One of the most overlooked, yet most powerful component in the branding of places is the role of emotional benefits. This was recently the subject of considerable discussion at Strengthening Brand America between Glenn Myatt – Brand Truth, Tom Buncle - The Yellow Railroad, and myself.
Emotional benefits are the positive feelings that people receive from a place. While the tangible benefits may be enticing and important and help validate a logical decision, they can’t create a deep relationship. Emotional benefits have the ability to connect with people and influence the way they feel and bond with their deepest needs and desires. They should fulfill the state of mind that visitors or customers are seeking, such as enrichment, romance, escape or adventure, etc.
Here is a summary of the comments on Strengthening Brand America:
Bill Baker: “From time to time place marketers tend to overlook the valuable role that emotion plays in the decision making of their prospective customers. This makes no sense and is like the buyers of new cars relying on a vehicle's Specifications Manual to base their purchase decision. If emotion plays no role, almost all brochures, advertising, photo images and videos could be removed from marketing budgets because all that will be needed are lists of specifications. Emotion is front and center in all of our brand strategies irrespective of the size of the community. Among its many roles is to provide filters for the selection of appropriate images that reflect the brand and better connect with prospective customers.”
Glen Myatt: “Bill's car analogy is spot on. Deciding on a car or a destination are both high involvement decisions. Typically people use extensive information searching to make their decisions. They will claim they make measured, rational choices because of this. But for cars econometric research has shown that advertising has a far greater impact on actual choice than buyers consciously believe. This lines up with some of the more recent findings in consumer psychology which see that in many situations people will develop an emotional attachment to a choice based on a simple, often irrational factor.”
Tom Buncle: “The only thing I'd add is that, like cars where most people have a limited understanding beyond basic functionality, so too do they when choosing a destination, even if they've been before. This is because each holiday is different and the visitors' experience depends on their relationship with the destination. After a highly rational information search has narrowed the candidate destination set, an unknowable set of expectations is generated about a holiday, thereby creating a gap. Emotion and imagination tend to be quicker to fill this gap than rational analysis - hence the larger role that emotion plays in holiday decision-making compared to most physical products.”
In all of our brand building work we always advocate that the most powerful, meaningful and appropriate benefits - the emotional rewards - should always be at the forefront. Avoid talking about the city, region or downtown as a series or list of locations, attractions, and things to see and do. Instead, bring it to life as an experience and make customers feel as though they are already there sensing and feeling it whenever they read, see, or hear your communications. Make it easy for people to see themselves in the picture.
You can contribute to discussions like this at Strengthening Brand America.
Thank you so much for sharing this with your readers.
Posted by: Ed Burghard | December 17, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Agree my friend. Destination marketers need to chant the mantra "Emotional benefits before features!".
Posted by: Tourismpro | December 17, 2012 at 11:44 AM
It helps having Strengthening Brand America as a forum to stimulate these discussions.
Posted by: Bill Baker | December 17, 2012 at 12:00 PM
It makes for very bland and boring places without them. Glad you agree.
Posted by: Bill Baker | December 17, 2012 at 12:02 PM
The simplest of practical tests in relation to evaluating the role of emotion in destination choice is the personal one … why are your favorite travel places your favorite places? And in the process thinking a little deeper about the essence of the answers you may find yourself giving.
One key element will very frequently be the elusive ‘sense of place’ and distinct sense of ‘local character’ a selected destination offers … not just the activities also found on hand.
And the elusiveness of that sense of place is so often intrinsically and closely tied to emotional responses and how that place is affecting many, if not all, of your senses – as you experience it.
Sometimes a single element may dominate here but more often a combination of elements – the sum total of a lot of small and possibly big things. Physical, sensory, human, colors, textures, nature-based, culturally-based, ease of access, range of choices, limits to choices, the sense of energy, the sense of peace, etc. All responses defined in very personal and often distinctive ways.
Asking myself about what makes for a favored destination, I have one special place which is defined by its particularly intense ‘sense of place’. And the emotional test is that most other people who get to visit it, also feel a pressing need to spontaneously but consciously mention to others how wonderful it feels to be there. Reflecting their and my own bias towards the warm feelings generated by wonderful wildlife filled forests, adjacent to clear surging river waters, with nearby access to historic cabin lodging and a historic general store serving great coffee and sensational freshly cooked scones.
All in all a pulpable sense of peace and the emotional relief of leaving the incessant noise of daily life behind. And as a bonus, there are also the visual delights seen while just driving there too.
All my own very personal preferences – but all part of what defines the destination’s remarkable ‘sense of place’ and its capacities to evoke powerful emotional responses in me and others.
Of course I will return and choose this spot over others, because my emotions tell me to. No scientific studies needed on that aspect!
Posted by: Bruce Dickson | December 18, 2012 at 02:11 PM
And in the procedure considering a little further about the substance of the solutions you might discover yourself providing.
Posted by: Allen Carlos | January 10, 2013 at 02:47 AM