Emotion in Advertising (The Adweek copywriting handbook)

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Here is what I have learned from chapter 11 of the adweek copywriting handbook by Joseph Sugerman.

You just need to remember 2 points about this subject.

You sell on emotion, but you justify a purchase with logic.

Every word has an emotion associated with it and tells a story.

So here are the explanations of these principles.

You sell on emotion, but you justify a purchase with logic.

Sometimes people desire satisfaction(getting rid of a problem).

And sometimes people desire expression.

And you first need to understand what type of desire your product satisfies. So try to understand the nature of your product.

We live in a civilization, we can not tell people about our manliness or our wealth in public.

If you can show your prospect that your product can help them express themselves you are halfway there.

Expressing ourselves isn’t something that runs on our conscious brain.

It is merely an instinct.

So to fully convince someone to buy we also need to use logic.

Why do you think people buy a mercedes benz?

Is it because of the rack and pinion steering or the antilock braking system or the safety features? Other cars have the same features, so why spend a fortune to buy one when, for a fraction of the cost of a Mercedes, you can get a korean of Japanese car that has many of the exact same features?

We buy on emotion and justify with logic.

The real reason they buy these types of cars is not for the technical features at all.

They want to own a prestigious car and belong to the crowd that drive a Mercedes.

Mercedes Advertising.

Look at a Mercedes ad.

Since the Mercedes advertising agency knows the real motivation behind the purchase of their cars, they focus on the reasons people use to justify their purchase.

All their ads talk about the terrific drive you get or the technical features that make the car a breed apart.

In reality, feature by feature, there is nothing so revolutionary that it can’t be duplicated in a less expensive car.

The car is sold by virtue of its emotional appeal and then justified in its advertising by an appeal to logic.

Logic Often Doesn’t Work.

In writing copy for an advertisement, often you get your reader in an emotional frame of mind as a result of the environment you have created, and logic becomes less important.

Here are some examples of really widely used sentences in advertisements.

“If you aren’t absolutely satisfied, return your product within …… days for a prompt and courteous refund.”

“If you want to get the rewarding experience of …… contact us at…….”

A refund isn’t courteous.

But it doesn’t matter. The emotion or the feel of that phrase really says that we are a very respectful and understanding company that will return your money very promptly.

Notice how rolls royce never says if you are interested to buy a rolls royce contact us at …..

Often, a phrase or sentence or even a premise does not have to be correct logically. As long as it conveys the message emotionally, it not only does the job, but does it more effectively than the logical message.

For example let’s say that we are trying to sell a digital calculator that has such a large memory, and you could use it to hold the phone numbers of your friends along with their names.

Here is what to do;✅

“Pocket Yellow Pages”

You’re stuck. You’re at a phone booth trying to find a phone number, and people are waiting. You feel the pressure. To the startled eyes of those around you, you pull out your calculator, press a few buttons, and presto—the phone number appears on the display of your calculator. A dream? Absolutely not.