In my discussions with brand owners, many express a confident grasp of their consumers’ emotional responses to their brand. “My brand makes the consumer feel like this,” they often assert. While such clarity is commendable, it merely scratches the surface of a much deeper narrative, and arguably, not the most crucial part.
A Black Box Approach: Peering Beyond Surface Reactions
Consumers engage with products, and their moods transform. They sip cola and feel refreshed, they spritz surface spray and feel uplifted about their kitchen.
Yet, here lies a dual challenge:
a) These benefits are often generic to the category, failing to carve out a distinctive identity for the particular brand.
b) This perspective overlooks the critical question of how and why the consumer experience triggers these specific emotional shifts.
This black box approach to brand benefits yields only a very narrow understanding of your brand’s true essence.
Looking Inside the Black Box: Unveiling the Emotional Landscape
To truly decipher the inner workings of your brand, to discern the mechanisms behind its influence on consumer mood, and its uniqueness against competitors, we must venture inside the black box.
It is vital to unravel how our brand’s communication and sensory elements orchestrate an emotional journey for the consumer, culminating in the moodshift.
While all colas offer refreshment, it’s the distinctive blend of communication and sensory stimuli within the Coca-Cola experience that triggers a unique sequence of emotions, creating the unique emotional signature for the brand unlike any other cola.
True understanding of your brand emerges when you dissect this emotional journey, understanding its triggers and mechanisms.
Armed with this insight, you can refine both communication strategies and product development, devising optimal emotional journeys for consumers while setting your brand apart in a crowded market.
The endpoint of the emotional journey is undeniably significant, but it’s the journey itself that embodies the essence of your brand.
Chris Lukehurst is a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Understanding the connections between the consumer experience and emotional responses.
