In this three-minute emotional marketing lesson video, emotional marketing researcher Graeme Newell shows how positive brands subtly tap very negative emotions to bond with women.
What is customer focus, and what is customer relationship marketing? Marketers everywhere are asking themselves these exact questions when positioning a brand to better fit their customer base.
What is customer focus, and what is customer relationship marketing? Marketers everywhere are asking themselves these exact questions when positioning a brand to better fit their customers. Today, we’ll be looking at the best advertising campaigns and the best television ads that are centered on Mom.
So let’s start with the basics: what makes moms tick? Most would guess the usual suspects: maternal love, devotion, and the whole nine yards. However those emotions couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is: the most powerful emotional drivers that move the best advertising campaigns and the best television ads for moms are pride, superiority, and domination.
So the trick to really making the best television ads and the best advertising campaigns possible for Moms is positioning a brand that builds her ego. You need to be putting that woman up on a pedestal and worshipping her as the goddess she is. This can be done in various ways, but the two most common are to either go positive with good images, or negative with ridiculing others.
When taking the positive approach it’s best to show mom being the superwoman she truly is. Some of the best television ads use popular celebrity mother figures to represent this ideal mom and show her as having almost supernatural powers. Another way is to contrast her against her idiot husband. Make sure he’s a bumbling idiot that can barely tie his own shoes – she’ll look all the more impressive for it.
When positioning a brand for the negative approach, the best advertising campaigns hold up an image for their customers to ridicule. This is going to be the Mom that others look at and think to themselves: “Man am I glad I’m not as crazy as her.” While mothers will commiserate with the crazy stuff that they all have to do sometimes to make things work out, they will love the idea that, no matter how far they fall, they’ll never be as low as the women in these ads.
But how do customer focus and customer relationship marketing fit into this equation? Let’s look at both individually.
First, what is customer focus? Customer focus is how the best marketing campaigns are positioning a brand to fit their customers, not their product. If mom’s the one buying the product, then the advertising needs to be about her, not the new bells and whistles on a product. In the end, most products are damn near identical, and the customer knows it. They want brands that they can identify with and that truly get them.
So then what is customer relationship marketing? It’s how the best marketing campaigns and best television ads align themselves with a certain set of emotions in order to develop a relationship with the customer. When done right, this sort of marketing will elevate your product from just another competitor to a friend that the customer can get behind and will choose over all others.
So remember, when marketing to Moms, play to her ego and don’t forget who really owns your product.
I’m Graeme Newell, and that’s Emotional Marketing.
Transcription text of the 3-Minute Emotional Marketing Lesson Video “Positioning a Brand: The Ugly Secrets of Bad-Parent Marketing” by Graeme Newell, emotional marketing researcher and consultant at 602 Communications.
Hi I’m Graeme Newell. What makes moms tick? Maternal love? Devotion? Try pride, superiority, and domination. Today, connecting with moms by supercharging their egos – making them feel smart and in control.
“Now that I have my Electrolux washer and perfect steam dryer, I can juggle more things in my day.”
She’s the master of her domain.
“With the Electrolux washer and perfect steam dryer, you can remove wrinkles and wash and dry clothes in just 36 minutes!”
Kelly Ripa’s the perfect spokeswoman. She’s got the uber mom magic three: beautiful, successful and wickedly smart. But it’s not enough just to be caring. The best ads show off mom’s cleverness too. Our research shows that intelligence is what mothers admire about themselves the most. So when this successful and caring mom arrives home late, her own cleverness saves the day.
“So sorry I’m late Ms. Sikes. Oh that’s ok honey. Mom are you listening? Yes, these are for you. All right! Woah. Yes! Tell me about your day. In a minute Mom. Oh, I’ll be right here when you’re ready. When I’ve had one of those days, I make it a Happy Meal night.”
So that’s the positive way to show off mom’s smarts, now let’s turn that formula on its head.
“What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done to get your kid to eat? Um, well my kids asked for Ragu, um, with braided noodles and I let them eat them off my head.”
Ragu’s using a fun dose of aversion here. Sure, I do a lot of crazy stuff for my kids, but thank goodness I’m not as much of an idiot as this woman!
“You wouldn’t, ah, you think that’s…weird?”
It appeals to moms on two levels – commiserating about getting kids to eat AND making the viewer feel superior.
“Kelby from Asheville, North Carolina asks: Do you have any tips for getting kids to actually finish their dinner instead of just picking at it? We, we serve it like the British people. Exactly. I haven’t seen you since the morn, was your day acceptable? Oh, we spent the day trolley-hopping and puffing the billows. Have not been to Great Britain. Not, not yet. Ragu, mom’s favorite for a reason.”
So carefully pick the emotion that your customers want to feel about themselves, but remember there are many ways your product can meet that need. Sure, you may want to go positive, but never forget that one of the most powerful ways to brand is to give your customers someone to ridicule. I’m Graeme Newell and that’s emotional marketing.