How To... Emotionally Connect with Consumers

Communication has never been only about efficiently transmitting pieces of information. It is also about empathy and values, and that is what ultimately makes us human. 

Emotions have an enormous impact in our development as human beings. When we feel, we have the urge to express those feelings, and through those expressions, we allow others to understand us better.

Emotions help us make decisions. Darwin said emotions even help us reproduce and survive. No wonder they play such an instrumental role when it comes to truly connecting with other human beings. 

There’s the tendency to think that when it comes to the advertising business, making an emotional connection is somehow different. I don’t believe so. 

Brands are well aware by now of the need to create relationships with their customers. They understand that people are no longer interested in being thought of simply as consumers making a purchase; people also want to accept what a company represents, to know why the brand exists and why it’s making a difference in their lives. 

What brands often don’t know is that if they wish to connect and create meaningful relationships with people, then they should behave as people do. If they want to earn trust, they should be honest; if they want to be attractive, they should seduce; if they want to connect on a deeper level, they must connect emotionally. 

Now, the tricky part is that to make a strong emotional connection, we must take down the barriers we build around ourselves to shield us from getting hurt. 

But when something gets through to you, when you feel that deep human connection to a story, a character or an event, and you have the need to express what you’re feeling, then there’s a struggle. There’s a resistance to credit the addresser with that kind of humanness. To accept that you both share the same values and ideas. Especially when you are well aware that the source of that message is a brand. 

That’s why it’s so much harder, but that’s why it is also so much more valuable. 

The good news is that as human as we are, we find it irresistible. We are unable to just discard and turn off our feelings. When movies or books or even adverts do it right, the bond created cannot be post-rationalized and discredited. Emotion is the holy grail of communication. 

Three years ago, we started working with the Spanish National Lottery for its most iconic product, the annual Christmas Lottery. I can say without a doubt that they are among the best marketers in Spain at the moment. They truly understand the value of nurturing and pushing these kinds of meaningful relationships. 

The results have been outstanding. Only two years after we started doing our very best to touch people’s hearts, the product has climbed a staggering 10 percent on sales following six years of decline. Not only that, we’ve managed to create great anticipation for each new ampaign. People now eagerly await the new advertising instead of avoiding it. 

The key? Look inside the brand and the product, and be truthful about what makes it unique. Even though it’s the biggest lottery in the world, giving away €2.5bn in prizes, the Spanish Christmas Lottery is a very modest one when it comes to jackpots. If you hold a winning ticket, you only win €400,000. Its greatness resides instead in the fact that many people win that same jackpot at the same time, because the winnings are shared. 

When we realized how special this was, we knew we had found the true purpose of this brand. A lottery that exists to remind people that sharing is more valuable than money? That’s something that could be worth listening to. Maybe I could put down my shield for a minute or two… 

The biggest compliment I received this year: “This is the third year in a row that you’ve made me cry, you bastard … you happy now?”