Advertising that Provokes Emotion

I’ve always admired the strength of emotion. It can change your mind, influence your decision, help you interpret something in your life. In the case of advertising, emotion has become a tool that many major consumer brands are turning to in order to sell their products and services.

I can’t say that a commercial has ever made me cry. Honestly, to evoke that powerful of an emotion comes something being triggered deep inside and then needing the release through tears. Then I saw Expedia’s long form ads.

Most notably, Expedia’s Find your Understanding and Find your Strength both evoke the powerful emotion that causes you to think twice about what they offer. On the surface level, Expedia is a travel agency. However, their new advertisements are making you think deeper about what travel means. Travel is both personal and powerful. Expedia’s advertisements remind us that travel goes further than what airline you take or what seat you end up with – travel is about an entire emotional experience.

Although not all travel has to reach that deep of a level, after all we’ve all taken those one day trips for a quick client meeting, I think what Expedia wants its consumers to understand that their services play a part in helping create these emotions and these memories. The entire “Find Yours” campaign keeps the consumer at the heart of the message, and in doing so Expedia has achieved a higher level of brand connections with their audience.

The entire emotional marketing movement has transformed the way that major consumer brands target their customers. Rather than try to immediately message the product (the way that Folgers did in the 1950s), ads have now started with a story. While Expedia was not the first company to use emotion for their product or service, they were certainly not the last.

Dodge had a wonderful spot during the most recent story that centered around the concept of why “God Made a Farmer.” I personally can’t say that I cried, but I will say that the emotion was more shock. Shock that a truck brand forewent any scenes of heavy lifting or construction work and instead used a community of people to showcase their product.

As major consumer brands are challenged with finding a way for their brand to resonate with the general consumer, I hope that they continue to turn to emotion. For me, these are the brands that stick out in my mind. Which types of ads strike you the most?

by Rachael Guia

CMGT 541, B