As a researcher I work with all advertisers, agencies,
and media, and so cannot take a more active role in EmotionalAdvertising.com,
otherwise I would. As valuable as I feel my research work
is to the industry, it keeps coming back to recommending
things that can only be carried out by creatives, strategists,
and media planners. The most important findings of research,
mine and that of others, in the last few years, relate
to the need to touch consumers below the level of cognitive
thought. Since no creative resource exists to focus on
this need, and since I have been blown away by the powerfully
moving and heartwarming advertising work of Nick Pisacane
and Al Amato for many years, it was a natural idea for
me to suggest that they open EmotionalAdvertising.com.
P&G makes many important statements
all the time, but to me, perhaps the most important thing
that they have ever said was at a conference in Geneva
in 2004, when Bernhard Glock, P&G Global head of Media
Strategy said “We don’t just want to reach
consumers, we want to touch their hearts.”
Most ads do not do this. Many ads offend
consumers by their very intrusiveness. A “push”
message starts from behind and has to be very good indeed
to overcome the fact that it was not requested in the
first place. Nick and Al make such ads. One is immediately
drawn into a mini-movie. The characters are folks we immediately
care about. Zero to engagement in two seconds. An entire
story unfolds in 30 seconds, an entire Aristotelian plot
trajectory from problem to resolution. Some of their ads
make the eyes leak. One is always grateful for having
seen the ad. Often the brand’s selling point has
been tied to something larger, such as our love for our
children or our home or our nation. I won’t try
to dissect what makes their ads work using my conscious
mind any further, since that will be a job for future
subconscious-domain research tools still being developed.
I hope this explains why I stepped out
of my usual role as researcher to become a co-founder
of a creative resource, and why I serve as its Senior
Media/Researcher Advisor. (I also serve on other Advisory
Boards where I believe the company has something unique
and valuable that the industry needs.) EmotionalAdvertising.com
is open for assignments, whether push 30s or pull longforms
or anything else. I hope you will give them a test assignment.
Sincerely,
