A nod to emotional branding, and the broad consumer landscape.

This blog entry is a quick nod to emotional branding..

Emotional branding refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to a consumer’s ego, emotional state, needs and aspirations.

Broadly speaking you can segment potential customers into three major consuming populations which inhabit the retail landscape today: 1) the Baby Boomers (born 1946-64), who respond to cues of achievement, status and perfromance. 2) the generation Xers (born 1965-76), who value imagination, relationships and creativity and 3) the Gen Yers (born 1977-1995) who respond to fun, interactivity and experiences. (I’ll ignore tweeny’s because I’m personally disinterested).

‘Emotional branding provides the means and methodology for connecting products to the consumer in an emotionally profound way. It focuses on the most compelling aspect of the human character; the desire to transcend material satisfaction, and experience emotional fulfillment. A brand is uniquely situated to achieve this because it can tap into the aspirational drives which underlie human motivation‘ – Marc Gobe, (President, CEO and Executive Creative Director of the desgrippes gobé group New York, one of the world’s top ten brand image creation firms.)

Over the past fifteen years it has become clear that the world is moving away from an industrially driven economy, one in which factories are the heroes, to one which is people-driven, putting the consumer in the seat of power. And those brands and brand managers that are best able to gain the recognition, build trust and establish resonance with customers are the ones which survive times of recession, lead markets, and define the categories within which they operate.

Simple ideas such as computers have moved away from “technology equipment” to “lifestyle entertainment”, food is no longer about cooking or chores but about home/lifestyle design and “sensory experiences”. Speed has replaced stability, intangible assets have become more valuable than tangible assets, and corporations know that new market opportunities are not based on squeezing costs and increasing profits around a set business model,  but above all about growing entirely new lines of revenue with innovative ideas.

End.