Brands that elicit emotion attract devotion—and loyal followers. In The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation, Ron Alsop describes this phenomenon:
That elusive emotional spark between a company and its stakeholders makes some reputations soar and never lose altitude.
Sophisticated measurements—even MRIs as described by Martin Lindstrom in Buyology—can track individual emotional reactions and the brain’s response to the appeals of marketing. Neuro-marketing is all the rage now thanks to self-described brand futurist Lindstrom, and the revelations from his $7 million study are riveting. The study provides evidence that purchasing decisions once considered to be driven by deliberate thought are in fact driven by instinct, deeply embedded and hard-wired into our nervous systems.
But describing and quantifying emotional connection to brands is different than feeling the connection. Lovemarks, coined by Saatchi and Saatchi, describe the beyond-brand nirvana of sensory connection to products. Lovemarks are in the upper-right corner of the quadrants formed by the love and respect continuums, squarely defined by high love/high respect. Our senses are clearly connected to our emotional responses to branding, and lovemarks embrace this.
One brand that’s leveraging the lovemark and Alsop’s seventh law is Ohio: The State of Perfect Balance. This is Ohio’s new brand. The “O” logo is now on driver’s licenses and is being implemented across all areas of state government. From the economic development perspective, the concept behind this brand is that business leaders can build their business AND love their life—something that’s clearly not possible on the coasts and in other areas that require large commitments of time for commute. Place branding has the power to draw more people to Ohio through emotional connections.
Take a moment to consider the brands that evoke emotional reactions for you. Comfort. Inspiration. Hope. Love. Protection. Relaxation.
What gut-level reactions do you associate with different brands? Compare notes with your colleagues. Is your own company’s brand a lovemark? Almost every brand has a lovemark they can cultivate and leverage. The best way to discover it is through research. Take action today to make your brand a lovemark.
Great ideas, and don’t just put a heart in your ad campaign :) Love goes beyond that. Just look at your private life… true love between people is built on trust, respect and acts of love. Not words.
Good luck
Carolin Dahlman, specialist emotional branding, http://www.love-branding.com
Every day I am more and more amazed about internet marketing based on watching the way the youger generations deal with with the outside world with the web. My 13 year old grandson just took me a website they had put online to aggregate teenage topics for their classmates. They were interested in knowing how one could setup marketing on the page to generate revenue. very poud.