Does your business use breathtaking commercials to win the hearts of your customers? Have you ever given it a try?
Like David Freemantle says, feelings have a critical role in this regard. Few of any ads will make an emotional appeal. They will try to amuse and dazzle more than touch the heart.
Which factor do you feel is most effective in drawing attention to your advertisements? There are many to choose from, aren’t they?
Leo Burnett’s fledgling firm got off to an inauspicious start when it opened in 1935. With one client account, a staff of eight, and a bowl of apples in reception, cynics said that he would soon be selling those apples on the street.
Yet, even in the midst of the Great Depression, the firm survived, and Burnett, along with other pioneers such as David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach helped create the consumer culture that defined the post-war economy. Those halcyon days are now long gone.
If you’re in advertising, then The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour is probably one of the best books you can read on your craft right now. It’s Nudge for advertisers.
Outlining ten evidence-based effective advertising strategies, each with a scientific underpinning, Adam Ferrier (psychologist and founder of Naked) is up there. He is up there with fellow Antipodean Byron Sharp regarding must-reads for marketers.
Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.
Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced.
David Freemantle
Related post: What to Expect from a Creative Advertising Strategy
This is a critical missed opportunity in our view. We have studied and evaluated commercials for more than five years.
Our focus is somewhat unique; we aren’t interested in entertainment value, we are interested in business impact. We study each spot and evaluate its power to build the business and the brand.
What is the best advertising media design you have ever put to work for your business? We would love to hear about it. As a favor, please share it below. It would be greatly appreciated by our readers and us.
While emotional spots are not common, they are some of the most active we have seen. Consider these emotional spots:
Jeep
Last year Jeep ran a remarkable commercial saluting the troops fighting overseas. The ad was grave and emotional. It noted,
“There will be a seat left open, a light left on, a favorite dinner waiting, a warm bed made…because in your home, in our hearts; you’ve been missed. You’ve been needed, you’ve been cried for, prayed for. You are the reason we push on.”
Jeep touched deep emotions about loss and longing. And the spot worked to build the brand; it made people feel proud of Jeep and its values.
Remember this Budweiser emotional appeal?
Emotional advertisements examples … Budweiser
Perhaps more than any other advertiser, Budweiser knows the power of emotion. Over the years the brand has run a series of emotional spots featuring the iconic Clydesdales.
The 2013 spot, for example, highlighted the emotional bond between a horse and its trainer. It was one of the top spots of the year.
It isn’t easy to create an emotional spot for any commercial. Many environments are fun and energetic, and people aren’t primed for serious themes.
And, in many ways, the safe approach that many brands will take is to air the funny and lively commercials.
But, if we are lucky, some brands will tap into our emotions. And if they do it well they will emerge as some of the most efficient spots. Here are eight great examples we have reviewed recently that certainly touched and won our hearts.
Related post: Creative Secrets from Budweiser Advertising Examples
Extraordinary commercials … Guinness
In this commercial, Guinness uses an inspiring story to convey its emotional influence. Like great stories, it has a beginning where sympathetic characters encounter a complicating situation.
It has a middle where the characters confront and attempt to resolve the situation.
And it has an end where the outcome is revealed. It does not interpret or explain the action in the story for the audience.
Instead, a good story allows each member of the public to understand the story and its emotion as he or she understands the action. This is why people find good, emotional stories so appealing. It is why they find advertising that merely conveys facts and information boring.
Here is the Guinness ad video to refresh you or for you to review in case you haven’t seen it.
To calibrate designs for you, here is a short video on the top ten commercials of all time.
Guinness’s marketing story based on emotion has flipped traditional beer advertising on its head by getting rid of the template. Instead, it tells a real emotional story – that connects with people.
The responses were overwhelmingly positive … customers and particularly the target customers are looking for meaningful stories. The emotion in this marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion.
Breathtaking commercials … Zillow
The family in this ad is looking for a new home using the real estate company Zillow. It eventually can find exactly what they are looking for.
What the mother and children don’t expect is what is waiting for them on moving day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHLoWctz8q4
Some of the best emotional stories effectively use the element of emotional surprise like Zillow has done here.
Bell
Have you seen the remarkable branding video design from this South African business? The Bell’s TV commercial features a father whose intrepid spirit demonstrates just what it takes to be a real man of character.
The video was created to market and build the brand. It is a very simple story. It advocates learning to read no matter your age or status in society. To us, it creates pure magic with the story, the visuals, the music and the emotion. It certainly finds emotional triggers.
Not a real secret here. The story and music that are created, while familiar, are as distinctive as they are heartwarming. Watch the faces, actions, and passions of the people in the story and listen to the music. They draw you into the emotion.
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory. Why you ask?
It is because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the skills are important to remember. Certainly, there is that kind of emotion in this story, isn’t there?
If you haven’t seen it, watch it now, it is only 2 minutes, and it will inspire you. It is certainly easily in our top 5 of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VteDp3IK-60
Apple
Apple makes the messages as clean and straightforward as possible in this ad. You cannot overachieve on the simplicity of the message.
A message that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.
Have you seen the Apple iPhone5 TV ad? If not, you should invest 1 minute now and check it out. It will grab you with the simplicity of the emotional influence.
Budweiser
The Budweiser puppy love commercial was, by most accounts, the biggest winner of the 2014 Super Bowl. There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion for animals.
Hands down the best, in our opinion.
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory. It is because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the skills are important to remember. Check out this ad here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlNO2trC-mk
There are eight basic, universal emotions – joy, surprise, anticipation, acceptance, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust. Successful appeals to these basic emotions consolidate stories and the desired calls to action in the lasting memories of audiences.
Remarkable isn’t always the same. Get in the habit of doing the “unsafe” thing every time you have the opportunity is the best way to see what’s working and what’s not.
The key to being remembered is remarkable. Don’t let your marketing take the back seat; stand out like Budweiser does in this commercial.
This puppy love commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this business’s success.
Use breathtaking commercials … Samsung
In this great commercial, Samsung uses pictures/visuals to convey the message much better than words. “Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for visual presentation.
Here is a four minute Samsung ad with 15-20 new features shown for their iPhone. No talking. And so simple that you quickly grasp the features and don’t lose interest.
And the coordinated music has a way to keep you tied in emotionally. Creating customer interest doesn’t get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet clever design, don’t you think?
Creating customer interest doesn’t get any simpler yet still emotional based on the music, does it? A great ad design emotional element is to match what viewers see with what they hear.
People expect and prefer coordinated audio and visual messages because those messages are easier to process, feel, and understand.
A very simple, yet interesting design.
Dawn emotional appeal
We recently viewed a Dawn Liquid Detergent advertisement that caught our eye for several reasons. An effective TV ad that combined traditional advertising with advocacy advertising. Something you don’t see very often.
Interesting information, well presented, showing emotion, always holds attention, yes? Keep in mind that people don’t watch ads … they watch what interests them. Your ad messages must be compelling to your target communities.
This message certainly grabs and holds attention based on emotion, superb visuals, and great issue advocacy.
Letting the visuals be the best influencer. People will watch, remember and most likely talk about, won’t they?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9qLIz1SJsk
The recent Dawn TV commercials started as YouTube videos and grew out of the success shown on that platform.
Use breathtaking commercials … Chrysler Dodge
“And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God made a farmer,” preached Paul Harvey in the advertisement’s opening lines.
The message delivered by Harvey’s oratory became immediately clear: It was a celebration of the hard work of America’s farmers.
The two-minute advertisement for Dodge Ram, which paid tribute to America’s farmers and was composed entirely of still photographs depicting the farming industry, won the hearts and minds of viewers by evoking strong emotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdR5TOhHJGM
Harvey’s narration, patterned on the Biblical account of the creation, was taken from a 1978 speech, “So God made a farmer,” which Harvey gave to a national convention of the Future Farmers of America. It was set to a collection of stark, still photographs — both color and black and white — of farmers at work.
As the advertisement concludes with the still image of a brand new Dodge Ram against the backdrop of a U.S. farm, we are reminded of one final message: “To the farmer in all of us.”
Key takeaways
The higher degree of emotion creates the more differentiation and makes it easier for your brand to project uniqueness and its word of mouth messages.
Emotion is the secret language of the brain. Work on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Ogilvy on Advertising … Best Lessons Learned from his Secrets
Volkswagen Ad … The Secrets to Its Effectiveness?
Effective Advertising … 14 Best Examples of Ad Design
Use 8 Breathtaking Commercials That Employ Emotional Appeal
Successful Advertisement Design … 12 Best Examples to Study
Insurance Advertising War … 8 Examples to Learn From
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on, and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.