Emotive Archives

Mastering the Art of Emotive Writing

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Carol Emert

Emotive branding works because it connects with people on a very real and personal level. But brands have multiple target audiences who are often very different from each other. They may be easily relatable, or they may not. So how does a brand speak in a way that truly resonates with each diverse audience? From an agency point of view, how do we at Emotive Brand approach emotive writing?

This question relates mostly to messaging – communications aimed at key stakeholders who are very different people with different relationships to the brand. A typical audience mix might include employees, investors and prospective customers with widely varying styles and needs, like Fortune 500 companies and SMBs, or Millennial and Boomer fashion shoppers.

In this post, we’re lifting the lid on Emotive Brand’s approach to emotive writing. All of our ideas are designed to maximize empathy with target audiences because – here’s Tip #1 – you can’t talk to them meaningfully if you don’t care. Effective writing requires that you get out of your own head and into a place of true, heart-felt empathy with the audience.

Emotive Writing Starts with Emotional Insight

To connect with each audience, you need to truly understand them – not just intellectually, but emotionally. What are their greatest fears and highest aspirations that relate to your brand? What are their met and unmet emotional needs in your category?

Audience interviews are ideal for getting the emotional juice flowing and helping brands start feeling into their audiences. When that’s not possible, interviews with clients who interact directly with each audience can be a good substitute. Often we talk to successful sales people who really connect with their customers and help solve their problems.

The key is to ask questions that get their emotions going. What makes their day truly great when they’re helping a potential customer? What’s the biggest difference they’ve ever made for a customer?

Then ask emotionally-geared questions about the customers: What are their greatest challenges and opportunities? Ask for stories about specific favorite customers to help put a face on the customer audience. Get a sense for their history, their career or life trajectory, their passions.

As interviewees start to emote, it’s time to flex your empathy muscle and feel in. Notice what language they use, their cadence of speech, the “feeling tone” of the experience. Record the interview, if possible, to remind yourself of the emotions at play when you sit down to write.

Feel Into the Emotional Impact on Your Target Audience

When feeling into your target audience, it’s useful to have a lens into the key emotion your brand wants to stimulate within them. Is the ideal end result of the brand interaction a feeling of support, relief, empowerment, enlightenment, freedom, abundance, joy or something else entirely?

At Emotive Brand, we identify an Emotional Impact for each of our brand’s key target audiences. It provides clarity and focus, so when we (or a client) are crafting communications for that audience, it’s easy to feel into that emotion and let the words flow.

Stimulate the Flow

Sometimes the act of sitting down to write and facing a blank page can be enervating – the opposite of emotive. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to stimulate your way into emotive gear.

If you are working towards creating joy in your target audience, listen to music that brings you joy.

If your brand has a clever edge, listen to a standup comedian or read an author who has a similar tone.

B2B audiences may be less represented in pop culture, but there are plenty of interviews and panel discussions online that can help a writer get into the right emotional space.

Art, music, film, lectures, fiction, non-fiction – any of these can get you in gear for heartfelt emotive writing.

Emotive Branding: Becoming a Global Movement? A Fellow Agency Share Its Thoughts

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Saja Chodosh

Kindred Agencies Building More Meaningful Brands

At Emotive Brand, we work to build meaningful brands that can change the trajectory of a business. Purpose and feelings sit at the heart of what makes our approach different.

The awesome thing about sharing our unique methodology of emotive branding with the world is discovering like-minded people and agencies. Throughout our 8+ years, we’ve connected with agencies from across the world. From Amsterdam to South Africa, there are others who believe what we believe about brands – emotive brands drive business.

Recently, a kindred-spirit agency of ours, the Brand Station from South Africa, made their way into our own studio. We have been digitally connected with Brand Station for years, but hadn’t yet met them in person. If there was only one thing we gathered from meeting in person, it’s that the world (yes, the whole world) is ready for emotive branding. If there was ever a time for purpose and meaning, it’s now.

Read our interview with the Brand Station to find out why.

So what brings you to Oakland? It’s not a short trip here from where you call home.

We love Cape Town. It’s home. But we needed to step out of our own playground and gather some new inspiration. Hit refresh a bit. We’ve been traveling all over – across the ocean, across the states, down the coast. We hit LA next. But for right now, we’re just soaking in this Bay Area magic. And we couldn’t be happier to finally be in the Emotive Brand studio – it’s taken too long. We are thrilled. Traveling and meeting new people really fuels our creativity and passion. We are going to go back home feeling inspired and refreshed.

How did you get connected to Emotive Brand? Why did you stay connected?

In 2012, our agency friends in Amsterdam told us we had to get connected. That our three agencies were all doing similar things in different parts of the world. We all cared about building meaningful, purpose-led brands. So we had a Skype session and we started an Emotive Transformers group online. We became knowledge partners. We became friends.

Knowledge partners? Like you would exchange ideas, learnings, and challenges with each other?

Exactly. Exchanging ideas would strengthen our thought process. Thinking about emotive branding became a kind of school of thought. And together, by discussing our challenges and wins, we could strengthen our methodologies and processes and ultimately innovate together. Whenever we did talk, I would think, this should be done more frequently. We could ask questions like “all of us follow a pretty linear process – but maybe there is another way?” Things like that that unlock new possibilities.

What are some of the relevant challenges your agency is facing lately?

Our ultimate challenge – what faces most agencies today – is what do our clients really need? How can we be more client-centered? How can we fulfill our clients’ immediate needs? In fact, lately, we’ve thought about devolving into five different companies that all have the same core – meaning and purpose. One company could be a campaign studio, another a design studio…Basically it’s a solution for creating clarity and making it easier for people to approach us and understand that we can actually solve their problems. A lot of the time in branding, you are offering the same thing – brand strategy – but you have to put a different name on it so people get it.

Another challenge we’ve been thinking about lately is that a brand strategy that’s left in a deck or a brand book has little to no meaning. Activating the strategy – that’s what matters. We’ve been focusing on activation lately. How does the brand live that strategy? How do people live the brand every day?

At Emotive Brand, we have our own way of defining emotive branding. How would you define it? What does it mean to you and your clients?

To us, emotive branding is a framework. It’s an authentic way of thinking and looking at things. We actually never put emotion into something. We just help infuse the emotion that’s already there – maybe it’s hidden – into the brand so that people can get behind its purpose. We assess brands, redefining and rediscovering what they can offer to the world and in what ways. Our favorite brands to work with are purpose-driven already. Our job is to make sure that purpose comes to life in everything that they do and say.

What are some major shifts you’ve seen in branding since you founded the Brand Station?

Branding used to be super design driven. Most branding agencies were founded by people who came from design agencies – like Emotive Brand. Strategy was kind of in the slip stream for us. Now, we’re strategy-driven and strategy-focused. Our first clients were brave to do the insights and research parts of our process. Now, that’s always where we start. We’ve also moved design in-house which wasn’t always the case. This helps integrate the two and make sure that all our design is directly tied to strategy.

We’ve talked a lot about things that Emotive Brand and the Brand Station have in common. What’s different? I assume branding in South Africa means something slightly different?

Can you think of a South African brand you know of the top of your head? Probably not. That’s our problem – we don’t have any national brands that we can all be proud to call South African. Because of our history, brands have to have a deeper meaning in South Africa. People are always changing and often fickle. That’s part of the reason why we set out on this journey – we wanted to help create the South African brand. The Nike of South Africa. For us, it’s all about building brands that we feel our country can proudly rally behind. That vision fuels us forward. Most of our favorite clients are brands that want to start some kind of movement. But a lot are too humble to start it on their own.

As business and life partners you must think highly of collaboration?

We both believe strong collaboration can propel a business forward. And yes – a good partnership always inspires. Just like Bella and Tracy, we both have our strengths and our interests. And we complement each other. We are always there for one another – in life and in business. Plus, we always take time to have a little fun.

Do you think more people are getting on board with purpose and meaning?

Yes, definitely. Now, every agency is claiming that they are purpose-led. This is exciting because, like Emotive Brand, we were at the forefront of this moment. But it’s also a challenge. In the end, I think agencies who are focused on authenticity and meaning are going to come out on top. People are demanding more authenticity and more meaning for a reason. With all the empty marketing out there, being purpose-led has to ring true at every touchpoint. And I know Emotive Brand feels the same way.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy and design agency.

Nostalgic Brands are Capturing Hearts and Minds

Posted on June 19, 2017November 22, 2024 by Paige Lansing Valle

A Nostalgic Age

As technologies continue to innovate and find new modes of connection, businesses need to move faster than the speed of light. But while moving forward is key to business success, many brands are looking backwards…and with success. Nostalgia is, no doubt, in. Bath & Body Works just announced the reintroduction of the old scents of the ’90s. The Sacramento Kings have embraced nostalgia with a new logo. Urban Outfitter’s is full of Polaroids, records, and retro cassette players. TV networks are bringing back ’90s favorites like Boy Meets World and Full House, which remind viewers of an age when scheduling a TV date with your neighbor was the norm. #TBT (throw back Thursday) continues to be one of the most trending and repetitively used hashtags on Instagram and Twitter. Even Facebook reminds us of what we were doing 10 years ago, today.

The Financial Review’s conversation around this current “Age of Nostalgia” explains it as a backlash against the fast-paced technology and the economic and political uncertainty that has left people feeling anxious about the future. The millennial generation, in particular, is longing for the familiar: the products and brands that remind them of growing up and that elicit feelings of safety, comfort, and happiness. There’s a yearning to bring back the “good old days”. The success of these brand campaigns demonstrates the power of nostalgia: this strong and sentimental longing for the past. People are literally buying into the past.

But if a brand is rooted in nostalgia, how is it positioned to evolve? Successful brands need to use nostalgic triggers to help them progress, while capturing and re-capturing the hearts of their audience. And here’s how:

Short-Term Campaigns

Nostalgia shouldn’t be a long-term strategy. Oftentimes, the most successful brand campaigns are short-lived – little reminders of a brand’s beginning and how far it has come. They make people remember why they fell in love with the brand in the first place and how that love has evolved. These campaigns conjure up happy memories that keep people loyal and connected to the brand.

Crowd-Pleasers

Nostalgic campaigns don’t have to reach the masses. Many nostalgic brand campaigns have been most successful by targeting the millennial generation. Much of the power of nostalgic campaigns lies in how tailored their meanings are for a specific audience. Everyone has different memories associated with the brand from the past, and these independent and meaningful experiences are what make nostalgia hold such impact. Millennials are often the most connected, owning the most devices and demanding speed in every form of media. So these feelings of a slower, simpler times are often felt more acutely within this audience. At the same time, the success of a nostalgic campaign has the most potential within the millennial generation thanks to their connectivity to social media. If anything is going to go viral, millennials need to be part of it.

Rely on Established Brand Equity

In the end, most brands can’t rely on nostalgia alone. Nostalgia is a complex emotion that has to fit into the way the brand already wants to make people feel. Nostalgic triggers should add to the brand’s emotional impact, but not necessarily replace it. The most successful nostalgic campaigns are done by brands that already have established brand equity. It’s not possible to hearken to the past if that past isn’t well known, recognized, and remembered with fondness. Brands that look to the past need something of value to look back on.

Emotional Storytelling

At Emotive Brand, we know that emotive brands thrive. No matter your audience, people want to buy into brands that make them feel something. Nostalgia is a very powerful emotion, some would argue, one of the most powerful of emotions. It is also a complex emotion. Adding feelings of nostalgia into your brand story can make it more powerful, personal, and meaningful to the people who truly matter to your brand’s success. These brand champions are the ones that make your story their own. Nostalgic campaigns are often successful because they hold such strong emotional impact. They make people remember the past with joy, delight in old memories, and remind them of the “old days,” and these positive feelings are quickly associated with and connected to your brand.

The most successful nostalgic campaigns use the past to make people feel joy at remembering those times and simultaneously excited and ready to invest in the future of the brand. They take their audiences on a journey with them, and people delight in the brand as a result. A brand’s nostalgic triggers helps it connect in meaningful, momentous, and memorable ways to the people who matter to their business: past, present, and future.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.

Does Your Brand Exude Meaning?

Posted on January 12, 2016November 22, 2024 by Tracy Lloyd

An emotive brand can’t simply advertise its way into being meaningful. It has to exude meaning at every opportunity. All too often brands seeking to appear more meaningful rely purely on tactical communications like an ad campaign. We are as likely as anyone to say, “that’s nice” after viewing an emotional commercial or a touching video on a company website. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Well, there can be.

Sadly, these brands often come off as being superficial. They wear their feelings on their sleeves. And they use advertising to claim to be something meaningful. However, they end up creating emotional dissonance by not being truly meaningful in everything they do. So the warm and fuzzy sensations these brands provoke quickly disappear when the brands act in a way that is inconsistent with their claimed emotional premise.

We all know the drill: the product doesn’t work the way the brand promises; employees of the brand are insensitive to customers; the wishfully “meaningful” brand treat its partners, supplier, and distributors “meanly”. Hence, the problem.

Far better, in our view, is to create a brand culture that exudes meaning, that evokes emotions rather than simply displays feelings, and that transforms every point of contact between the brand and the people vital to its success into a subtle and powerful meaning generator.

Our advice:

Don’t emote, evoke.

Don’t tease, connect meaningfully.

Don’t claim you’re worthy, make it evident.

For more information on the subject of helping your brand matter more, read our white paper Transforming Your Brand Into an Emotive Brand.