Before the Internet captured the attention of the world and changed everything forever, marketing agents relied on emotional tactics to stake a claim. The product had to have a unique purpose to remain relevant. It had to be marketed as something special. But most importantly, the service or product needed to make an emotional connection. This is why TV commercials advertising a vacuum cleaner featured a family in need. This is one example of the emotional strategies used in marketing early on.
But somewhere around 2008, marketing companies lost focus on that emotional connection. It became about spamming pop up ads and using non-emotional tactics to beat a product or service into the minds of exploring web users.
We attempting to collectively capture some of these physical senses into an online environment. Though it certainly is not easy, it could usher in the next wave of beautiful and colorful conceptual marketing that all involved both need and desire.
It is all about making an emotional connection. In this way, marketing can be changed for the better as it is resorted back to building that emotional connection that seems to have lacked in the web. Pop up ads, anonymous banners, and link spamming have replaced true elemental connections and building a logical reason for supporting a brand beside ‘because I was told to.’
Emotional strategies want people to think about the product in an intimate way. What are its effects on the environment? This question spurs a follow-up question: Is what I am using now not safe for the environment? This is an emotional response. It pitches the product based on the emotions of being safe for the environment. On another term, this is guilt.
How does this product make you behave? Do you drink responsibly? Alcohol commercials stress this idea for lawful reasons and because the marketing necessitates it. They are building an emotional connection to the product. By drinking responsibly and being a responsible person, you can enjoy this wonderful product.
On another level, companies are using the Internet (such as YouTube) to devise these incredible emotional tactics. Emotional branding is so important in bridging the gap between product and customer. Many people do not want to be told what to buy. But they do want to buy something they feel connected to.
