How to Create Emotional Advertising That Actually Works
Quick Answer: how to create emotional advertising
Creating emotional advertising involves making audiences feel something memorable that connects to your brand. According to research by System1, ads with characters and animals consistently drive higher emotional responses and brand recall. Effective emotional advertising doesn't require tears or nostalgia. Simple elements like reassuring tones (Safelite's jingle), universal stories (Campbell's Chunky Soup's 'Mama's Boy' campaign), or distinctive characters (Duolingo's Duo owl) can create powerful emotional connections. The key is focusing on feelings over rational arguments, using characters as emotional engines, and ensuring the emotion directly ties back to your brand promise.
Why Most Emotional Advertising Fails
Marketers have overcomplicated emotional advertising. We've convinced ourselves it only applies to tear-jerking Super Bowl spots, nostalgia-heavy campaigns, or heartwarming holiday films. But as Patrick Gilbert argues in Never Always, Never Never, emotion doesn't always look like tears or laughter. Sometimes it's much smaller and more ordinary.
Consider Safelite's straightforward jingle: 'Safelite repair, Safelite replace.' Four words sung with a cadence that rises and falls like an exhale, creating a tiny sense of reassurance. The tone communicates the brand promise better than the words themselves. Your problem will be handled. That's emotional advertising in its purest form.
Emotional advertising is making people feel something that ties back to your brand. Relief. Comfort. Trust. Excitement. Even mild amusement. If the audience feels it, they'll remember it.
The Research Behind Emotional Advertising
System1's analysis of nearly 200 U.S. TV spots found that ads with animals consistently drove the highest levels of positive emotional response. EEG and eye-tracking studies showed emotional engagement spiked when dogs appeared on screen and dipped when they left. This emotional lift directly correlates with memory formation.
A 2020 peer-reviewed study in Marketing ZFP compared identical ads featuring human models versus animals. The animal-led versions consistently generated more favorable brand attitudes, attributed to our innate biophilia and natural warmth toward living things. The enjoyment transfers directly to the ad and brand.
There's something deeply embedded in our psyche that responds peculiarly well to being sold to by animals. Like music, animals attract our attention, are enjoyable to watch, and invoke powerful positive emotions in us which attach to the brands involved and endure over time.
Les Binet, How Not To Plan
Beyond Demographics: Universal Human Stories
The biggest mistake in emotional advertising is assuming 'people like me' creates connection. Marketers obsess over matching audience demographics in casting, believing surface-level resemblance drives relatability. But Les Binet's work on a British Meat campaign proves otherwise.
The most effective ad didn't feature a middle-aged shopper matching the median consumer. Instead, it showed an elderly couple in their 80s celebrating their wedding anniversary with a quiet steak dinner. This outperformed every other concept across all age groups because the story captured universal feelings of tenderness and ritual.
This mirrors why Shakespeare endures. We don't connect with Hamlet because we share his circumstances, but because his story captures jealousy, grief, ambition, and revenge that we all recognize. Emotional advertising works the same way.
Characters as Emotional Engines
Brand characters give stories a face while avoiding the baggage celebrities bring. They exist for one purpose: telling your story. Jake from State Farm has lasted more than a decade because he's a role, not a person. The red polo, khakis, and delivery style remain consistent even when actors change.
Before 2006, Dos Equis was a small Mexican beer with minimal U.S. presence. The Most Interesting Man in the World changed everything. These ads were the opposite of typical beer commercials, featuring a silver-haired adventurer in absurd scenarios: 'He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels.' The product appeared only at the end with the confident tagline: 'I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.'
Between 2006 and 2016, U.S. sales of Dos Equis rose nearly 30% during a period when imported beers were losing ground to craft alternatives.
The Digital Opportunity
Most direct-to-consumer brands have ignored character-driven advertising, instead running generic product shots, influencer clips, and UGC content. This creates a massive opportunity. Duolingo proves character-driven campaigns work in the digital era.
Duolingo built its entire strategy around Duo, an animated green owl who threatens users to complete lessons and stars in absurdist viral videos. Since 2019, their TikTok following exploded from 50,000 to over 16 million. Revenue grew more than 10x from $70 million to roughly $750 million by 2024, all driven by an owl that sells with personality, not logic.
- Animals lower psychological defenses by engaging System 1 thinking
- Characters create distinctive brand assets that cross generational lines
- Universal stories outperform demographic targeting
- Consistent character identity compounds brand recognition over time
- Emotional engagement correlates directly with memory formation and purchase intent
Steps
Define the feeling you want to create
Start with Marvin Waldman's three-question framework: Who is your audience? What do they think now? What do you want them to feel after seeing your ad? The feeling doesn't need to be dramatic. Relief, comfort, trust, mild amusement, or excitement all work. Campbell's discovered men associated soup with maternal care, leading to the 'Mama's Boy' campaign that drove significant growth.
Focus on universal human experiences over demographics
Don't cast 'people like your audience.' Instead, find universal emotional experiences everyone can relate to. Les Binet's British Meat campaign featuring an elderly couple celebrating their anniversary with steak dinner outperformed all other concepts across age groups. The story of tenderness and ritual resonated universally, regardless of viewer demographics.
Create or leverage distinctive brand characters
Characters serve as emotional engines and memory shortcuts that belong entirely to your brand. Unlike celebrities, they carry no outside baggage and can evolve with your story. Jake from State Farm, Tony the Tiger, and the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man built lasting brand equity. Even digital-first brands like Duolingo prove this works with Duo the owl driving 10x revenue growth.
Consider using animals as emotional connectors
Research consistently shows animals lower psychological defenses and drive higher emotional engagement. System1 found ads with animals, especially dogs, generated the highest positive emotional responses. The Charmin Bears have successfully sold toilet paper for 25+ years by making an awkward product category approachable and memorable through cute characters.
Lead with story, not product features
Build your ad around an emotional narrative first, then weave in your product naturally. The Dos Equis 'Most Interesting Man' campaign barely showed the beer until the end, focusing entirely on absurd, entertaining scenarios. This approach increased U.S. sales nearly 30% during a period when imported beers were generally declining.
Make the emotion directly relevant to your brand promise
Every emotional element should connect back to what your brand delivers. Safelite's jingle creates feelings of relief and reassurance that directly support their core promise of reliable auto glass repair. The emotion must reinforce, not distract from, your fundamental brand positioning and customer value proposition.
Test for emotional response, not just recall
Use tools that measure emotional engagement alongside traditional metrics. EEG studies show emotional spikes correlate with memory formation and purchase intent. System1's research demonstrates that ads generating strong positive emotional responses are three times more likely to drive 3%+ market share growth over time.
Maintain character consistency across all touchpoints
If you create a brand character, keep their personality, visual identity, and voice consistent across every appearance. Jake from State Farm works because the red polo, khakis, and delivery style remain constant even when actors change. Consistency turns characters into valuable, recognizable brand assets that compound over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes advertising emotionally effective?
Effective emotional advertising makes audiences feel something memorable that connects to your brand promise. According to System1 research, ads generating strong positive emotional responses are three times more likely to drive significant market share growth. The emotion can be simple relief, comfort, or amusement rather than dramatic feelings.
Why do animals work so well in advertising?
Animals lower psychological defenses and engage our System 1 thinking. Research shows ads with animals consistently generate higher positive emotional responses because of our innate biophilia. When animals deliver messages, we drop skepticism and simply think the content is cute or amusing, making the brand message more memorable.
Should I cast people who look like my target audience?
No. Universal human stories outperform demographic matching. Les Binet's British Meat campaign featuring an elderly couple outperformed ads with demographically matched actors across all age groups. Focus on emotional experiences everyone can relate to rather than surface-level resemblance to your audience.
How do I measure emotional response in advertising?
Use tools that measure emotional engagement alongside traditional recall metrics. EEG studies and eye-tracking can show emotional spikes that correlate with memory formation. System1's testing methodology rates ads on emotional response, with their highest-rated ads correlating with sustained business growth over time.
Can emotional advertising work for B2B companies?
Yes. B2B buyers are still humans who respond to emotion. The key is choosing appropriate emotions like trust, reliability, or confidence rather than humor or warmth. Even rational purchase decisions are influenced by emotional factors like brand perception and buyer confidence in the solution.
What's the difference between brand characters and celebrity endorsers?
Brand characters exist solely to tell your story without outside associations or scandal risks. Characters like Jake from State Farm or Tony the Tiger become valuable brand assets you fully control. Celebrities bring their own baggage and associations that can overshadow or conflict with your brand message.
How long does it take for emotional advertising to show results?
Emotional advertising builds mental availability over time rather than driving immediate conversions. Duolingo's character-driven approach took several years to compound into massive growth. System1 research shows the highest-rated emotional ads correlate with sustained market share growth, not short-term sales spikes.
What emotions work best for different product categories?
Match emotions to your brand promise rather than category conventions. Insurance can use humor (GEICO gecko) or reliability (State Farm). Food can use comfort (Campbell's soup) or excitement (energy drinks). The emotion must reinforce what customers actually want from your product or service.
From the Book
Chapter 15 reveals why the most effective advertising doesn't try to make people cry, but instead focuses on creating simple, memorable feelings that stick. From Safelite's reassuring jingle to Duolingo's chaotic owl, discover how emotion really works in advertising.
Read more about building distinctive emotional advertising in Chapter 15 of Never Always, Never Never.
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