Feelings are important to people — they induce memories, guide decisions, and can impact other associations. Brands and feelings should be developed hand-in-hand.
As Interbrand says, “After all, brands evoke emotion. They are personal. They fulfill and delight us. They are reliable, familiar, exciting, surprising, and ever in the backdrop of our lives. They are woven into our memories, fantasies, and dreams. They have the power to touch and change us precisely because they are human creations, invented in response to both our deepest and most practical needs and desires.”
When companies develop brands, it’s more than a logo and color palette. By tying the brand to a feeling, companies have creative freedom that is unlimited.
For example, Coca-Cola always conveys a form of happiness. “Open Happiness” campaigns include everything from security cameras catching good things people do, to polar bears rolling around in the snow.
To anchor your brand in a feeling, you should:
- Identify the specific facets of the feeling you are developing the association with — happiness from the goodness people bring out in each other.
- Create sample stories so it is always easy to understand the scenarios available that bring out the identified feeling — kids playing pretend, a neighbor returning a lost dog, or a “Welcome Home” barbecue for a veteran.
- Develop a visual language for the feeling — images of laughter, typefaces that evoke fun, and colors to highlight smiles and sharing.
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