Does your marketing message resonate with customers’ emotions? New research by Nobel Prize winner and world-famous psychologist, Dr. Daniel Kahneman, reveals that we make decisions emotionally and then justify them logically. Emotion (feelings) needs to be included in messaging for brands to stop internet “skimmers” and reach their full potential. If you don’t believe this, check our website and I bet you’ll be a believer. (www.wallacewashburn.com)
Shooting from the hip works sometimes emotionally, but it’s no guarantee. For example, Adidas shot themselves in both feet following the Boston Marathon disaster in 2017. By mistake, they sent out an Adidas post-run sponsor email which congratulated many runners on their “survival.” Rachel Vandernick’s (Search Engine Journal) includes it in her “Top Worst Marketing Disasters of All Time.”
Speaking of disasters, when I was the senior account guy on Noxzema Skin Cream (Madison Avenue) the creative director, a man, was ready to launch a new campaign, “We don’t care what you do with the rest of you, your face belongs to disaster.” I had an uneasy feeling about it and strongly recommended “disaster” focus groups to check it out. Thank goodness. Noxzema users got extremely upset over it. One woman exclaimed, “How can they not care about me?” The campaign was revised to simply, “Your face belongs to Noxzema.” It ran for over 20 years without a complaint as sales soared. After P&G bought the Noxell they tried unsuccessfully for over 10 years to find a better line without luck. They still don’t have one in my opinion.
We’ve tested emotional “trigger” words for over 50 agencies and their clients since early 2000, and those who include emotion fare much better. If you’re not getting satisfactory results from your messaging, consider participation in proven “trigger” word Pilot Research. It’s quick and cost-effective using a mini survey of 10 questions, mostly conversational. We analyze customer verbal feedback with our proprietary EmotiveSCANTM software coupled with my analysis. For details check out our interesting, new video-oriented website (https://wallacewashburn.com).
