Why ads should appeal to our emotions
March 31, 2021
By Jerry Bellune
Consumers rarely buy on the facts.
Even the most analytically minded. They buy with emotion and justify it with logic.
Think about your last purchase, why you bought it and how you justified it to yourself or your partner.
Our friend Bill Edmonds says Southwest Airlines most effective ad appealed to our emotions in 3 words: “Wanna get away?”
Their commercials depict people caught in awkward blunders. The individual does something embarrassing, then a voice asks, “Wanna get away?” while the character wallows in self-inflicted humiliation.
The solution? Buy a “Wanna Get Away” ticket from Southwest and fly far, far away, leaving your shame behind.
Bill says he’s convinced the campaign was popular because we identify with the feelings of the commercial’s protagonist.
We know what it is like to want to run away from our latest blunder.
Research has found that feelings of humiliation and shame are more intense than those of happiness and anger.
What emotions do your own ads appeal to? A sense of need, such as “I need a new car” or of want, such as “Can I afford to go to the Caribbean this year?”
We share such field-tested strategies in our CD “Why Advertising Fails & What You Can Do About It.”. For details, email [email protected].
Copyright 2021, The Bellune Co., Inc.
