Transformational Advertising Can Differentiate A Product Or Service By

emotional motives such as self-esteem and respect by using a clever visual image to suggest what might happen to women who eat pastry in the morning. The "Respect yourself' campaign has been very effective in positioning Nutri-Grain as a healthy alternative for those who don't take time to eat breakfast.

Advertisers can use emotional appeals in many ways in their creative strategy. Kamp and Macinnis note that commercials often rely on the concept of emotional integration, whereby they portray the characters in the ad as experiencing an emotional benefit or outcome from using a product or service.5 Ads using humor, sex, and other appeals that are very entertaining, arousing, upbeat, and/or exciting can affect the emotions of consumers and put them in a favorable frame of mind. Many TV advertisers use poignant ads that bring a lump to viewers' throats. Hallmark, AT&T, Kodak, and Oscar Mayer often create commercials that evoke feelings of warmth, nostalgia, and/or sentiment. IMC Perspective 9-1 discusses how many marketers have been using nostalgic appeals by bringing back some of their classic advertising characters and commercials as well as using television stars from the 80s in their ads.

Marketers use emotional appeals in hopes that the positive feeling they evoke will transfer to the brand and/or company. Research shows that positive mood states and feelings created by advertising can have a favorable effect on consumers' evaluations of a brand.6 Studies also show that emotional advertising is better remembered than nonemotional messages.7

McDonald's changed its advertising strategy recently and is putting more emotion in its commercials to evoke a feel-good connection with consumers. The company's senior vice president of marketing explained the change by stating, "Over the last couple of years, we had been very good on the humor side but we really hadn't done a lot to reach and touch people with heartwarming or wholesome or romantic or heart-tugging emotions."8 McDonald's feels the emotional ads take advantage of the chain's unique bond with consumers, which is a significant point of differentiation in the highly competitive fast-food business.

Another reason for using emotional appeals is to influence consumers' interpretations of their product usage experience. One way of doing this is through what is known as transformational advertising. A transformational ad is defined as "one which associates the experience of using (consuming) the advertised brand with a unique set of psychological characteristics which would not typically be associated with the brand experience to the same degree without exposure to the advertisement."9

Transformational ads create feelings, images, meanings, and beliefs about the product or service that may be activated when consumers use it, transforming their interpretation of the usage experience. Christopher Puto and William Wells note that a transformational ad has two characteristics:

1. It must make the experience of using the product richer, warmer, more exciting, and/or more enjoyable than that obtained solely from an objective description of the advertised brand.

2. It must connect the experience of the advertisement so tightly with the experience of using the brand that consumers cannot remember the brand without recalling the experience generated by the advertisement.10

Transformational advertising can differentiate a product or service by making the consumption experience more enjoyable. The "reach out and touch someone" campaign used by AT&T for many years to encourage consumers to keep in touch with family and friends by phone is an example of the successful use of transformational advertising. McDonald's has also used transformational advertising very effectively to position itself as the fast-food chain where parents (or grandparents) can enjoy a warm, happy experience with their children. Norwegian Cruise Lines used transformational advertising to create a unique image of the cruise experience and differentiate itself from competitors with its "As far from the everyday as a ship can take you. That's the Norwegian Way" campaign. The goal of the campaign was to demonstrate how Norwegian provides each guest with a unique reprieve from the mundane routines of everyday life. Both the dramatic visuals and ad copy depicted the vast array of

Continue reading here: Proprietary Research Technique Called Emotional Bonding

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