Emotional Advertising to the Universal Human Desires

Today more than ever, we need to maximize the impact of our advertising dollar. So keep your message focused on solving one or more of the three universal human desires:

1. To be wealthy and powerful
2. To be attractive and desirable
3. To be youthful and healthy

Which two basic desires does this Brylcreem ad hope to provide?

Always be thinking of the basic human desires, needs and problems of your prospects or your buyer personas, and how your company can solve them.

Once you have an emotionally charged ad, think of ways you can make it super easy and convenient to do business with you. Think of Zappos Shoes, and their no hassle returns, with free shipping both ways. Remove as many barriers to the decision process as possible.

And finally, never underestimate the impact of frequency and repetition of your value proposition to drive brand recall and preference. 

No Emotion, No Sale

My friend and creative partner Daryl Stevenette and I were recently talking about advertising, and what makes some ads effective and others flops.

We naturally came back to the topic of music. Songs are usually written to tell a story, a story filled with hopes, dreams, love, romance or adventure. And this is why songs and music are such a large part of our culture.

People love messages contained in songs, accentuated by the music and the beat, as they elicit feeling, emotion or memory. They can make us feel sad, happy, reflective, hopeful or energized, and they can bring us to another place or time.

And why do we turn off those “yell-sell” screamer ads? To begin with, they are insulting, abrasive, and intrusive. But they also lack everything we like about a good ad. They lack creativity, class, cleverness, wit, and the element of surprise. And they lack the rhythmic melody of a good music bed or jingle.

Good advertising sticks in the mind in a positive way. And good advertising includes those mechanisms that allow it to stick:

• Emotional appeal or connection
• An element of surprise, cleverness or a unique twist
• A catchy and memorable tagline or slogan
• Enough frequency, longevity and continuity to break through the clutter
• Usually a good jingle, music bed or stinger to help carry the message into the subconscious mind like a power line carries electricity

Think about bringing back creativity and jingles to make good advertising and branding work again. Because I believe that good music works on the senses and creates permanent brand recall.

I was at a concert recently, and after watching the crowd being emotionally moved, motivated to dance, sway, clap, scream and sing, all charged by song, video screens and lights alone. Going to a concert is actually a lesson in the power of music to persuade.

The theme of the tour, the set and the video screens were Caribbean beaches and tropical destinations. In fact I have coined a new term for Chesney’s music style; I call it “Caribbean Country.” And people seem to love it. Which is yet another testament to my theory that people seek and appreciate mental escapism and good music as an easy ticket for a cheap mental trip.