Examples of Emotional Appeal Marketing and Why We Loved Them
By Lily Whorl and Nicole Danneker
Emotional appeal, otherwise known as pathos, in marketing, is when an ad appeals to the viewer’s emotion rather than actual facts and logic. This form of marketing takes advantage of natural human emotion, like humor, sadness, and guilt. When an ad makes a viewer feel a certain way and evokes a specific emotion, they are registering the information in a different part of their brain, making them more likely to remember the ad in the future.
The FeelMore50 is a process that analyzes ads globally each year. From this list, we chose three to highlight for you.
Walmart- Famous Cars: Back to the Future
Nostalgia, one of the most potent emotional appeals. Walmart successfully achieved this emotion with their Famous Cars: Back to the Future advertisement.
A clip that brings iconic cars from the past and present to their new curbside pickup system. Everyone remembers the Mystery Mobile or Fred Flintstone’s car, Walmart brought them back along with various other memorable vehicles in a way that not only catches your attention but makes you laugh and think back in time.
It’s not always easy to incorporate emotion in a system as simple as a curbside pickup, Walmart did.
Amazon- Not Everything Makes the Cut
An emotion that not only draws ‘one’s attention but keeps it is humor.
A fun way a company can inflate the value of their advertisement. Amazon took this route with one of their many Amazon Alexa ads.
Alexa is a virtual assistant embedded into a Bluetooth speaker. Throughout this advertisement, Amazon highlights some of their “ideas” that did not make the cut.
The ideas are wild and wacky with a clear sense of humor.
Microsoft- We All Win
Sometimes not just one emotion comes from an advertisement. Microsoft proved this in their We All Win commercial and campaign.
Throughout this less than two-minute clip, Microsoft successfully moves, inspires and opens one’s eyes.
We All Win shows real limited-mobility gamers using their Xbox Adaptive Controller product. A product that allows almost anyone and everyone to play video games with little to no issue successfully.
These gamers brought inspiration, laughter, and love into Microsoft’s advertisement
Emotions can be a challenging thing to channel when marketing for your business. Luckily, we’re here to help. If emotion is something you’re looking to bring to the table, schedule a consultation with us today.
