NACS Show in Vegas

We helped our client, Alternative Beverage Innovations, launch their new "relaxation" drinks Liquid RelaxX and Liquid Smoking at the National Association of Convenient Stores show. Both drinks are made in Amsterdam, so we recreated a street scene from the Red Light District. It was so much fun and the response was great.



Professional photos coming soon...in the meantime, you can check more out here.

Brand Friendship

(photo: Mirror, UK)

I was having a conversation with a client the other day about how brands are human. They evolve over time (hopefully), make mistakes and try to surround themselves with people who support them. And as I'm spewing existentially, I realize that thinking of brands as human is not enough.

Brands have to be friends, because friends...

• are there when we need them
  
• tell us the truth
• make our lives better
• change with us
• figure out the best way to communicate with us
  

Now that there are so many communication tools and networks connecting us to our real friends (and family), we have developed intense expectations. We are conditioning ourselves to expect brands to be willing, excited and always available to add value to our lives and fix our problems.

Is this a logical expectation? I'm not sure. But I do know that the expectation is set, so brands must adapt to survive. Whether they like us or not, they better be our friend.

I Second That Emotion

Those of us in the branding business spend countless hours explaining to clients why they need to communicate with their heart not their head. It's vital to relate on an emotional level before trying to sell them with stats and features.

Inspire them. Horrify them. Make them question their current situation/experience. Make them laugh. Make them cry. Ultimately, motivate them to interact with your brand.

If you're selling a Honda DN-01 motorcycle, you don't strictly focus on its "infinitely variable hydraulic mechanical transmission." You focus on its unique road comfort and the feeling of barreling down a runway at 100 mph like Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

A recent article from Neuromarketing features a study by the UK-based Institute of Practitioners in Advertising that finally gives us concrete proof that emotional campaigns are more effective than rational ones.

"Campaigns with purely emotional content performed about twice
as well (31% vs. 16%) with only rational content, and those that were purely emotional did a little better (31% vs 26%) those that mixed emotional and rational content."

The study is featured in the Pringle and Field book Brand Immortality, in which they also explain that emotional persuasion is more successful because of the brain's ability to "powerfully record emotional stimuli" and "process emotional input without cognitive processing."

If I could give this study a hug, I would. Read more here.