Creating Bonds Through Emotional Branding

Making an audience fall in love with a brand is a well-known marketing practice that, in the past, only a few brands could manage to achieve. But competitors have grown exponentially and, alongside, new ways and tools to market brands and sell products have developed. This information is not new, and we’re not here today to talk about the evolution of marketing in terms of tools and resources, but the way that media conversations have changed.

Social networking has grown fast and furious in the last decade. This growth have brought creativity, innovation and interaction to occupy a decisive spot in sales and marketing approaches. Brands not only want to remain on the “top of mind”, but move further to a “top of heart” state.

Emotional branding looks for audiences to get hooked.

But why all the efforts to touch people?

It’s simple; because people are hardwired for emotion, sentiment, passion, love. People make decisions based on sentiment. Passion encourages. Love, well, let’s just say that “Love makes the world go round.” People are pushed into action when a conscious or unconscious desire is triggered by emotion.

So, what is your brand personality?

I’ve read many articles about how brands were “social” or “non-social” based on whether they could manage an identity on social networks. I never understood that categorization, since brands are made up of people and “being social” is implicit.  Every brand has a place in social. They can develop a personality based on its target audience and create bonds; it’s just a matter of giving space to creativity because time and location are no longer obstacles.

The days of delivering plain advertisement are now long gone. Customers have become harder to attract and keep, and there are just too many factors competing, bringing into the spotlight one indispensable key player for building long-term relationships: creating compelling content.  Telling stories that people can relate to; making them experience a feeling of bonding.

Traditional marketing and advertising practices are still an important part of the overall promotional strategy of a product or service, but combining these with emotional branding is what makes the difference in terms of reach and recognition. We all have learned the importance of linking brands with values.

Human emotions can be complicated, and so are the lifestyles that we are living. Technology has played a crucial role in this tireless pursuit of improving our lifestyles and creating emotional bonds. Although we can be in touch with people all over the world at any time and any place, we have also distanced ourselves from the traditional human contact. We now chose instant messaging over a phone call or a video call over a conventional face-to-face meeting.

Emotional stories have always been around, but the difference now is that they can be delivered instantly to people’s pockets, and this power gives brands, and people, an absolute opportunity for bonding.

                                        “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” – This video was part of Apple’s “Think Different” campaign.