Lighting The Fuse--Or Dropping A Dud?

THINKING TOO HARD ABOUT THE SIDE OF THE BOX

One of our clients recently had what psych professionals refer to as a Freak Out Episode.

This client has a campaign of complex, heavily produced advertising.

He suddenly decided he needed more factual information in these messages.

Understand, we're talking commercials that are so highly emotionally charged, some who've reviewed them get choked up. At least two woman have cried.

And, as it must be, the emotion in these commercials is inextricably linked to the client's product. You can't change the advertiser name in the commercial and expect the emotional part will still work (as is the case with so much allegedly emotional advertising).


FENDING OFF THE FREAK OUT

We trotted out The List Of Favorite Clichés and said, "Yes, but advertising works best when it's operating on an emotional level."

Had we left it at that, we'd likely be making a series of complicated changes to some very expensive production.

Instead of just firing a shot over the bow of objection, hoping it would turn away, we dove deep into the truth behind the cliché.

We wanted to win this.

Because, as has been proven time and again, effective advertising is in no way an intellectual exercise.

People process sales messages emotionally.

Analyze any successful advertising campaign for its firepower of hard, intellectual facts, and it falls apart.


WHY DO YOU KNOW THE BEST CHEAP MOTEL IN AMERICA IS MOTEL 6?

They've spent over 20 years (mainly on radio) telling us they're the best cheap motel in America.

There is no empirical evidence. There is no JD Power & Associates award to back up the claim. It is true because they say so--convincingly, through simple, folksy, emotionally engaging messages, including the evocative, "We'll leave the light on for you."

Southern California's most successful mattress retailer has spent over a decade saying "I'll beat anyone's advertised price or your mattress is free!"

Does anyone out there really think he's giving away mattresses? Of course not. He's beating the advertised price. But because he says nonsense with conviction, people believe it.

Heck, this is applicable to any sales situation. Want proof that people don't listen intellectually? A murderer with mountains of evidence stacked against him walks free--all because his lawyer repeatedly says, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."

That's not a sound legal argument, folks.

But it rhymes and plays an emotionally charged card. It won.


LAST TRAIN TO DEADSVILLE

If you take an advertisement that tries to put an emotional charge in the use of a product or service, but start weighing it down with intellectually correct baggage, know where that commercial's going?

Yessiree Bob, it's on a one-way, non-stop express train to Deadsville.

We create sales messages, not news stories.

An advertisement is an appeal to the emotions of people who need what the client sells. Later on, they'll figure out a way to justify it intellectually. Our job as advertisers is to trigger the emotion that elicits response.


IN DA HOUSE YODA IS

We've just signed a business that sells ski tuning--but not just any ski tuning.

This company tunes the skis of professional ski racers and Olympians.

Some customers live hundreds, even thousands of miles away. They box up their skis and ship them to this guy so he can grind, sharpen and wax them. You'll never find his level of fanaticism and perfection at a resort ski shop. This man is hardcore. This guy is the Yoda of ski tuning.

And while he loves and will never give up his prestige clients, he came to us because he wants more prosaic business.

He wants the soccer moms. ("Ski racing moms" hasn't yet entered the vernacular.)

So, how do you attract a soccer mom to high-end ski tuning? Factual information?


"WE HAVE A WINTERSTEIGER SIGMA RS!"

"You won't find this tuning machine in any other ski shop west of the Mississippi!"

That'll get mom excited to spend twice as much tuning little Junior's skis for the next downhill against the other 6-year olds, right?

OK, how about...

"No ski tuning shop services more medaled champions than we do."

Is that going to get mom all cranked up to toss little Junior's boards in the back of the minivan?

Maybe. At least she knows champions like this place.

OK, what if we say...

"Imagine the grin on your child's face as he looks down at you from the gold medal position on the winner's podium--all because you brought his skis to us."


DING DING DING!

I wrote that podium line just now. We're probably not going to use it. But let's look at it for its pure emotional vs. intellectual value.

The brand of hardware an advertiser uses isn't going to interest anyone except gearheads. If you know what a Wintersteiger Sigma RS is, you might be interested. But what soccer mom knows or cares?

The number of champions who use an advertiser's service might carry a spark of emotional charge--if you're active and engaged enough to really infer what that might mean for your kid. But it's a reach. It puts a whole lot of burden on soccer mom for figuring out exactly what it might mean to her child.

However, "Imagine the grin on your child's face as he looks down at you from the gold medal position on the winner's podium..." is an image does exactly what it needs to do. It locks an emotionally charged picture of Junior in soccer mom's mind, and she's much more likely to throw those dinky little skis in the minivan and burn rubber over to Yoda's shop.

Is there anything intellectually justified about this image? Of course not. Little Junior hasn't won a single race and may never. He could be a total spazmo who spends so much time skiing into the gates, his face has a vertical dent with a nostril on each side of it.

But if soccer mom wants him to win--especially if he already has the best skis, the best bindings, the best boots and the best stretchy suit that makes him look like a mini Bode Miller--and he's not winning, what's left?

The least expensive and most mystical part of the package, of course: ski tuning.


IN ADVERTISING, EMOTIONS RULE

There's plenty of evidence to back up this premise.

And if an advertiser is afraid of running an emotionally charged message for fear there's not enough intellectual information, here's the deeper question to ask...

Is an emotion like fear really the best basis for making an intellectually demanding business decision?