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Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm For Connecting Brands to People
Savvy consumers are cynical about the old kind of marketing. Emotional branding is the best hope for marketers who want to cut through the noise and deliver strong, effective messages to target markets.

What does it take to give your business the edge in today's rapidly changing marketplace? Various conditions are pulling the supply-demand chain into a new and challenging phase. Not least among these is a large baby boomer market still growing in influence. Baby boomers are a powerful collective economic force, not only because of their sheer numbers, but also because they tend to embrace new concepts and commodities. They live as much as possible in the moment and are willing to spend to do so. To sales and marketing professionals, baby boomers are a supreme target market. But they are savvy shoppers with distinct predilections. Studies have shown that the baby boomers, in particular, seek out an empathetic connection with brands or sellers as they evaluate potential purchases. They are a major contributing factor in the establishment of a whole new kind of marketing.
This is the new paradigm to which the title of Mark Gobe's incisive book refers. In it, he considers ways in which branding specialists, marketers, and others who direct the thrust of image building and conveying, can innovatively and decisively respond to the challenges presented by emotion-driven economies. Some of the concerns tackled:

How can a brand engage senses and emotions? Which brands have done so most effectively?

The "Ten Commandments of Emotional Branding"

What values are unique to members of the baby boomer generation, the generation xers, and generation y consumers?

What values are unique to consumers of certain racial or religious backgrounds or sexual orientations?

Where do brands go wrong?

Why are sensory experiences so ignored in most branding strategies?

What are the trends to watch in coming decades?

Today's consumers, baby boomer and otherwise, are increasingly cynical and suspicious of the messages being transmitted by advertisers. Without a light and skilled touch, emotionally-driven messages will only irritate and alienate them further. With Gobe's book, however, professionals will learn how to walk the line between irrelevant and cloying. Providing case histories from his base of high-powered clients, he traces the demographic and behavioral shifts in populations and what this means for marketing tactics. His approach seeks to engage the five senses, the better to develop strong, positive associations for your brand in consumers' minds. Attention to segmentation makes his directions the more useful to marketing executives concentrating on a particular target market.

The rules for branding and marketing have changed radically, and the shift will continue over coming years. Companies can't afford not to connect with their consumer base. Gobe's book mercifully takes the pressure off by presenting a plan that cuts to the heart of the new paradigm.

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