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It is often cited that logic informs decisions, but emotions drive actions therefore in order to drive your customers to pick up the phone to you or pick up your product; they need to be engaged emotionally. If you think for a moment about the brands that you like, the products you buy, the shops you go back to. How many of those things make you act because they provide lots of facts about them? I’m sure if we tried we would be hard pushed to list the benefits of our cars over a similar model, but I know we could all talk about how we feel about our cars.

Tapping in to your customers’ emotions can be a very delicate matter and can very easily go wrong. Take Pepsi’s forthcoming rebrand for example, it’s clear that the strategy team wasn’t hoping for such negative responses to a campaign intended to make people feel happy and joyful. That’s why it’s so important for designers, art directors and marketing managers to build brand campaigns around two key aspects

1: solid research and 2: sincerity.

Do your homework
The basic elements that make up a brand’s visual identity are combinations of colours and shapes, so it’s important to understand the ingrained meaning of those elements. For example red is used to signify passion, important information and danger. Yellow, on the other hand can be used to signify zest, warmth and fun. However the combination of red and yellow is used in branding to signify something or some place that moves quickly. Have a quick think about how many fast food restaurants use red and yellow signs and packaging!

Here at Preview we’ve been through enough brand creation projects to know that you have to make a strong first impression with an identity, but then follow it with sound logic. If there is no clear explanation of why each element has been designed in a certain way it will be very difficult to get buy in from the client’s workforce or customers. This thinking can only come from in depth research.

Yours Sincerely
About fifty years ago David Ogilvy, arguably advertising’s most significant figure, laid out one of the best pieces of advice to anyone working in advertising and branding, he said “The consumer is not a moron, she’s your wife. You would not tell lies to your wife, so don’t tell them to mine”. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of wisdom that is as relevant now, as it ever was. His point is that you can’t assume people will be convinced by logical facts. If your selling cheap, throw away kitchen products, don’t pretend they are long lasting. Equally if your selling expensive holidays don’t pretend they are affordable for everyone. It’s very important to be sincere and true to your offering, because if your not you will simply be filtered out.

It’s estimated that an average person sees more than 3,000 advertising messages everyday and of those adverts only around 32 are consciously acknowledged. This high level of filtering is increasing as people become wiser to marketing techniques, so we have to work extra hard to create something that strikes a chord and effectively pulls on people’s emotions.

Love thy brand
The brands we are all loyal to have the upper hand on their competitors, because brand loyalty is almost impossible to break and the value of a good brand is going to the difference between those companies who sink or swim. Brand loyalty is always built on emotional connections, so it would seem that the right side of the brain (our analytical side) can’t always be right when it comes to purchasing decisions and it’s the left side (our intuitive side) that drives our actions.

In a recent interview Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor was asked what he his investment criteria was and he said 'Traditionally, the first criterion is a strong balance sheet. But now we only put that in third place. The second criterion is a good management team. In first place, brand’.

You can’t argue with a man who has made $65 billion can you.

For more information on Preview’s branding process please call us on 01273 834434.

Posted Monday 3rd of November 2008