Emotional Marketing: Speak to the Heart

There I was, standing in Target on an average Saturday afternoon - when I saw him. From down the aisle I could see his big, brown eyes staring at me, the corners of his mouth turned up with a hint of hopefulness from under his soft whiskers. The instant I saw him, I knew what I had to do. I had to put back the "on sale" dishwashing soap and buy Dawn instead.

EMOTIONAL MARKETING: SPEAK TO THE HEART

As I stood in Target toiling over the purchase of a dish soap refill last weekend, it occurred to me that I have become unusually loyal to my liquid dish soap. In reality, this loyalty has very little to do with dishes, and much to do with Dawn's turn-my-heart-to-mush marketing. Marketing that has been so effective, in fact, that every time I purchase a dish soap refill, I view myself as singlehandedly responsible for the well-being and survival of the baby seal (or baby penguin or baby duck...) featured on their packaging. In my mind, purchase of a competitor's brand = "I hate baby seals," while purchase of Dawn = "I have just made an investment in this little creature which will ensure he continues to live out his days happily sliding down snowbanks, getting into shenanigans with his baby seal friends."

TURNING "THEM" AND "ME" INTO "WE"

A quick glimpse at how Dawn is leveraging emotion to turn average dishwashers into animal-saving superheroes...(and consequently, inspiring people to get passionate about their dish soap.)

• As featured in their commercials, Dawn is a preferred partner in helping clean cute little critters after an oil spill. While the spirit of the commercial is undeniably philanthropic, it also subtly reiterates the message that their product works. If Dawn is tough enough to clean up a wriggly, oily otter and gentle enough for a baby duck, just imagine what it will do for your dishes and your hands. Instead of jamming an obvious "WE ARE SO GREAT!" message down our throats, Dawn appeals to consumer emotion, letting the message speak for itself - through their actions.

• As noted on the bottle, Dawn consumers can visit a website to enter the code found on the label. For each code entered, Dawn will donate $1 toward wildlife rescue. (And in fact they have - donating $500,000 in the past year.) By offering a way to actively participate in their philanthropic giving, Dawn positions consumers to become a hero before they've even opened the bottle. All they have to do is go home, log online and enter their code. Good karma at the click of a button, warm fuzzies between consumer and brand.

• As an animal lover, this philanthropic partnership between the brand and consumer sends a message to my mind and heart: my passion is their passion. And that makes it our passion. Instead of a "them" and a "me," we become a WE - working in harmony for a cause near and dear to my heart. I feel good about myself, my purchase and the brand. The brand gains a loyal fan in spirit. What does that mean? It means I talk about their brand and their mission with the people I know. I feel compelled to Tweet about, and hold htem up as an exemplary case study in emotional marketing. It means I find myself standing in Target unable to bring myself to purchase another brand of dish soap. And I think we can all agree that's all worth so much more than a Facebook "like."

THE LOGIC OF EMOTION

At the end of the day we're talking about a product intended to wash dishes - not save the world, right? So what is it about Dawn's marketing that compels me choose their product (and pay more for it) over another (equally effective) competitor?

In his article, "People Buy Based on Emotion and Justify with Logic," Brian Ahern explores the influence of emotion on action.

Feelings are incredibly powerful. No matter how much we’d like to believe we’re rational creatures who occasionally act emotionally, the truth is, we’re actually emotional beings who occasionally act rationally.

Why is this so often the case? Because of how we’re wired; how our brains work. When I say the word “elephant," you have a picture of an elephant in your mind. You may picture an African elephant with tusks, a smaller Asian elephant without dusks, the lovable Dumbo or perhaps an elephant toy you played with as a child. Whatever the case, you have a picture in your mind. That’s because we translate words into pictures.

Next in the process come feelings. The mental image of an elephant generates a certain set of feelings in you. Perhaps you have memories of an elephant you saw in a movie, maybe you thought of a trip to the zoo or you had feelings attached to memories of the toy you played with as a child. It’s those feelings that ultimately lead to action. It's a process; words create pictures, pictures lead to feelings and feelings culminate in actions. [1]

So let's take it back to the dish soap example. Logically, I realize that a competitor's brand will probably clean just as well as Dawn. At the end of the day, I will have sparkling, clean dishes whether I use Dawn or another brand. And the other brand will likely cost less. Logic says buy the soap on sale, save a dollar, clean the dishes and be merry. On the other hand, Dawn's marketing message has been deeply rooted in my soft, mushy, animal-loving heart. Emotion says: buy Dawn, support something you believe in, help them make the world a better place. Be part of something bigger than dishwashing.

And am I going to say no to THAT?

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YOUR TURN TO CHIME IN: When was the last time emotional marketing won over your heart (and/or dollars)? Was it the delight of receiving free samples with a Sephora purchase? Or the emotional reward of knowing your Chipotle burrito helped support local, family farms?

A Year for More Picnics: Logging Off to Live Better

According to a 2011 Nielsen study, Americans spent 53.5 billion total minutes on Facebook last May. Collectively, that factors out to roughly 101,720 years - in a month. On a per user level, that means each user spent about 6.5 hours (roughly a full work day) of their life each month scrolling through status updates. Our newest Brains on Fire client hails from the DIY world. As we have delved into their universe, it has given me pause to consider the ways in which I use my hands. Along the way, I have come to the conclusion that I spend entirely too much time typing, scrolling and clicking, and not nearly enough time creating, exploring and doing.

A few months ago, I blogged about my predictions for the future of Word of Mouth Marketing: The Art of We. As we continue to put increased value on personal time, real life and real time, I expect we will also begin to consider the things we do (or don't do) with our time and our hands, and how those choices add to or detract from our quality of life.

You often hear people wish for "an extra hour in the day." We could do a lot with 6.5 extra hours per week. Meet a friend for coffee. Write and mail a real letter. Take the dog for a walk. Opt for the scenic route. Go on a picnic. Visit a library.

I am willing to bet there has never been a person in history who reached to the end of their life and wished they had taken fewer picnics. I doubt any of us will wish we had spent more time tweeting.

My Klout score is about to take a big hit, because this year I am making a commitment to spend less personal time online - and start making better use of my minutes and my hands. I want to create more and click less. I want to experience things as they happen - instead of retrospectively through the social media lens. I want to document my life in precious memories and present moments, not scrolling backwards through a virtual timeline.

Your turn to chime in: How do you find balance between your real life and social media life? Do you feel your use of social media hinders your ability to enjoy your real life to the fullest? What would you like to do with your time and hands in 2012?

5 Things I Learned Working at Brains on Fire

I have always liked Vicky's brother-in-law’s synopsis of Brains on Fire when she first came to work here. He compared it to “a place people work in the movies.” When people find out you work at a place called “Brains on Fire,” their first question is always “What the heck is Brains on Fire?” Their second questions is “What’s it like to work at Brains on Fire?”

I have been here nine months – and in nine months I have learned, experienced and grown so much, I could easily write a book. But for the sake of sparing you all a really, really long blog post – I decided to distill it down into five little lessons. So with no futher ado, I present 5 Things I have learned working in the creative space (and with the creative people) that is Brains on Fire.

This line of work wakes you in the night. When you choose to work in the creative world, you choose to blur the lines between your professional and personal life, if not erase them entirely. There’s no ON switch or OFF switch. Our work doesn’t stay at work. It can’t be arranged in a neat pile or simply filed away. Our work is an organic, living thing. It follows us home and it wakes us in the middle of the night. At times we find it stuffed in our pockets (post-it notes, anyone?) as well as tucked in the wrinkles of our brains. Why? Because to be good at what we do, you have to care deeply. And caring isn’t 9 to 5.

You learn a lot about yourself. That thing you never imagined you could do? You can. You just have to choose to do it. And once you do, you will. Creative work has no room for the meek. It’s sink or swim. Succeed or fail. There is no place for waffling, self-doubt or riding the fence. It’s a place for making things happen and speaking your mind. One of the best pieces of advice I received was “It’s okay to say ‘I don’t know,’ but it’s NEVER okay to say ‘I don’t care.” You better care, because our work is passionate action, and a magic that happens somewhere between heart and head. You learn by doing. If you’re lucky, you do it well. If you’re really lucky, you do it well surrounded by brilliant, talented people who can teach you how to keep getting even better. Listen to them. Each one is an anthology of experience and wisdom. They know what they’re talking about. Sometimes they’ll give you compliments, sometimes they’ll give you a dose of tough love. Whatever the case, trust in them. They will help you become the best you, because they truly want you to succeed.

You gain a new perspective on an old world. When I was little I loved Mr. Rogers. Specifically, because he so often took little adventures to try on other lives. A visit to the Crayola factory. An afternoon spent with an organic farmer.

Working in a creative agency is a constant trying-on of different lives. It’s the ideal field for anyone who has ever experienced occupational-ADD. Every day my job allows me to dip my toe into other worlds – from a land of literary pixie dust to a collective of people changing the world by sharing the stories of everything they have overcome in their lives. Each mental and emotional venture into a new space has taught me something. And as a result, every client has reintroduced me to my own world. I see things differently. I have a better appreciation for the world around me. I have come to know myself better in ways I never could have imagined. All by stepping into someone else’s universe for a day.

You care about your clients – A LOT. “Clients” has never felt like the right word. It’s simply not enough. We don’t just WORK for our clients, we advocate for them by working WITH them, side-by-side, down in the trenches. Their success becomes our success. Their struggles becomes our challenge. We meet, we do a little slow dancing, and after a bit of poking around, we begin to see the best in them, and the potential that lies within them. We fall in love with them. We cheer for them. And, as the best loves are known to leave people feeling, we often experience such a sense of kindredship, we find ourselves wondering how there was ever a time in our lives before we knew them. They feel so much a part of us, it feels as though they’ve been there all along.

As a writer, you will never forget the way you feel the first time you see your work on a billboard. Even more, you will never forget the way you feel when a client you have never met face-to-face comes up to you in the office to give you a hug and thank you for what you have done for them.

Our clients are not just our clients. They are our tribe. Our pack. And our people. They are why we get up in the morning, stay late in the evening and come in on the occasional weekend. They are why we are here doing what we do.

You grow unthinkably close to the people you work with. When I started at Brains on Fire, I remember Robbin talking about creating a company of best friends. At first I thought it was strange she had specifically chosen the phrase “best friends” over “family,” but over time, I have started to understand. Family is something you are born into. Friends are the family we choose. Every day we choose to share our waking lives with the people we work with. We play off of each other’s thoughts, moods and energy. We generate happy moments, push and pull through sticky moments and celebrate awesome moments. We laugh and tease and bicker and help. We dish out tough love when needed, and love-love the rest of the time. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. And if one of us fails, we all fail. Without one of us, our story is not the same story, because we are a team.

You cannot change the family you are born into. Their blood runs through your veins. But every day we choose the people we will call our friends. At any moment we could leave and walk away. And that’s what empowers a company of best friends to leave an imprint on universe by changing the world – one client at a time. Every day we choose to show up and be a part of Brains on Fire, because we believe in what we do here, we believe in the people we’re doing it for…and we believe in each other.

In conclusion... Thank you to all our clients – and everyone who has allowed me to be a part of their story in 2011. It has been an honor and privilege. A special thanks to my incredible, team at Brains on Fire. You not only rock my world, you rock my universe. On a daily basis. (And teach me new phrases like “son of a biscuit eater” between rounds of LMFAO.)

So, so-long 2011. Greetings, 2012. In the wise words of Jack Kerouac, “we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies...”

StumbleUpon: The Not-So-Little Discovery Engine that Could

StumbleUpon turned 10 in November. I forgot to get it a birthday gift, so I'm getting it this blog post instead. Founded in 2001, StumbleUpon has existed longer than the "big three" in social media – Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. In August, StumbleUpon celebrated a milestone: 25 billion clicks. To give you some perspective, if you sat down and starting counting from one to one billion 24 hours a day, 7 days a week nonstop - adding in mathematical adjustments for multisyllabic numbers (like 4,337,646) - it would take you roughly 95 years to finish counting. Counting to 25 billion, on the other hand, would take approximately 2,375 years. So, if the ancient greeks had started counting in 364 B.C., they'd be just finishing up right about now. I'm willing to bet that would be one heck of a game of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."

25 billion is a lot.

Today, StumbleUpon averages 1 billion clicks per month.

GET TO KNOW STUMBLEUPON

Fact: StumbleUpon drives over 50% of social media traffic in the United States, making it the top site for traffic referrals to US websites.

Growth

2.2 million webpages are added to StumbleUpon every month. That's 51 pages per minute. 8 babies are born in the United States every minute, which means the number of pages being referenced and ranked on StumbleUpon exceeds the population growth by more than 6x.

After 24 hours, a popular shared link will usually get...

ReTweets on Twitter - 0%

Likes on Facebook - 5%

More Stumbles - 83%

Half Life of a Link

The half-life of a link is the point in time at which a link has seen half the engagement it will ever get.

A link shared on Twitter - 2.8 hours

A link shared on Facebook - 3.2 hours

A link shared on StumbleUpon - 400 hours

View Time

Average webpage - 58 seconds

Average StumbleUpon page - 72 seconds

Stumble Session

The average Stumble Session (during which a user views page after page) is 69 minutes. Nearly 3x the amount of time people spent on a singular Facebook session or watching a sitcom (both 23 minutes.)

The Brand Benefits of Stumbling

When you to publish to Facebook or Twitter, you push content to your brand's followers and fans - i.e. the people who already know and like you. Unlike Facebook and Twitter (which are content delivery tools), StumbleUpon is a discovery tool. Its goal is to reach people who are on the hunt for new, interesting information. So what does this mean for you? StumbleUpon is the social director who brings your brand to the party to attract, meet and connect with all sorts of new people interested in the things you do.

Go Ahead and Play: The Link Between Playfulness and GREAT Work

Yesterday I stumbled across a really, really amazing Ted Talk by Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. If you don’t have 30 minutes to watch the video (which I HIGHLY recommend) – today’s blog post is a synopsis of his talk about the connection between playfulness and creativity. THE VERY BRIEF RECAP

Playfulness is directly linked to creativity. Creative thinkers and creative workers need time, space and permission to play in order to do their jobs well. Why? Because playfulness helps us get to more creative solutions. It helps us do our jobs better. And it makes us feel better when we do them.

THE SLIGHTLY LONGER RECAP

Experiments in playfulness.

Brown opens his talk referencing an exercise developed by creativity researcher Bob McKim. Adults were asked to quickly sketch a picture of the person sitting next to them. Upon completion, the impromptu artists were asked to show their drawing to the person they had sketched. Their typical reaction? Nervous laughter, embarrassment – even a few apologies. Run the same exercise with children, however, and there is no embarrassment. They happily show off their masterpiece to whoever wants to look at it.

So why the difference? Brown suggests the variation in responses between children and adults is evidence that we fear judgment by our peers in adulthood. We may have a wild (and perhaps even genius) idea floating around in our head, but we’re afraid to share it with those around us due to our fear of judgment. And this fear is what causes adults to become conservative in our thinking. As children grow older, they become more sensitive to the opinions of others, and the freedom to be playful and creative is replaced with self-consciousness and fear of embarrassment.

Brown later returns to the “sketch your neighbor” experiment – this time setting it up with a different spin. Same game, new rules. This time imagine yourself in a bar. The person who has the worst drawing buys the next round of drinks. The framework of the activity has suddenly changed (i.e. it has become a form of PLAY) turning a potentially embarrassing situation into a fun game.

In another experiment, participants receive sheet with 30 blank circles. Given little direction, they are asked to turn the circles into as many things as possible in 60 seconds. In most cases the adults won't finish all 30 (or even come close) because our ingrained, adult inclination is to self-edit as we're having ideas. Our desire to be original is a form of editing – and it's not playful.

We tried this experiment this morning during our morning meeting. Here a glimpse at a few of the results...

The playful environment is the creative environment.

Studies have shown that children feel most free to play and create when they’re in a trusted, safe environment. If you work in a creative profession, it’s important to create a space where people are inspired, have the security to take risks and feel they have permission to play. Brown views friendship as a key component in fostering that sense of trust, calling it a “shortcut to play.” “[Friendship] allows us to take the creative risks we need to take in our industry.”

Creatives also need symbols in the workplace that not only remind everyone to be playful – but give people permission to embrace playfulness. (Things like the Googleplex dinosaur and Pixar’s huts and caves.)

Find out what it is - then ask WHAT CANIT BE?

Brown explains that adults have a tendency to immediately categorize a new object as quickly as they can. To an adult, this is quickly recognized, categorized and filed away in our minds as a “kitchen item."

Show the same role of aluminum foil to a child (or  Chipotle), and they see possibilities. Children are more comfortable and engaged with open possibilities. Like adults, they ask WHAT IS IT – but then they take it one step further and ask WHAT COULD I DO WITH IT and WHAT COULD IT BE? Suddenly a roll of aluminum foil has endless new uses and magical possibilities, and Christmas toys are cast aside in favor of the box that could be so much more.

Talk is cheap - DO is invaluable.

Brown goes on to discuss the value of role-playing in the creative workplace, citing an experience one of his team members went through in order to better understand the needs of an ER client (and those they serve). The designer role-played his way through the process of being admitted to the ER just as any patient would, camera in hand the entire time. When IDEO reviewed the tape, it was mostly playback of a view like this. Immediately, the IDEO team was inspired to come up with new, innovation solutions they may never have thought of without injecting themselves INTO the experience.

When kids play house or dress up like a firefighter, they’re trying on that identity. Brown calls role plan “an empathy tool for prototyping experiences.” And it’s something we should be doing as marketing, branding and creative agencies. It’s one thing to rationalize and hypothesize about what a client does (and what they’re customers need/want/experience) from behind a desk, it's another to get into the trenches with them to live it and try that experience on for ourselves.

The Conclusion

Life can't be all play all the time. Even for children, there are unwritten, agreed-upon rules about when, where and how to play. Brown concludes with a hypothesis that in creative work we go through two modes: a generative mode (play, idea marinating, inspiration seeking) and a DO mode (coming back together to look for and create the solution.) He calls these modes divergence and convergence.

For the BEST creatives, it's not an either/or thing.

It's an AND.

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Your Turn: Do you take time for play?  How does playfulness affect your ability to do what you do? What have you learned from playfulness (or lack thereof)?

Rented vs. Owned

If you have been living under a rock, you may have missed the memo that Facebook is rolling out new and improved Facebook Insight/analytics. They’re doing away with some of the old metrics, and adding some new (presumably helpful) ones. The official transition goes into effect on December 15. As I re-worked a metrics spreadsheet for a client yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of something we often talk about at Brains on Fire. Today seems like the perfect opportunity to pass it on.

The Embassy: Your Home Away from Home

Let’s take a mental vacation for a second. You’re finally taking the trip to Paris you always dreamed of. After a delicious French meal, you return to the hotel room to find your bags have been stolen. No more Euros. No more credit cards. No more passport. After battling the language barrier with a French police officer, you head to the American Embassy for help. Although you’re on foreign soil, as soon as you walk through the door, you’ve found your home away from home.

Embassies are an established presence where interactions, conversations and participation are facilitated by one or more ambassadors.

For this next part, let’s pretend you own a pixie dust store (aptly named The Pixie Dust Store), and your brand site lives at pixiedust.com.

OWNED

Let’s talk home turf. Think of pixiedust.com as owned real estate. It belongs to you. You have control of the conversation. You decide when to blog or post a photo. You decide how posting a blog of photo will be done. You can change the site design. You make the rules. It’s a space The Pixie Dust Store controls.

Why are owned properties important?

• Control: Owned properties provide a space for you can lead, prompt and create conversation

RENTED

Now let’s talk about rented properties. You may not realize it, but if you’re social media savvy, you’re already renting all over the place. Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress and YouTube are all examples of rented properties. You can create “camps” (create accounts/profiles) in these rented properties, but you’re not in control of how they operate. Just like renting a house, if the landlord says you can’t paint the walls or have a dog – that’s how the cookie crumbles. The same thing goes for rented properties online. If Twitter says you have to convey your message in 140 characters, so be it. If Facebook changes their metrics, you don’t have a say in the matter. (You just accept it, rework your metrics spreadsheet and move on...)

Why are rented properties important?

• Don’t get us wrong. Rented properties are great way to connect. Though you may not have all the control, they provide an opening in the conversation to reach out to people beyond your owned “home turf” and become a part of their existing conversations.

Back to the embassy metaphor!

Both owned and rented properties are valuable. Each one packs a unique set of benefits and challenges.

Your owned property (pixiedust.com) is America. It’s your home base. Your motherland.

Think of the footprints you create in rented spaces (like Facebook, Twitter) as your little embassies. Just like the American embassy in France, you may not make the law of the land, but in that little space, you can represent what you stand for. And you can become a welcoming space for others in that rented space to join you.

The Retooling of Retailing: How social networks are changing the consumer/retailer relationship

Here's the thing: I don't like malls. Call me germaphobic (or perhaps I've just seen one too many apocalyptic pandemic films for my own good), but being trapped indoors with a crowd breathing recycled air makes me feel like I'm a hop, skip and a viral cell away from the flu du jour. And while the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers has a certain seasonal charm, watching overstressed, grown adults have public meltdowns and temper tantrums at the register generally puts a ding in my Christmas spirit. Thus I avoid the mall at all costs. Not just during the holidays, but every day. Last weekend, however, compelled by early onset Christmas spirit and a Klout perk Macy's gift card, I found myself circling the lot with the rest of the parking lot sharks. Before I headed in, I checked-in on Four Square, only to discover that Macy's was also offering a "special" (i.e. additional discounts) to anyone checked-in. With very little effort, I had earned myself significant savings - and Macy's planted a little love seed in my heart. As I stood in line waiting to checkout, I began thinking about how technology and social connectivity are not only influencing, but changing, the retail landscape.

I stumbled across this timely article on Monday. The author suggests that "Connectivity has shifted the balance of power to individual shoppers. The traditional ways that retailers and merchants reach out to users and how they expect them to discover, shop and pay are getting disrupted by mobile and social. And that’s forcing companies to react."

The article goes on to explain that almost half of all shoppers are coming to stores armed with smartphones, altering the ways we relate to and interact with retailers. Not only does the technology in our pockets give us instant access to product ratings and reviews, it gives us the ability to shop for a better deal with the click of a button - and decide whether that better deal is worth driving across town for.

The ways in which consumers are learning about products and services are shifting as well. In contrast to the days when people made decisions perusing store shelves and aisles, today we're arming ourselves with information - and so much more - by turning to our social networks. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square says consumers are learning about products through social connections on Twitter, by following their passions and interests.

When I reflect on several of my own recent purchases, it rings true. After my iPhone shattered, I went on the hunt for an indestructible case by throwing a question out to my Twitter followers. The name "Otterbox" was quickly Tweeted back by many. When I decided to invest in iPhone insurance, my social network (and their glowing recommendations) directed me to a company called SquareTrade. In these instances, my social network wasn't just influential in my purchase, it was integral.

So what does the future of consumer/retailer relationships look like? John Donohoe, CEO of eBay, says he expects more changes in the next three years in commerce than in the last 15.

As to be expected, Word of Mouth will continue to be an increasingly influential force when it comes to decision-making about which companies to support, which products to buy and where and how customers will spend their dollars.

The fact is that with mobile and social, consumers are much more savvy. They are equipped with the latest information and the latest prices whenever and wherever they go shopping. And with social channels, they are swayed by and discover products through their friends, not through ads.

How have you noticed retailers and service providers adapting to the increasing influence of social networks and Word of Mouth?

Getting your Hands Dirty in Order to Reach Out and Touch your Customers

I love wine. I love drinking wine, learning about wine, talking about wine and collecting wine. I love going to wine tastings and sharing bottles with friends. Yep. I love wine. And while we've all heard the tidbit of conventional wisdom that advises against judging a book by its cover, I have a confession: I often judge a bottle by its label. (I know, I know. I can hear all our oenophile readers groaning in horror.) That doesn't mean I'll drink an icky wine, but it does mean I dish out mental marketing bonus points if your label (or copywriting skills) catches my eye.

It was for this precise reason I found myself drawn to an unusual bottle of wine last week. Enter Meeker Vineyard's "Winemaker's Handprint" Merlot, an aptly named wine with a handprint where the label should be. It looks as though someone has dipped their hand in paint and grabbed the bottle - because that's precisely what they have done.

After a little research, I discovered the story behind the curious "label."

"The three winemakers spend 50 days out of the year (or 1/7th of the year) dipping their hands in paint and imprinting them on a total of 16,000 bottles of wine (an approximately paint cost of $40,000 a year!) Each of the three winemakers has their own signature color for the thumbprints.

Why drink to the hand? According to Lucas, the winery had several Merlot “shiners” (bottles without labels) and needed a gimmick to sell the wine because at the time, the winery wasn’t known for Merlot. Painted handprints on the bottle was the answer."

To turn vine into a vintage, I believe you have to be part scientist, part artist and part romantic. Winemakers are a special kind of historian, adept at predicting the future while preserving the present and paying homage to past. If you listen closely, you can hear wine whisper when you uncork the bottle. It can tell you about the season and the sun, and the land where it laid down roots. It can tell you if the soil was rocky or the frost came early that year. If it lingered a few days too long or was plucked a moment too soon.

To me, there is something magical that comes from knowing each bottle of Meeker's merlot passed through the master's hands to my own. A little blessing as the vintner sent a message (and a story) in a bottle on its way. It connects me to the wine and to the people who took it from bunches to bottle. It makes me feel like an integral part of a life cycle from ground to grape to glass.

And from a wall of wine, this simple little something different creates a touch point that connects me to one bottle, one vineyard, one brand.

Last week I read a great description of touch points on Social Media Explorer:

"[Touch points are] a simple concept, really. Increase the number and frequency of high-quality touch points with your customers, and you stand a better chance of being top-of-mind when it’s their time to buy. Touch points are a way of sending “I care” or “Here when you need us” messages to your customers. Done well, touch points can keep customers feeling good about their decision to go with your brand or company. And everyone wants to feel as though they made the best decision, the right choice."

Is your brand making the most of every opportunity to reach out and touch(point) someone? And if not, isn't it time you started?

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Want to learn more about touch points? Check out this post.

A bonus read for my fellow wine-lovers: Check out this tongue-in-cheek read about choosing wine by the label

More Than a Feeling: Message Matters

http://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU Message matters. That's no big surprise. But "They will never forget how you made them feel" may be truer than anyone realized when it comes to marketing.

Turns out, purely emotional marketing outperforms purely rational marketing by nearly double.

Yesterday I was hard at work re-painting my home office. When Pandora decided to play Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" (all you animal-lovers will understand) I had an immediate response. My emotional trigger was pulled. Within three seconds my thoughts went from "This color paint color is gorgeous!" to "Save the puppies! Help the kitties!" As I started reflecting on the types of things I have passed along and shared with friends over the past couple years, I realized nearly all were strongly emotional. (Last Christmas a Dyson vacuum drew tears!)

So what makes emotional marketing so effective? In this article, Susan Gunelius takes a closer look at 10 common emotional triggers...

1. Fear: Fear is an emotion that can be used in a wide variety of marketing messages. Insurance companies often appeal to the emotion of fear with messages like "Don't get caught with too little insurance."
2. Guilt: Consumers are easily affected by messages that trigger emotions of guilt. Nonprofit organizations use the guilt trigger effectively in copy such as "Don't let them suffer anymore."
3. Trust: Trust is one of the hottest trends in marketing, and every company seems to be trying to jump on the trust bandwagon in their marketing messages. Financial companies are leading the way with messages like "no hidden fees."
4. Value: Value is another hot trend in marketing, and many promotions appeal directly to the emotional trigger of getting a good deal. For example, promotional messages that say "If you find a better price for the same product, we'll match it" are effective in piquing feelings related to value.
5. Belonging: Few people truly want to be alone. Human nature dictates that most people want to feel like they belong to a group, and customers often purchase products in an attempt to feel part of a specific group. Many companies effectively appeal to consumers' desires to belong, using copy like "You're part of the family."
6. Competition: The old adage of keeping up with the Joneses is an adage for a reason. Many consumers are affected by a competitive desire to feel equal to or better than their peers. Copy like "Make them drool" is a great example of a message that elicits feelings of competition.
7. Instant Gratification: We live in a world where people expect instant gratification in all aspects of their lives. Messages that cater to a sense of urgency are well-received by consumers who already desire instant gratification. Use words like now, today, in one hour or less, within 24 hours, and so on to appeal to the emotional trigger of instant gratification.
8. Leadership: A lot of consumers want to lead the way in trying new products, and this audience responds strongly to marketing messages that appeal to their feelings related to leadership. Messages that make them feel like they're first or in control are powerful for this audience. Phrases such as "Be the first on your block" effectively appeal to the emotional trigger of leadership.
9. Trend-setting: Many consumers want to feel cool or trendy, so appealing to those emotions in copywriting is fairly standard. Variations of "all the cool kids are doing it" are commonplace in copywriting and can be used to market a wide variety of products and services to an even wider audience. The famous Gatorade ad featuring Michael Jordan and the copy "Be like Mike" is a perfect example.
10. Time: In the 21st century, people are busier than ever. As such, they desire more free time to pursue personal interests, spend time with family and friends, and so on. Marketing messages that appeal to that desire for more free time are extremely effective, such as "Cut the time it takes to vacuum your house in half."

And now for the fun part. I have compiled a mini-list of links to handful of commercials, companies, organizations and people doing emotional well. Their message is sticky. Pass-onable. It gets people feeling, which gets people talking - and doing.

• Pedigree "Shelter Dogs"
• Google "Dear Sophie"
• Optimus "The Text Message"
• Budweiser "Thank You"
• Love 146: The Story of Love 146
• The Girl Effect "The Clock is Ticking"

The heart is the first feature of working minds. | Frank Lloyd Wright

YOUR TURN TO CHIME IN: Who do you think does emotional well? What (or should I say who) is tugging at your heart strings?

Touch Points: Give 'em Something to Talk About

Let's talk about touch points. There is a lot of conversation going on about touch points out in the great, big world of the interwebs. People telling you how to do them. Why to do them. Where to do them. How to outsource them. (Really? Really!?) There are graphs and charts and calculations estimating touch point ROI. There is advice on how to reduce the cost of your touch points, how to speed them up and get them in front of more eyeballs.

And while (much of) this is fine and dandy, I take a much more simplified stance on touch points. It's less science, more art. It has far less to do with calculations and 20 point bullet lists, and much more to do with surprise and delight.

Every touch point is an opportunity to start a conversation.

Google and you will find that there are thousands of sites listing nearly every possible touch point you could ever hope to employ for your marketing purposes. I often suspect, however, some of the best examples are (literally) right under our noses. Baristas have been doing an amazing job with touch points for quite some time, simply by working with what they do and love - in order to give their customers a remarkable experience. With just a little extra care and effort, they elevate "good enough" to "wowza" - and you better believe it not only gets people smiling, it gets them talking.

A few weeks ago, I received a pack of mini-cards from Moo.com (courtesy of Klout.) The set I received has dozens of designs with clever messages and drawings on one side, contact information on the other. When contact info alone would have been good enough, the cards took it up to wowza. With messages like "I like my artsy with a little fartsy," images of jars with beards and, my personal favorite, an illustration of a pair of underwear claiming "I have the worst job in the world," they became an instant hit. We spent a good 15 minutes crowded around my desk, selecting the just-right card for each person. If you walk around our office, you will find them displayed - like teeny, tiny works of art.

What I enjoyed even more, however, were the touch points Moo.com employed before the box ever arrived. Upon placing my order, I received an e-mail from "Little Moo," assuring me he was going to keep an eye on things and stay in touch throughout the process until my order arrived at my desk. When a simple confirmation e-mail would have done, they wowza-ed it up - and it has kept me smiling and talking about it long after my order shipped.

A final though on touch points. They don't have to be fancy or expensive. They just have to be meaningful. A couple years ago I ran into a local photographer at the Farmer's Market. After a brief conversation, I asked for his business card. Instead of plucking one card from his pocket, he pulled out a stack. Each card had his contact information on one side and one of his photos on the other - each one different. He fanned them out, text side-up, like a deck of cards, asking me to choose one at random. Whatever photo was on the back would tell me something about myself, he assured me.

I plucked a card from the stack and flipped it over to examine the photo on the other side. (It was this.)

That business card has a place of honor in my home. It has been with me through three moves. It continues to elicit questions from guests. When "here's my business card" would have been good enough, the photographer gave me something remarkable to remember. And you better believe I'm still talking about it.

>>>Your turn to chime in: What touch points have captured your attention lately? What do you think makes a touch point effective vs. ineffective?<<<

ps: Looking for more touch point examples? You may want to check out this previous post for a few ideas from Method, Virgin Airlines, TOMS and Hell Pizza.