Emotional Branding

How do companies tap into emotions to achieve success? 

Emotional branding is a way of conveying a brand to appeal to a consumer's emotional state, needs, and aspirations. 

Companies with successful emotional branding are able to make their consumer's feel a certain emotion based on the brand image they want to project. 

Emotional branding also helps companies to create a special connection with each of their consumers on a deeper level. 

Some of the best examples of the different positions companies can take in respect to emotions they want to induce can be seen through car commercials. Jeep, Volkswagon, Chevy, Kia, and Subaru all convey different emotions in some of their recent advertisements to shape the way their consumers perceive and feel about them. 

What emotions do you feel about the Jeep brand? Most people would say exciting, fun, energizing, and adventurous. That's exactly what the marketers behind Jeep want people to think. They've worked years to cultivate those feelings about their particular products. Take a look at this commercial Jeep released in 2016, where drivers are scaling canyons in their Wranglers. 

Any consumer would take one look at this and have those feelings about the brand. They can feel the adrenaline and excitement watching these cars make their way through this course. Consumers will feel the adventure. It is important to note that although a person may have those feelings, that doesn't necessarily mean they will be attracted to the product. 

The next company who's emotional branding I want to highlight is Kia. Kia took the position of being a fun car brand as well, playing with popular themes from American culture in 2011.

This commercial takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a group of hamsters is shuffling. Shuffling was a huge fad at the time due to the popular song "Party Rock" by LMFAO and induces feelings of happiness, fun, and delight. It's whimsical and those feelings are then translated to the product. The Kia Soul itself is a pretty funky car that takes a niche to appreciate and this commercial reflects that branding exactly. 

The next company that utilizes emotional branding is Volkswagon. This commercial released in 2016 shows the progression of a child growing up and the brand growing with him. It pictures all the major milestones in this boy's life and envokes a heartwarming, nostalgic feeling. 

This commercial also relates really well to Volkswagon's brand, which has tried marketing itself as "the people's car." Through this commercial, it relates to the human emotions and stages of life to show that it is a car for the people. 

Like Volkswagon, Chevy also taps into similar emotions. It portrays a dog named "Maddie" and its owner, who have grown up together with the brand. The love between the woman and the dog brings feelings of warmth, joy, and nostalgia. 

The final example of a car brand that uses emotions in their advertising is Subaru. Subaru takes a whimsical approach to their commercials and features dogs driving the cars experiencing various common life events, whether it's a "dad" dog in a car with the "wife and kids" or two dogs on their first date. These commercials are funny and cute, while still appealing to families and the different events that can occur in their lives. 

There are so many aspects that go into marketing a product, but all these companies have used emotional branding to amplify what they represent and how they want their consumers to feel using their products. 

From these commercials, one can see the range of the different emotions companies can use to portray themselves. Emotional branding requires marketers to figure out who the consumers are they are trying to appeal to, the emotions they want them to feel about their brand and catering to those. 

Companies who are able to successfully appeal to people's emotions are able to retain those consumers and connect with others.