Recently I saw a Frontline episode on PBS called "The Persuaders," a fascinating look at how emotions solve buying and selling problems. Emotions have long been used in marketing and advertising, but our expert use of emotions has moved it to a new level.
For example, for years the political issue of "estate taxes" was emotionally uncharged even ignored until a political consultant changed the words from "estate" to "death." Before the change in words, the masses thought that estate taxes didn't refer to them -- only to the wealthy, so, why would they be interested in eliminating it? The truth is that you are taxed at death no matter how big or small your estate is. Once the masses understood that -- and created a new emotion towards "death taxes" rather than "estate taxes"-- did the masses become interested in eliminating "death taxes."
This is remarkable. This is being emotionally intelligent.
"As consumers grow more cynical toward marketing claims, the persuasion industries are developing and refining techniques to reinforce an emotional attachment between Americans and the brands they buy.
"What consumers want now is an emotional connection—they want to be able to connect with what's behind the brand, what's behind the promise," says Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising. "The brands that can move to that emotional level, that can create loyalty beyond reason, are going to be the brands where premium profits lie."
If you can find the time, I'd recommend you watch the show. You can watch from the internet; how easy is that? Click here to watch (it's organized in "chapters" so you can watch the roughly 120 minutes in manageable chunks).
Also, if you can't watch, read this 10-minute synopsis of the show which is made up of a brief interview with
- Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide
- Bob Garfield, columnist for Advertising Age
- Clotaire Rapaille, market researcher
- Frank Luntz, corporate and political consultant
- Andy Spade, Song Airlines' creative consultant
Or read this 5-minute review of "nueromarketing" -- which could be just another way of saying "emotionally intelligent marketing".
And in the spirit of continuing the conversation, here's the link to the show's discussion area so you can read what others are saying about the show.
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