Protect Ads Against Overwhelming Emotion

The Christmas 2011 TV ad from Great Britain’s John Lewis department store ended on an unexpected twist—a twist which should rightfully have come with a money-back guarantee it would arouse strong emotion. If you’d like to check me out on that claim, view the ad for yourself. For maximum effect, do it right now, though, because I’ll reveal the surprise ending in the next paragraph of this posting.
     As we watch the ad, we assume a little boy is having a difficult time waiting for Christmas Day because of how much he wants to receive his presents. But as the ad draws to its close, we see the boy walk right by the pile of presents left for him without a glance and bring to his parents still in bed the present he has for them. That’s what he had such a difficult time waiting for.
     A tear-in-the-eye moment followed by the tag line in the ad, “For gifts you can’t wait to give. John Lewis.”
     Because John Lewis is such a well-known department store name in Great Britain, the emotion increases interest in shopping with them. But if the emotion aroused in an ad is too strong, it will overwhelm the message you want to deliver.
     Talk about the joys the purchase will bring and how sorry a shopper will be if they miss this opportunity to buy. You'll do this because, in general, people make more purchases whenever their emotions kick in. The boost works best with positive emotions, but activating consumer emotions we think of as less pleasant—such as fear, anger, and even disgust—can also stimulate purchasing.
     Research at University of British Columbia found that a substantial percentage of consumers said they'd chosen an item because they had the right feelings about it, not because the item came out best in any mental accounting of advantages and disadvantages. Further, those who let themselves be led by their emotions expressed more satisfaction with their purchase afterwards.
     However, researchers at National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University found that while for certain consumers, emotion sells, for others, strong emotions irritate. This is especially true with those negative emotions.
     When the colors and the music in an ad plus the content of the TV programming surrounding the ad are all congruent with the emotion aroused in the ad, there is less disruption and greater sales promotion.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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