If your brand's story is getting this reaction, that's a problem
The biggest sin in branding is <yawn> being boring.
Why? Because boring is expensive, very expensive. Boring branding wastes money because it simply isn’t effective.
Your brand communications must not only inform, they must also engage your audience in a way that makes them feel something. When people interact with branded communications that elicit emotion, they create more durable memories. There’s a substantial body of neuroscientific research that establishes this principle:
“Commercials [and other branded communications] that produce strong emotional responses during viewing will be more likely to be recalled, and recalled in more detail than commercials that produce little or no emotional response during viewing.”
“Emotional messages will be better liked and produce more positive effects on judgments of influence than neutral messages.”
(Batra 1985; Friestad and Thorson 1985)
Here’s how to apply it to your company’s next branding project: once your messaging mandatories have been established, ask “how do we want people to feel about our brand after they see this?” then let that feeling be a driver during creative development.
Keep. It. Simple: happy, wistful, anxious, excited, comforted, lustful . . . emotions are basic and primal, and the more complex they become, the less effective you will be.
People think with their hearts first. Use emotional branding to grow awareness and revenue.
Be bold and prosper.