Marketing emotions

As people, it is in our nature to be irrational and instinctive.  We make most our decisions based on our emotions including buying products. Brands understand this well and know the importance of appealing to the social and psychological side of a consumer. Brands always want to connect with their customers at an emotional level. One of the important roles of marketing is to cash on the instinctive buying behaviour of customers. Brands need to choose wisely on when to target positive instincts and when to target negative instincts.

When we think about Kama which is lust or desire, we immediately associate it with advertisements of deodorant brands like Axe or condom brands like Deluxe. But, various brands play on the instinct of desire subtly. For example, the new Dinshaw’s ice cream ad shows everyone from a small child to an old man turn into tongues while lusting after the ice cream. It involuntarily awakens the desire in us to eat an ice cream immediately. 

While mostly brands tend to stay away from drawing angry or uncomfortable reactions from consumers, sometimes it works in the favour of a brand to channel it rightly. Always’ #like a girl campaign did just that, it brought out the anger in us about casual sexism and misogyny. Burger King's ad plays really well with the greediness (Lobha) in us. The ad shows that people are not happy with just one burger. While Brands appeal to our instincts of pride and jealousy of owning an apple product. Hong kong's Met Life ads are always heart wrenching in their concepts and storytelling with stories of strong attachment with families or pets.

While Brands target the vices in us to show that we are missing out on something brands also try to invoke positive feelings in us.

Tata Salt connects with its customers on the basis of truth. It showcases that the salt is pure and its a brand that is true and can be trusted. Lead India's 'the tree' ad brings out a sense of righteousness in anyone who watches the ad. A small boy trying to push a tree while the elders are busy complaining or not caring, it sparks inspiration and makes us want to do the right things. Can a brand stand for peace? Marks and Spencer creatively showcased themselves as a brand the is reliable and can make peace between sibling fights through their Christmas ad in 2016.

Love is a difficult emotion to explain, but brands have always found ways to convey it beautifully. While many brands create ads that shows them being aligned with the customer's expression of love to their dear ones. Dove's real beauty ad put forth the importance of self love and how we are the harshest with ourselves. Google's Indo Pak friendship ad struck a masterstroke by crafting a beautiful story of two long lost friends separated during the hard and violent partition period and how they meet after many years and find peace in the comfort of friendship.