Chapter 1- Unit 4
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1 CHAPTER ONE | UNIT FOUR UNIT 4 Strong Digital Brands Generate Emotion Research shows we make decisions mostly by following our emotions. Emotion is the fundamental force of the human drive: we avoid bad feelings and search for good ones. We move through the (digital) world basically open to brands which offer positive feelings. In fact, the work of world-renowned neurologist Antonio Damasio proves that emotions are preconditions for rational decision-making: patients with neural damage to the emotional part of the brain were unable to make any decisions. Emotions are a prerequisite for rational behavior. One who cannot feel is unable to make rational decisions or act in a reasonable manner. Far from disruptions to critical thought, emotions are survival instincts. The neural network responsible for our emotions is the limbic system, the home of our emotional intelligence. Our wishes, drives and feelings also live there. The overall function of the limbic system is to evaluate what the brain is doing. The limbic system functions like parallel feelings which either warn us against certain behaviors or steer us in the direction of others. Check out the video about the limbic system in our additional material! How does the limbic system work? The limbic system evaluates all the information that pours into our brains about (digital) brands and how emotionally meaningful they are to us – much as a librarian sorts incoming books. The more emotionally meaningful the information, the better a person learns it. Emotions put learning into turbo. Studies confirm that emotions improve perception and learning. Humans make quicker and more focused decisions when the situation has a strong emotional component. The more powerfully a company speaks, the more effectively its message comes across. "Forget about Power-Point and statistics. To move people at the deepest level, you need stories" (McKee, Harvard Business Review, 6/2003). This is the most important reason behind the efficacy of brands with a one-of-a-kind, experiential image: they generate strong emotions and are better remembered because of them. They leave behind a deep impression in our minds. The more emotional the brand, the longer we remember it. The mind catches what the limbic systems judges to be positive or negative. Everything else just rushes into and mostly out of our brains. Stories speak most effectively to our limbic system with vivid pictures and emotional words like “death” or “love”. But so do brands like BMW, Adidas or Nike. Boring, unengaging brands do not activate the limbic system to a very high degree. Result: we hardly remember brands that do not awaken any feelings in us. Current research supports this and has altered the model of a mind which merely stores pictures or transcripts from events and then recalls them on command. Instead, people run an emotional filter program that we use to fish out of the river of our life experiences. This filter program is not rigid, but is instead constantly being revised on the basis of our experiences. Likewise we are able to re evaluate experiences and thereby change them. TO A HIGH DEGREE, BRANDS FUNCTION UNCONSCIOUSLY People process most of the information around them unconsciously, namely 95%. Only a very small portion makes its way into consciousness. One reason is that consciousness burns a lot of brain energy: the brain is only 2% of the body’s mass yet uses 20% of the body’s available energy when it’s thinking. Most brain processes therefore run unconsciously. It conserves energy and happens quickly. Precisely because the processes of the brain run so quickly is another reason for the value of the important work of the unconscious. The unconscious works parallel to consciousness and is therefore able to simultaneously evaluate many brands. Important too is that the unconscious so quickly and easily decides. It does this by calling up any and all experiences with a brand and checking whether they were good or bad ones. More on this in a bit. Why should a brain do all that conscious thinking when it can simply reach for a time-proven solution? When consumers stand before a decision, they do not need to deliberate long or invest needless energy. They can instead rely upon key information and stored emotions – foremost from learned stories – to immediately asses the brand.
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Transcript of Chapter 1- Unit 4
1 CHAPTER ONE | UNIT FOUR
UNIT 4 Strong Digital Brands Generate Emotion
Research shows we make decisions mostly by following our emotions. Emotion is the fundamental force of the human drive: we avoid bad feelings and search for good ones. We move through the (digital) world basically open to brands which offer positive feelings. In fact, the work of world-renowned neurologist Antonio Damasio proves that emotions are preconditions for rational decision-making: patients with neural damage to the emotional part of the brain were unable to make any decisions.
Emotions are a prerequisite for rational behavior. One who cannot feel is unable to make rational
decisions or act in a reasonable manner. Far from disruptions to critical thought, emotions are survival
instincts.
The neural network responsible for our emotions is the limbic system, the home of our emotional intelligence. Our wishes, drives and feelings also live there. The overall function of the limbic system is to evaluate what the brain is doing. The limbic system functions like parallel feelings which either warn us against certain behaviors or steer us in the direction of others. Check out the video about the limbic system in our additional material!
How does the limbic system work? The limbic system evaluates all the information that pours into our brains about (digital) brands and how emotionally meaningful they are to us – much as a librarian sorts incoming books. The more emotionally meaningful the information, the better a person learns it. Emotions put learning into turbo. Studies confirm that emotions improve perception and learning. Humans make quicker and more focused decisions when the situation has a strong emotional component. The more powerfully a company speaks, the more effectively its message comes across. "Forget about Power-Point and statistics. To move people at the deepest level, you need stories" (McKee, Harvard Business Review, 6/2003). This is the most important reason behind the efficacy of brands with a one-of-a-kind, experiential image: they generate strong emotions and are better remembered because of them. They leave behind a deep impression in our minds. The more emotional the brand, the longer we remember it. The mind catches what the limbic systems judges to be positive or negative. Everything else just rushes into and mostly out of our brains. Stories speak most effectively to our limbic system with vivid pictures and emotional words like “death” or “love”. But so do brands like BMW, Adidas or Nike. Boring, unengaging brands do not activate the limbic system to a very high degree. Result: we hardly remember brands that do not awaken any feelings in us. Current research supports this and has altered the model of a mind which merely stores pictures or transcripts from events and then recalls them on command. Instead, people run an emotional filter program that we use to fish out of the river of our life experiences. This filter program is not rigid, but is instead constantly being revised on the basis of our experiences. Likewise we are able to re evaluate experiences and thereby change them. TO A HIGH DEGREE, BRANDS FUNCTION UNCONSCIOUSLY People process most of the information around them unconsciously, namely 95%. Only a very small portion makes its way into consciousness. One reason is that consciousness burns a lot of brain energy: the brain is only 2% of the body’s mass yet uses 20% of the body’s available energy when it’s thinking. Most brain processes therefore run unconsciously. It conserves energy and happens quickly. Precisely because the processes of the brain run so quickly is another reason for the value of the important work of the unconscious. The unconscious works parallel to consciousness and is therefore able to simultaneously evaluate many brands. Important too is that the unconscious so quickly and easily decides. It does this by calling up any and all experiences with a brand and checking whether they were good or bad ones. More on this in a bit. Why should a brain do all that conscious thinking when it can simply reach for a time-proven solution? When consumers stand before a decision, they do not need to deliberate long or invest needless energy. They can instead rely upon key information and stored emotions – foremost from learned stories – to immediately asses the brand.
2 CHAPTER ONE | UNIT FOUR
EMOTION AS SOUL-STIRRING If emotions are so important, what are they? The term is from the Latin: emovere. The verb means to move forth and out and also to stir up. Most definitions collaborate that emotions are about a very complex phenomenon. Emotions equal a movement in our nature or a stirring of our souls. Emotions alter our physical state, e.g. increased heart rate, sweating and dilated vessels. Emotions alter our demeanor, e.g. facial expression, gestures, body language and voice. World-renowned psychologist Philip Zimbardo sees a complex pattern of changes in emotions that includes physiological excitement, feelings, thought processes and behavior. That pattern emerges as a reaction to a situation which an individual considered personally meaningful. EMOTIONS ALTER OUR THINKING, FEELING AND ACTION Bundled feelings produce experiences. THE STRUCTURE AND TARGETED DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERIENCE PROFILES SHOULD THEREFORE ALSO BE AT THE CENTER OF DIGITAL BRAND MANAGEMENT Brands with a one-of-a-kind experience profile such as Porsche, BMW and Audi speak directly to our primal instincts. Irrelevant and interchangeable brands touch these instincts little or not at all. Latter result: we forget them. This is the most potent reason for the powerful effect of brands with a one-of-a-kind experience profile: they telegraph emotions and therefore remain vivid in our minds. The ideal brand target wants to own this brand because it fulfills their wishes and expectations over all other brands. The experience profile must be one-of-a-kind. This raises the profile of the brand and differentiates from other brands. The more focused the experience, the clearer and more distinct the consumer decision – research bears this out. CRITICAL THINKING SUPPLIES REASONS AND CAN RELENT Decisions and behavior are emotional and are later rationalized. The feeling of desire comes first, after the limbic system has long since decided what should be done. The crux is that the limbic system has the final say whether or not to act. Bottom line: emotions are prerequisites for reasonable action.
The real motive reads: you want it, you must have it, it is fantastic.
The rationalizing motive reads: you need it, it is necessary and meaningful.
Practical tip for strong brands: show reasons for the brand’s value and the powerful emotions it evokes. Emotions guarantee attention, deeper effects and longer retention. Evoke powerful emotions. Cite concrete reasons, especially for important decisions that carry higher risk. Emotions determine thinking, feeling and action. Now, what are the most important emotions? This is important. The answer determines whether someone wants and buys our digital brand or not. Check out our choice of emotional brand commercials in our additional material!
