Why get so emotional (baby)?
Comedy, analogy, randomness, sexiness, product demo…
There are many ways to skin an advertising cat, but how many of us reach into our knife drawers and slide out the blade marked ’emotion’?
It’s a tough one (as I said to a planner last month, ‘Which emotion are you talking about?’ I think the English language, oddly, has yet to create a word for the swell of feeling that we all get when we see that photo or watch that movie or book that transexual dwarf for that birthday party), but if you can get it right, it can persuade in a way that’s beyond the surface of the other methods.
But then its success does depend on a response which is about as subjective as it gets: one man’s heart-swell is another man’s damp toilet seat. We can all laugh at the John West Bear, but how many of us will find the same touching moment touching?
With that in mind, here is a new ad from NZ that has emotion in spades:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvwMPGwUSO8&feature=player_embedded
Does it float your monkey or fart in your lift?
Terribly cheesy. You’ll make new mates in London, get over it gay boy.
i think it can depend what kind of a mood you, the viewer is in, when you see the ad. that was sweet tho, everyone has a friend from their childhood who moved away.
My monkey just farted in the lift. LET ME OUT!!
Would you say emotion, more than reason, determines the public’s attitude to a product? Does logic come a remote second to passion? If ours is a game of the heart, as well as the head then is it a case of varying degrees of left and right thinking depending on the product category? Ultimately, it’s all got to add up to three, right?
I think emotion, then we use reason to justify that reaction.
Change of subject but how unfunny is Harry Enfield and his mate Paul, Jesus what a pile of shit it was on BBC 2 last night. I made myself watch it until I got 1 laugh, but no.
I suppose it’s kind of like ad people of 10 years ago that were great but now there are only a small percentage of them doing good work left. Why is that Ben, why oh why. What does it take to stay great? Or do people just become lazy? A footballers shelve life is only about 10 years, there body can’t keep up with the pace of the younger people coming through. Do you think it’s the same with ad folks brains?
That’s a nice spot. And there’s about a squillion books that will tell you that most purchase decisions are based on an emotional ‚Ä쬆not rational ‚Äì response. But if this spot is ’emotion’, I reckon your definition is too narrow. Humour, fear, reassurance, awe and sexual attraction are all emotional responses that can make great ads.
pair of twats…
do you like this ad Ben?
emotion my arse
One way to understand the buying process and the relationship between emotions and logic in the buying process is to look at Transactional Analysis.
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Dr Eric Berne claimed we have three ego states, Parent, Adult and Child. I’ll keep it short.
The child gets emotionally involved, the parent give permission for a purchase and then the adult rationalises it. So it is okay (often crucial)to appeal emotionally to get the child ego state involved, but if the parent won’t give permission it fails and if the adult can’t rationalise back the purchase it will fail.
Child buys, the Parent gives permission to buy, the Adult rationalises the purchase often with wonky logic.
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That’s what I teach anyway and I’ll stick with it till I change my mind of course.
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In my experience, quite often people use the wrong emotion to hook someones child and others try to sell rationally i.e. value etc. And then sometimes things just work or fail and I have no idea why, life huh.
when it comes to emotion in ads it’s hard to beat this (same client):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtU0S1rG2fM
Oh lordy, the lift is full of guff. Who is responsible?
Well, I think it’s very well made, but it doesn’t hit me right in the guts, and that’s what I mean by objective vs subjective.
I think a whole bunch of the people it’s aimed at will lap it right up (apparently NZers tend to think of the company behind the ad as wankers; this is intended to reverse that), but as I’m not one of those people, I can’t get into it up to my boots.
Also, I’m a hard bastard who thinks nothing of throwing children like this into canals just to pass a slack afternoon.
Not unpleasant little film. but what the monkey’s chuff does it have to do with the logo that popped up almost imperceptibly at the end? Is it just “Look, we made this nice little film with kids in, so we’re not twats”? Is it a piece of advertising, or a sponsored piece of fluff?
On the bigger question, I’m with Jim, if you can actually tap into the right emotion for the decision you are trying to influence, then it can be very effective.
But often people just use ‘It’s an emotional ad’ as an excuse not to do the more difficult thing of finding a way to say something worth saying about the product that they’re advertising.
This ad made me emotional.
But not in a good way, it’s new low for advertising
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/25/billboards-facebook-places/
wow
You can make ’em laugh, you can make ’em cry but you gotta make ’em wanna buy.
Brokeback Mountain: The Primary School Years.
Tired, cheesy pile of dogshit.
I think it’s a good ad.
I did find the music a bit Saccharin. Can we just stop using fey singer songwriters for every emotional soundtrack. Just for six months. It’s just dull.
This idea of using emotion did remind me of bits of the book I’m reading at the moment:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mediated-Media-Shape-Your-World/dp/074757085X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288176553&sr=8-3
This made me emotional.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAxUpeVhCg&feature=related
Many people said this hit the mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIY3-ECJQlg
And not one to shun the opportunity to promote, these were both rather lovely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MirYWAUZ_kY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyxx-QqbJ3E
That quit smoking ad’s a cracker, George.
Nice post George – The interesting thing for me about anti-smoking ads is they attempt to stress people out. Guess what smokers do when they get stressed out? The ad probably appeals more to people that have quit already or have never smoked.
Oh george you utter utter bastard
*sobs onto desk*
What was that about stealing, Vodafone?
I guess they were making the most of now!
http://twitpic.com/3197hf
My girlfriend liked it, but she’s a Kiwi.
Way too long and then no payoff. If you’re going to tell emotional stories, at least be good at it. Same with the rewind story. All lame. Give me a budget like that and I’ll have them weeping all the way to the cashbox, which is the problem with these spots. It’s easy to get people emotional. To do so for a reason is another matter.
Wish I had a laptop with 20mb wifi broadband when I was 12.
Oh my !!! I was even more sensitive to the kids greeting their dads back from Irak.