EMOTIONAL BRANDING

CONTEMPORARY ISSUE ON SEMINAR A STUDY ON EMOTIONAL BRANDING

Session: 200911

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY: Mr. RAJAT MENDIRATTA DEVENDAR TAK M.B.A SEM II

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Acknowledgement
The beatitude, bliss & euphoria that accompany successful completion any task would not be completed without the expression of appreciation of simple virtues to the people who made it possible. So, I take my immense pleasure in expressing a whole hearted thanks to all the faculty members who guided me all the way making this project successful. It is my privilege to express a deep sense of gratitude and thanks to Mr. RAJAT MENDIRATTA for providing us various information directly related to project. I extend my gratitude and thankfulness to Apex Institute of Management & Science.

Date: 12-05-2010 Place: Jaipur

Submitted By: (DEVENDAR TAK)

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Preface
The underlying aim of the seminar on contemporary issue as an integral part of MBA program is to provide the students with practical aspects of the organization working environment. Such type of presentation helps a student to visualize and realize about the congruencies between the theoretical learning in the premises of college and actual followed by the organization. It gives the knowledge of application aspect of the theories learnt in the classroom. The seminar project in EMOTIONAL BRANDING is a complete experience in itself, which provide me with the understanding. This has become as inspirable of my knowledge of management being learned in MBA program.

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CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION

BRAND BRAND DIFFERENCE NEED OF BRANDING

EMOTIONAL BRANDING A NEW REALIZATION TOUCHING THE HEART

EMOTIONAL SATISFACTION MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER SMILE

COLOR BRANDING

CRITERIA THAT GOVERN EMOTIONAL BRANDING

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LINK BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND BRAND LOYALTY

CLASSIFICATION OF BRAND ON THE BASIS OF APPEAL

UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF EMOTIONAL BRANDING

HOW TO MARKET EMOTIONALLY

KEY MENDATES FOR EMOTIONAL BRANDING

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Emotional Branding is a virtual movement. It began in 2001, when a profoundly different brand design strategy was developed from the creation of Marc Gobs bestselling book. The Emotional Branding strategy marked a simple but revolutionary shift in thinking: placing the consumer, not the product, at the forefront of a brands strategy. Marketing in the 20th century had deviated from this basic principle, adopting a guerrilla-warfare, us (the marketers) against them (the consumers) mentality.

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Emotional Branding has opened the pathway to an entirely new kind of thinking, which explores how brands can connect with people in a more sensitive and humanistic way and touch people profoundly at the level of the senses and emotions. One of the most amazing discoveries of Emotional Branding has been that by empowering consumers, brands are ultimately empowered themselves. Emotional Branding allows a brand to own a unique and compelling strategic, visual, tactical and verbal vocabularycreating a rich personality that enables the brand to stand out completely from the competition and win peoples hearts.

WHAT IS BRAND

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Before starting about Emotional Branding we must know about Brand. All products have names but not all names are brands. A brand is a promise. A brand is not a product. It is a promise that the consumer is aware of (sometimes vaguely) when they buy and it is a promise that is kept and delivered by their experience with what they bought.

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Defining the promise is the first step in branding. The promise must be described in terms of what customers want, not from the perspective of what the company thinks it has. If the promise is well identified and successfully delivered, a bond of trust is built between the company and its customers. As this bond strengthens, so does the brand. A brand is something that is build and earn a reputation for. You may have invented a better mousetrap and given it a highly memorable name, but it is not a brand until it proves to your customers that it works and they tell you that your mousetrap is the one they prefer. It has been argued that you don't create your brand. Your customer does! So a brand is also a form of trust - a guarantee in customers' minds that they are getting something they know they can rely on, time after time. It becomes a useful short cut to reliability. This is another reason why having a strong brand is so valuable. You don't have to waste a lot of time and money describing yourself in detail at every sales opportunity. Your reputation, quite literally, precedes you.

Brand Associations The feelings, beliefs and knowledge that consumers

(customers) have about brands. These associations are derived as a result of experiences and must be consistent with the brand positioning and the basis of differentiation.

Brand Commitment -: The degree to which a customer is committed to a given brand in that
they are likely to re-purchase/re-use in the future. The level of commitment indicates the degree to which a brand's customer franchise is protected form competitors.A brand should have at least two other central dimensions: 1. As well as making a promise, a brand should offer its user a benefit and 2. A brand should serve to differentiate itself from its competitors in an attractive, memorable, relevant and compelling way.

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So the end result of designing a brand is a proposition that says to the user: here is what the brand promises to deliver to you; this is why it meets your needs; this is why it is better than the others.

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL BRANDING

Emotional branding is a very powerful means of increasing ones market share and creating brand loyalty. Emotional branding is widely heralded as a key to marketing success, and leading brands often attempt to forge deep emotional bonds with their customers In today's highly competitive markets, smart companies are focusing more and more on emotional branding to differentiate their product in the minds--and hearts--of consumers. "People spend money when and where they feel good."

- Walt Disney

No wonder. Today's consumers face more choices than ever, yet they devote less time to product comparisons. To compound the matter, brands in many industries have become increasingly similar in quality, price and delivery.

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You've gained their trust and are rewarded with their loyalty. Once a consumer's emotions are involved, you've injected real power into your brand. As Kevin Kelly once noted, "the only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention." Rather than huge advertisements and image or brand awareness, branding boils down to how a product makes a customer feel and that is where emotional branding comes in and that is where the competitive edge also comes in. The answer is because we all have both left and right brains. The right brain reflects our creative and emotional side, the left brain controls our logic and intellectual reasoning. Effective branding appeals to both sides of the brain. It takes into account both tangible and intangible attributes which relate to both functional and emotional benefits.

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Surf, Pears, Maruti, Titan, TATA are all brands that people have come to trust and love because they have not only delivered exceptional products but a great experience to go with them.

A NEW REALIZATION
Conventional marketing based on Features-Advantages-Benefits and Satisfaction (FABS) is pass, and rational marketing is history. People of the genre listen only to their irrational, emotional requirements. They dont buy something because it will last forever, but because it may give them satisfaction in terms of image, prestige and snob value. If we looked at the pyramid shaped Indian society , we find that the majority of the people live in villages and do not have proper livelihood and purchasing power. These people look for utility products. but others who are at the top of the society-who have loads of money-look for things that can enhance their image and prestige.

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The Three Levels Of Needs Drawn From Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs

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SELF ACTUALIZATION SELF ESTEEM

HIGHER ORDER NEEDS MIDDLE ORDER NEEDS NEEDS

LOVE AND BELONGINGNESS

SAFETY AND SECURITY NEEDS PHYSILOGICAL NEEDS LOWER ORDER NEEDS

it is very interesting to note that people with lower order needs may only buy utility products. Fashion and style may not be criteria for them to buy a product and they may be driven mainly by utility, price and other elements. People with middle order needs may look for style and fashion if they find logic and reason in them; and if they can also afford the same. These people have more money compared to those with lower order needs and hence they spend much more on comparatively expensive items.

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But actually, the big spenders are those with higher order needs. These people have money , taste and a liberal spending habit. They spend huge amounts of money on various products. Almost 80% of total spending is done by them. And all companies are eyeing them for future growth. Sometimes their spending pattern is illogical as they are often crazy and obsessed about buying. They are the new generation consumers; their philosophy is to earn more and spend even more (if possible).They never look for utility in the products and may buy a car because of the glitzy ad they have seen recently on TV. They are highly fanatical and passionate about the latest cars, the most up to date mobile handsets and other gizmos. To them tangible benefits are pass; style and fashion are more important. Emotional Marketing is just apt for them.

TOUCHING THE HEART

Effective marketing should not only touch the hearts of the consumers but should also impact upon them emotionally and lead them on to take action. It may be targeted at the new generation consumers, who have the more spending power, a well defined taste, a liking for the latest products and a value system that is totally untraditional. The new generation consumers can be targeted with the following Emotional Marketing Mix:

1. Glitzy Ad 2. Flashy Design 3. Lifestyle 4. Image

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Moving Consumers From Reality To Unreality - Helping Them Dream

LIFESTYLE

FLASHY DESIGN

EMOTIONAL BRANDING

IMAGE

GLITZY AD

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Here we can take the eg. of DOVE soap. Dove is not just a soap its a dream a dream of becoming delicately beautiful , by using a very gentle soap. When a girl bathes with Dove soap, she nurtures a dream of becoming exquisitely beautiful. And she also expects to be accepted by a dream boy. When she buys it , she actually does not buy the tangible soap, but her purchase is driven by her dream an eternal dream that every girl cherishes to become gorgeously attractive. The tangible Dove soap, together with the imagery created around the brand, has a decisive effect on the consumer. The same can be said for Fair & Lovely and other beauty products.

EMOTIONAL SATISFACTIONA KEY MARKETING VALUE DRIVER

In order to delight your customers emotionally, you must use the Emotional Marketing Mix very carefully. You must indicate emotional element in your product, communicate the same with glitz and help consumers imbibe those emotional elements and make them dream. Consumers at the higher order need level, very often get locked emotionally with glitz , surreal beauty, somber and exotic locations. The communication should also include flashy product design and its associated lifestyle elements. When consumer imbibe these communications strongly, the product becomes indispensable to them and they would be willing to die to possess it. In todays world, people go absolutely gaga about glitz and fashion. Tangible merits are outdated. There is no denying the fact that if tangibles and fashion can be integrated into a product, it can be a phenomenal success, but this may not be true for all products. In order to achieve success in business you need to be able to strike the emotions that motivate your prospects. Describing the emotional delight your customers get from your products can surely take you that extra mile towards success. The customer should feel a sense of self-importance, pride, confidence and delight upon buying your products.

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COLOR BRANDING

Making use of the right colors in the promotional materials like marketing brochures, product labelling and packaging is very important. This is quite essential to arouse the right set of emotions that will prompt your target audience to buy your product or service. Colors have the ability to change peoples emotions. Furthermore, several colors carry symbolic meanings and associations. for example, if youre selling childrens products, it may be appropriate to use rainbow colors, as they represent enjoyment and happiness. Similarly, if one is selling products for men, colors such as blue, black, grey or white may be more suitable, as they represent strength and maturity. Following are some of the common colors used in personality tests and their meanings to give you an idea of how color preferences can be used to further understand customers and their behaviors

Orange Color Meanings Gold Color Meanings

Orange is related to energy, strength and power.

Gold color represents loyalty and responsibility.

Green Color Meanings

The color personality preference tests assume that green color represents a persistent, decisive and resistant state of mind.

Blue Color Meanings

Blue color is related to calmness

Red Color Meanings

Red color excites. The color personality tests associate it with enthusiasm, strength and competitiveness. Looking at these color meanings as they relate to consumer behavior, it seems clear that different target audiences would respond to different colors in marketing materials and branding. It certainly makes a case for including color preference questions in market research used to segment your

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customers. Do your customers prefer orange or blue? If there is a trend, you might want to match your color choices to your target audiences preferences. What do you think about color in terms of predicting consumer behavior and using it to more appropriately communicate with target audiences?- is a step to success.

Criteria That Govern Emotional Marketing:

TECHNICAL

INTRINSIC TOUCHING THE HEART

COMMUNI-CATION

EXTRINSIC

PRICE

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TOUCHING THE HEART

Technical Criteria:
The technical criteria talk about the functional elements of the product. If the additional functions & features of a product are able to make certain operations easy to perform & execute, then it will be widely accepted over other substitutes. Marketers who offer products or services that have extra features & are easy to use, will definitely have an edge over competitors & drive the market their way.

Communication Criteria:
In communication, one should integrate technical and emotional elements and let the consumers imbibe the same. Both technical and emotional elements are important . However, in todays world of standardized products , utility has taken a backseat , and emotional elements are what really drive consumers to the last point

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BRAND COMMUNICATIONS ARE SENT AND RECEIVED AT THREE EMOTIONAL LEVELS: The Head The Heart and The Gut. 1. Head communications-: represent the rational. They are most effective in situations where
literal identification is the highest priority, such as in signage or functional product information.

2. Heart communications-: strengthen a brands relationship with its target audiences. They
capture a sense of shared values and readily adapt to interactive and social contexts.

3. Gut communications-: intuitively tap into consumers consciousand subconscious

desires. They create a wow factor that drives not just loyalty, but passionate attachment to a brand. While brands can powerfully link their overall brand image to one of these emotional zones, we believe that every brand must leverage all three emotional levels to most effectively communicate with their target audiences.

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Intrinsic Criteria:
Intrinsic criteria throw light on the fact that the product must appeal to the customers senses. A customer is driven by its feel, taste, smell, look or sound. He wants to be associated with joy, beauty, pride and confidence. His senses are governed by the Look At Me attitude. Therefore, products which cater to these basic needs of the customer are more likely to be accepted. Consumers are constantly looking for something new and different. A marketer must make use of the right kind of innovations which can take the consumers to a higher plane and give them delight and surprise. The Look At Me approach would be extremely innovative and may entice consumers who look for very diverse products. In this approach a strong appeal (may be sensuality) can create wonders.

Extrinsic criteria:
The extrinsic criteria give rise to a dream in the consumers mind that people like to look at beautiful persons/objects and that if he would look good on being associated with the product , people would like to be with him; thus giving him an extra sense of acceptance in the society and greater confidence. This would lure the customer towards buying the product again and again. Quite clearly, some emotions of the prospects are driven by the concept if youre beautiful, Ill look at you!. A product must therefore have both tangible and intangible features that would make it beautiful and also make the user look beautiful.

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When a consumer looks at the product, he sees both tangible as well as intangible factors. In certain product categories appeal can take over all other factors and the consumer may decide in favor of the brand because of the appeal only.

EXTRINSIC CRITERIA:

ATTRACTIVE PACKAGING

TANGIBLE FEATURES

DESIGN / LABELLING

IF YOURE BEAUTIFUL I WILL LOOK AT YOU.. INTANGIBLE FEATURES

APPEAL

COLOUR

BRAND NAME

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NAMING
Naming a brand is also equally important . A relevant , meaningful and contemporary name can strike the right chord in the consumers mind. For example, Head & Shoulders is an appropriate name for an anti-dandruff shampoo and goes a long way in making this brand successful. Newsweek sells much more globally than News Weekly. Playboy is more popular than Esquire. All these successful brands have relevance and right association Naming is a sub-set of branding, and it is an important sub-set. Well-executed, a memorable name and an arresting logo can be valuable assets for a good brand. In fact, a well-chosen name can perform almost as a one word commercial. This can be especially critical for smaller businesses which may lack the budgets to promote their brands effectively. Today's skeptical, time-pressed generation needs a prompting that instantly encourages them to give your brand a try. A truly strong brand name should at least hint at emotional gratification. If your brand name doesn't convey its emotional essence, consider adding a tagline. Use words that show emotion. For example, if you ran a spa, you might apply words like "love," "satisfy" or "indulge." Again, ensure that the words you use are appropriate for your audience

PRICE
Price is a very important criterion for profitability and sustainability of any product/brand. It has been observed that if consumers develop a predisposition towards a particular brand , he is ready to pay more. The prime objective should be to take consumers into the emotional loop and move them upstage to the level of predisposition. Once a consumer is predisposed emotionally towards a brand, 90% of the battle is won. It is therefore important for the marketer to be committed to put the

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consumers into the emotional loop, develop emotional predisposition and strive towards emotional marketing.

BRANDS USING BOTH BENEFITS AND SYMBOLIC ASSOCIATIONS:

LG, in the positioning with regard to its televisions, washing machines and refrigerators has creatively combined the emotional proposition. In refrigerators, the emotion is safety and trust (preservation of nutrients); in washing machine, it is fabric care (trust); and in television, it is Golden Eye (care). Such a positioning backed by a good product and service is certain to get positive word of mouth. There may be categories which fit into such functional-emotional combination. Marketers would have to consider the category along with the target segment to visualise such combinations. The Vicks advertisement of yesteryear is a classic the son drenched in the rain offering a bouquet to the mother on her birthday and the mother using Vicks for the occasion. Baby products involving infants and mother (J&J uses this) are another example. Clinic Plus initially positioned itself on the mother-daughter bonding. researchers and experts have different ideas on what a brand benefit is, segmenting it into three or four categories which are :

Functional Benefit - Actual benefit from the brand. (ie. Low Fat) Emotional Benefit - Benefit felt in the heart and mind of the consumer. (ie.
feeling light and healthy)

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The strongest brands always effectively express emotional and often social benefits. Emotional benefits-: express how you feel when you use the brand, while social/affiliation
benefits revolve around how you want others to see you.

Functional benefits-: are important, yet they are also easiest for competitors to claim or
duplicate. Functional benefits rarely differentiate one brand from another. Connecting emotional benefits with your difference is at the heart of great messaging. And elevates your brand to one of contemporary relevance. In this post Ill focus on the Emotional Benefit, since I believe there is a great chance for many brands to improve in it.

UNDERSTANDING THE EMOTIONAL BRAND BENEFIT

However, only few brands (worldwide) have been able to translate the functional benefit into something consumers understand and are able to deal with emotionally, moving them to adopt it as part of their daily lives; hence, starting a new relationship with a brand. Some examples of such brands are: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Singapore Airlines, and recently Apple.

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Apple - "Brand of the Year" in 2001

When we speak on emotional benefits, the benefit gotten by the consumer isnt something material they can show off as an Oscar statue. Instead, it works more directly into the heart and mind. The key here is that in most cases, even though it isnt a material good, it can be showed off as a batch of honor or status. (arriving to the creation of a social benefit) For example:

Singapore Airlines allows their users to have fun, test new business models, be the first ones to discover new airline paradigms, and enjoy their ride as no other brand allows them to.

The tricky part on establishing an emotional benefit for consumers is the transition and translation of the functional benefit into something that consumers can experience emotionally that will leave them touched with the brands benefit itself. A benefit will never attract the emotional side of a consumer if it isnt relevant to her. Singapore Airlines offers the functional benefit of high quality, innovative, different and even fun flights around the world; all of which are relevant and important to consumers, that is what theyre looking for a in a 12-hr flight. But they take it a step further by utilizing communication strategies like advertising branding, and positioning through various mediums to connect emotionally with their users. By putting forth, what Id call, a cause-effect strategy they target consumers both ways, through advertising (prior to service delivery, promising great things) and then finally connecting the dots with the amazing experience they provide to the users once on-board. There is actually no other way to keep the brand benefit rolling like a snowball but through consistency. To stick with the example, Singapore Airlines have continuously stayed on track with

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what their brand offers. No tactic or strategy of theirs deviated from their original brand benefit and positioning. By having strategies (all around) that are relevant to your consumers (or potential ones), and then keeping the promise through a sustained period of time, you will be able to tie in the emotional brand benefit that consumers get from your brand experience. So Emotional Branding is the new mantra.

HOW TO MARKET EMOTIONALLY:

When figuring out how to market emotionally, you need to work out what drives your customers. How do they spend their days? How can your product make their lives easier, make them healthier or better looking or their lives more fun? Once you get a grip on how your product appeals to your customer, you can then focus your marketing efforts on bringing to the fore the emotional offer that your clients will respond to. For example, if you sell liquid vitamins I would say off the top of my head that your target market are people who are health conscious, not as healthy as they would like to be, high income earners, probably leading quite stressed lives and they want their vitamins quickly and immediately. Obviously you need to pitch your marketing tactics at intelligent, busy people who are concerned about their health and want instant results from vitamins. You could show a before stressed executive at office or stressed mom ferrying the kids and after executive in control of a meeting, mom laughing with the kids to show the benefits of these vitamins.

To build an emotional marketing campaign you need to read the psycho-social make-up of your target market and build up an emotional campaign to meet their needs. It sounds like common sense but surprisingly few businesses go about doing this. They simply have advertisements published and hope for the best. What you actually need is a promotional campaign where you are entering into an emotional back-and-forth relationship with the customer, persuading them that your service or product can meet their emotional need.

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Keep in mind that the emotional attitudes of consumers toward the same product can vary greatly by age group, gender, culture, socioeconomic status, etc. Consider a sports car, which may convey thrills to a teenager but danger to an elderly adult.

Key Mandates for Emotional Branding:

These key mandates illustrate the difference between traditional concepts of brand awareness and the emotional dimensions a brand needs to express to become preferred.

From Honesty to Trust:

Honesty is the best policy. Truth is even better. It needs to be earned. Honesty is required to be in business today. The govt. authorities, consumer groups and the people in general have an increasingly rigorous standard for products and will rate very quickly what needs to be on shelf and what doesn't. The issue regarding the presence of pesticide levels over the permissible limit in the soft drink Coca-Cola has really deteriorated the trust people had in the brand. In Kerala, both Coke and Pepsi has been suffering from this account. Trust is one of the most important values of a brand and it requires real effort from corporations. One of the most powerful moves towards building consumer trust was retailer's implementation of the "no questions asked" return policy some years ago. This strategy brings total comfort to customers and gives them the upper hand in their choices. A very smart decision indeed.

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From Quality to Preference:

Quality is a necessary offering if you want to stay in business; it is expected and had better be delivered. Preference toward a brand is the real connection to success. Trigger (Jeans brand) is a quality brand, but it has currently lost its preferential status. Amul is a brand that has achieved an enviable and highly charged emotional connection with consumers today. There is no stopping a brand when it is preferred.

From Notoriety to Aspiration:

Being known does not mean that you are also loved! Notoriety is what gets you known. But if you want to be desired, you must convey something that is in keeping with the customer's aspirations. Reliance Industries is a household name in India with operations in a wide area covering petrochemicals, refining, textiles, telecom etc. But the company's recent malpractices in the telecom sector (where TDSAT imposed a fine of Rs.150 crore to be paid to Department of Telecom) are not something that a customer would aspire emotionally. So more than visibility, a brand has to be inspirational.

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CONCLUSION
Emotional Branding is a new paradigm that would command growing importance in the years to come. The rational means of attracting customers through product features and benefits is losing its importance, particularly when catering to the higher order needs of the more affluent section of consumers . Emotional appeal based on lifestyle and image, supported by glitzy advertisement and flashy packaging are becoming comparatively more common in recent times. The basic principle of emotional marketing is that one has to touch the customers heart, and create a liking for the product through the use of Intrinsic (Look At Me Approach) and Extrinsic (If youre beautiful, I will look at you!) criteria. ,Marketers would have to be particularly conscious about including the emotional component in their marketing activities in order to provide that added edge, which would not be available if one limits oneself to a rational appeal alone. With increasing disposable incomes and consequent growth in discretionary spending power, emotional marketing will have a much greater role to play in deciding how the additional income would be spent.

The market out there is fast and furious. The competition is heavy and the marketing messages are reaching consumers in their thousands every day. To compound the challenge most of your potential customers basic needs are already met. They are looking for things to enhance their lives,

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make them feel better, prettier, sexier. Marketing to todays consumers is a challenging business because you are no longer listing the specifications of products and services. Instead you are meeting people on an emotional level to break into their consumer awareness.

In short, Emotional Branding has created an entirely new vernacular in the business world and opened up a new dialogue about how to create brands people truly lovethrough the power of emotions and design

We can conclude thatEmotional Branding - For the ultimate bonding

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Bibliography

WEB: 1. www.emotional marketing. com 2. www.emotional branding.com 3. www.iupindia.org

Book / Magazine: 1. MARKETING MASTERMIND.

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