Does your soap know what you feel?

Do you think marketing messages can influence you? You hope to be able to respond “no”… But when you are going to buy a product, you are imagining yourself using it, are you? Are you feeling good, are you? Yes and you put the product is the cart…

The reality is that all consumers are more or less, positively or negatively appealed by marketing message, but they are anyway. And the brand, specifically the shower gels’ brands like play of the emotions the consumers feel and what type of emotion can trigger the consumer to buy their products.

As we already said, for most people the shower time is important in the good roll-out of a day and people feels a lot of emotions when they take their shower. Some of them would tell that it’s a relaxing moment, a invigorating moment, a moment of care etc… Emotions are even more important than the shower moment is linked to the intimacy of the consumer.

Many shower gels’ brands have well embraced the marketing technique of playing on the consumers’ emotions. The most interesting is that they have chosen different emotions to use for their image.

For example, Axe plays on the need of belonging to a group and the trend-setting emotion (the fact that people want to be cool and trendy). Axe creates at atmosphere of community with special events (ex: axe boat). A community you need to use axe to be in there and becoming a hot guy.  To feel cool you think you need to be hot and attract a lot of women.

Dove plays on other types of emotions: sort of fear and care of yourself.  People of the 21^st century are more and more afraid of their wealth. Sometimes when you read the news have you the feeling that everything is carcinogenic, dangerous for you wealth? And it concerns very common things? Like the way you wash yourself? Yes. Dove takes care of your skin, be reassured. They also reinforce this feeling with their ad campaign “for all the beauty”, don’t be afraid everyone can use Dove and feel good and beautiful.

Other brands on another emotion: the guilt and values, notably with the biological range of products. Most of people buy a biological product just because they heard something like “it’s better for the earth” or because the value of the biological speak to them.

There are many other examples because the emotions very numerous and personal for each consumers. Some emotions interesting to use in marketing messages are : time, gratification, competition… So, let’s think about what the brands make you feel ! And enjoy it !

Have a good shower!

Myriam 


Sources :
- 10 Common--and Effective--Emotional Triggers, Susan Gunelius (march 2010)
- A Contemporary Framework for Emotions in Consumer Decision-Making: Moving 
- Beyond Traditional Models, Holly A. Bell