.
Also Read: Why Emotion is Big Business
Yes, advertising a new product, even of popular brands, is crucial and many marketers tend to focus on an emotional connection instead of focusing on the use cases or the core technology of the brand.
Another expert perspective is to do with the brand’s intentions behind long-form marketing and advertising. Marketers want to create a memory infused with emotions, which customers would recall during online purchase decisions. However, customers don’t think much during most purchases. They are driven by instinct and product technology.
While experts accept that emotional marketing can help brand awareness, they firmly believe that emotions are not the recommended drivers. In long term, customers might remember the campaign, but not the emotions.
A critical issue with emotional marketing is the matter of ethics. Some thought leaders and critics question the marketing industry about their rights to analyse and access people emotions.
Organisations introduced tools and software applications to analyse and predict emotional responses. While marketers benefited from these services, researchers found the system to be a violation of human rights. Consider Project Feels. A tool launched by The New York Times that used Artificial Intelligence, algorithms, and data science. With over 150, 000 data points, the Project Feels team could utilise the resulting algorithms to identify the combination of emotions evoked from any campaign or advertisement. ESPN had also rolled out a tool call LiveConnect that studies the emotional responses of its sports fans.
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Some critics find these algorithms very troubling and consider them a direct violation of privacy. They reckon that targeting people with emotional marketing can be overlooked but using AI to watch and analyse emotional responses is another level of manipulation. Consequently, publishers, brands, and ad agencies reported that they do not cross the limitations by accessing personally identifiable data or collecting data without disclosure.
Most brands favour emotional marketing despite all the sceptical thoughts. With technological advancements, AI and data analytics to help brands with their digital and emotional marketing strategies is inevitable. All that experts can advise on is that brands understand the right use of emotions and keep their data analytics in check.
