Topics

Emotive Branding

Connecting the Dots Between Brand Strategy and Brand Moments

June 5, 2014 —

Connecting the Dots Between Brand Strategy and Brand Moments

In one of our white papers, “Brand Behavior Drives Results”, I write about how emotive branding extends from high-level aspiration (that is needed for differentiation and appeal) to down-in-the-trenches action (that is needed to generate ideas, product,s and profits). Rather than being precious about the strategy element of our offering, we seek true brand transformation by delving deep into the interactions between your brand and the people vital to its success. We dig in, get our hands dirty, and invest considerable time in deconstructing the many ways in which your brand and...
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B2B Brands Desperately Need Ways to Differentiate Themselves

May 20, 2014 —

B2B Brands Desperately Need Ways to Differentiate Themselves

The pressing need for differentiation in B2B “Features easily blur into other features. It is increasingly difficult to differentiate on a product or service level as competitors find it easy to quickly duplicate innovation. So, where can B2B brands effectively differentiate? We think it’s by connecting to people on a higher level through meaning and feelings.” It is natural for people engineering teams, product teams and product marketing teams to see their B2B product or service as something special, unique, and important. Unfortunately, this makes it all the more difficult for...
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How Your “Brand Vibe” Can Change Your Brand’s Fortunes

May 13, 2014 —

How Your “Brand Vibe” Can Change Your Brand’s Fortunes

We humans are very proud of our ability to think rationally. This cognitive power not only lets us understand and use facts, it also helps us build elaborate creations and fantasies. We use our rational brains to conduct business. Cognition helps us sort stuff out, compare options, and rank priorities. Our rational, conscious brain is so “upfront” in our day-to-day work lives that we begin to believe it is our only way of thinking and acting at work. Yet, as neuroscience is finding, it is now clear that this cognitive ability is not a stand-alone factor in how we perceive, sense,...
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Five Key Differences Between Emotional and Emotive Brands

April 10, 2014 —

Five Key Differences Between Emotional and Emotive Brands

It’s not too hard to spot an emotional brand. It uses emotions tactically to either make people laugh or to gently tug at their heartstrings. These brands typically only do this through their advertising. Emotive brands are far more rare. These are brands that forge meaningful – and valuable – emotional connections through everything they do. So while someone may happily buy a brand based on its emotional advertising, they are likely to be left bemused when dealing with the emotional brand’s crass customer service people. The resulting brand dissonance will, no doubt, prompt them...
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San Francisco Brand Strategy Firm Celebrates Anniversary

March 19, 2014 —

San Francisco Brand Strategy Firm Celebrates Anniversary

This month San Francisco Brand Strategy firm, Emotive Brand celebrated our fifth birthday. We wanted to say THANK YOU to each and every customer, prospect, partner, friend and everyone who shares our beliefs about how to help brands matter more! We started Emotive Brand as a way to approach brand strategy in a different way. • To help transform how brands reach out to people. • To encourage our clients to embrace the idea of Purpose Beyond Profit. • To push the belief that emotionally meaningful brands drive business results. Five years later, it is gratifying to see research by Deloitte,...
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Which Comes First? A Strong Corporate Culture or a Meaningful Workplace?

March 13, 2014 —

Which Comes First? A Strong Corporate Culture or a Meaningful Workplace?

There’s a virtual cornucopia of so-called “culture decks” finding its way across the web today. These glitzy slideshows present the values that supposedly drive each respective company’s workforce.  A quick scan of these decks shows that many of the companies are mimicking another. They are using clever language to make things sound really sexy. And of course they employ design that makes your mouth water. These cultural displays are all well and good, however one has to question them on several levels:  To what extent are they honest, credible and accurate...
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What Really Matters to your Brand’s Success? Empathy.

February 19, 2014 —

What Really Matters to your Brand’s Success? Empathy.

If I asked you what really matters to your brand’s success, you would probably only talk about things that can be explained rationally and measured empirically. Nothing wrong with that, after all that’s the way we think and talk as business people. However, if I asked you what really matters to you as a human being, I bet you would find yourself talking about things that are hard to explain rationally and virtually impossible to measure. You know, messy things like the need for safety, the desire for connectedness, and the joys of love and beauty. What really matters to your brand’s...
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The Goal is to Align Employees – But the Key Question is Not “How?”

January 5, 2014 —

The Goal is to Align Employees – But the Key Question is Not “How?”

Nothing slows down an enterprise more than a workforce that is working at cross purposes, unmotivated and uncaring. And nothing dims the prospects of an enterprise more than having a workforce that fails to innovate, isn’t inspired to be creative, and which just checks in and checks out day after day. The eternal question is “how” to align employees to what the business needs and there are many methods, tools and professionals devoted to getting employees to shift their attitudes and behaviors. But, even these efforts are not producing the desired result. We believe this is...
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Turn Your Brand Around Through Emotionally Meaningful Behavior

December 15, 2013 —

Turn Your Brand Around Through Emotionally Meaningful Behavior

Turn target audience members into hot prospects Turn hot prospects into customers Turn customers into regular users Turn regular users into loyal customers Turn loyal customers into brand advisors Turn brand advisors into brand recruiters Purpose: Do it by embracing a purposeful intent for your brand – a high order idea about how your brand makes life better for individuals, society and/or the planet. Empathy: Do it by taking on an empathetic attitude to all the people vital to your brand’s success – see the world through their eyes, walk a mile in their shoes, come to understand what...
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Emotional is Not Necessarily Emotive

November 7, 2013 —

Emotional is Not Necessarily Emotive

If you haven’t already heard the buzz about the new Johnson & Johnson ad campaign, you will. And after May 10, it will find its way to a page or screen near you. Thirty million bucks buys a lot of exposure. What caught our attention is the emotive premise of the campaign, which is called “For All You Love.” With a name like that, you can guess it’s going straight for your heartstrings. The teaser image on the J&J home page suggests we’ll see lots of loving parents applying Band-Aids® and baby soap. This is not just because the company wants to play off how much we love our kids. It’s...
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