Stick a Dog on It

We once received feedback from a client that the artwork we had created was missing something and she asked; “can’t you stick a dog on it?” As storytellers, we understood what she meant, but did she?

WE Communications, recently launched new research proving our theory that stories are in motion. After hours of data crunching at our HQ in Seattle, what surprised me the most was how branded content – which has an emotional connection in the unintentional space (where consumers come across branded content they weren’t searching for) – has impact (14 percent in the US, 12 percent in the UK and 15 percent in China). This triggered a question my mind – why aren’t clients including emotional response as a KPI when measuring the success of their campaigns? There are brands out there that clearly understand the impact of emotional storytelling, but maybe there’s scope to do it better.

Let’s look at John Lewis’ latest Christmas campaign. #Bustertheboxer is the main character and knowing that we’re a nation of dog lovers, John Lewis took the safe option here which was quite literally to ‘stick a dog on it’.  It was almost guaranteed to be a big hitter and alas, it’s now ranking as the number one Christmas advert in most recent polls.

John Lewis used animals (and yes, a dog) to drive an emotional connection. And through that connection and a sense of humor, they set the foundation for their holiday message. It makes for a cute campaign, but it is also a poignant reminder that creating an emotional connection with consumers is a great way to keep your brand front of mind and maintain a long-term connection.

Although pushing emotion through a campaign is not necessarily new, what brands do need to pay attention to, is customer behaviors. If customers aren’t in the right mindset to make a purchase, content that is designed to trigger an emotional response, especially if its laughter or enjoyment – will have the greatest impact.

Studies have found that consumers make the majority of their decisions based on emotional responses rather than rational – 70/30 per cent to be precise. Social media opens up a world of opportunities for brands to target consumers and their emotions, so they need to take advantage. Using smart tactics like sharing video content, links and imagescan help to build a stronger bond with these consumers online and encourage the path to purchase.

When building a campaign that includes emotion, consider the following:

• The four key emotions that best target consumers are laughter or enjoyment, sadness, fear and anger
• Put your audience first and think about how you want your brand to make the consumer feel
• Create content that has an emotional connection which will appear in the unintentional space, this will have the greatest impact
• People are built to better engage with content that tells a story. By using emotion within your brand’s story, you’re more likely to encourage consumers to act.