Ever watched a commercial that made you tear up? Or laughed out loud at a cheeky ad that seemed to “get” you? Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.
Because that’s just the power of emotional marketing at work. It’s not just about selling a product or service—it’s about building a connection, sparking feelings, and leaving a lasting impression.
In an era where consumers are bombarded with endless choices, logic alone isn’t enough to drive decisions.
Emotional marketing cuts through the noise, reaching audiences on a human level. It’s about telling stories, evoking emotions, and creating experiences your audience won’t forget.
Whether you’re a B2B business looking to build trust or a consumer brand aiming for loyalty, emotional marketing is a game-changer.
Let’s dive into what it is, why it matters, and how you can use it to take your marketing strategy to the next level.
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Emotional marketing is a strategy that uses emotions—like happiness, fear, anger, or nostalgia—to engage audiences, build trust, and inspire action. It’s marketing that doesn’t just inform; it resonates.
By tapping into feelings, emotional marketing creates a bond between your brand and your audience.
It’s the difference between a forgettable ad and one that lingers in someone’s mind long after they’ve seen it.
And here’s the thing: emotions drive decisions. Studies show that people rely on emotions rather than logic when making purchases, making this approach not just effective but essential.
If you’re wondering why emotional marketing works, here are some key reasons:
Image Credits: Entrepreneur Media (Source)
Emotional marketing comes in many forms. Here are some of the most effective approaches:
Image Credits: Handsome Frank (Source)
People love a good story, especially one where a relatable character overcomes challenges.
Structure your marketing around a hero’s journey, where your product or service plays a pivotal role in solving a problem.
Use animated videos to bring these stories to life, showing the transformation your brand enables.
Example: A SaaS company might showcase a small business owner struggling with disorganized workflows, only to find clarity and success using their platform.
Nothing builds emotional credibility like real stories from your customers.
Encourage your audience to share their experiences with your brand through testimonials, social media posts, or video stories. Highlight these moments to foster trust and human connection.
Example: A fitness brand could share videos of customers achieving their health goals, emphasizing the emotional payoff of their hard work and your product's role.
Evoking fond memories of the past creates an instant emotional connection.
Use elements of design, music, or storytelling that remind audiences of “simpler times” or cherished moments.
Example: A tech company could show how their products help families preserve memories, tying it back to the nostalgia of family photo albums.
Laughter is a powerful emotional trigger.
A well-timed joke or clever visual can make your brand memorable and approachable.
Animated videos are especially effective for creating humorous and lighthearted content without compromising professionalism.
Example: A payroll software company could create a funny animation showing how their tool saves employees from the chaos of manual calculations.
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is an emotion that drives action. Use limited-time offers, exclusive events, or sneak peeks to spark excitement and urgency.
Pair these with emotionally charged visuals and messaging to amplify your call-to-action.
Example: A subscription box service could use an animated countdown timer to show the limited availability of their exclusive monthly box.
Position your brand as one that cares. Highlight your efforts in sustainability, community support, or charitable contributions.
Stories of giving back not only evoke positive emotions but also align your brand with values that matter to your audience.
Example: A coffee company could create an animated explainer video illustrating how their partnership with local farmers improves livelihoods and supports ethical sourcing.
Create a narrative arc that builds tension and resolves it with your product or service as the hero.
This approach keeps audiences engaged and emotionally invested in the outcome.
Example: A cybersecurity company might animate a gripping story of a business on the brink of collapse due to a security breach—only to be saved by their software.
Personalization taps into the human desire to feel seen and valued.
Use data to tailor your messaging, visuals, and offers to specific audience segments.
Personalized videos, in particular, can make your viewers feel like the content was crafted just for them.
Example: An eCommerce store could send a personalized animated video thanking a customer for their loyalty and suggesting products they might love.
Align your brand with a cause that resonates with your audience.
Emotionally charged campaigns that highlight social issues or humanitarian efforts can inspire action and loyalty.
Example: A pet food brand could share animated stories of rescued animals thriving because of donations tied to product purchases.
Sound and visuals are powerful emotional amplifiers.
Use music that complements the tone of your campaign and visuals that evoke the desired feelings.
Animation offers endless possibilities for creating dynamic and emotionally engaging content.
Example: A travel agency could use uplifting music and vibrant animated landscapes to inspire feelings of freedom and adventure.
Animation for business doesn’t get much better than this absolutely gorgeous video for Slack.
We’re drawn into a fantastic world of strange cute beings living in the clouds but with a familiar and relatable problem: traffic jams.
Then, one day, one of those beings suddenly has an idea from out of the blue on how to fix it.
So he broadcasts it to his friends, and soon everyone’s working together to make this idea become reality, from experimenting to testing, all leading to a glorious public unveiling.
And it’s all possible because of seamless communication across the various teams.
This is just another example of how storytelling can really supercharge your commercial video. It’s the secret ingredient that makes all the difference!
As we keep saying, the secret ingredient that turns mediocre videos into a true art form, is storytelling.
And here, in Petco’s holiday video, we see this in full effect.
We can’t help but be drawn into this heartwarming story, worthy of being a Pixar short, with beautiful and soulful stop-motion animation.
We don’t want to spoil the story, it’s one you really must watch for yourself and enjoy the full effect. But trust us on this, it’s worth it.
The story neatly brings us to the core message: that gifts are great and all, but somehow, it’s even better to give than receive. The call-to-action at the end encourages the viewer to donate gifts to pets in need.
Here’s a challenge for you: Beans.
How do you make beans interesting? Captivating and entertaining, even? There’s nothing particularly special about them.
It’s hardly a premium gourmet treat. Beans are just… beans. Right?
Well, that’s where the art of storytelling comes in. It’s not just the gorgeous 3D animation that makes this video so special, it’s the heartwarming story of a plucky main character who’s simply obsessed with beans and lands his dream job at Heinz Australia.
You simply can’t help but be drawn into this story and root for the goofy and lovable protagonist, like you’re watching a movie on the big screen.
This all proves that in the right hands, anything can be made interesting, heartwarming and even entertaining, even a simple can of beans.
We keep mentioning how storytelling is not just important, it’s the secret ingredient that takes your video to a whole new level altogether. And you need no more proof than this lovely video for Lyft.
As a brand, Lyft loves to set itself apart from its competitors by focusing not on the utility of a taxi service, but on the magic of meeting new people when you ride-share.
In this beautifully animated character video by Academy-Award winner John Kahrs, we see an unlikely hero: an elderly widow, driving her husband’s beloved classic muscle car around town to run her errands.
A cruel twist of fate throws her well out of her comfort zone when this car meets the end of its road.
She reluctantly buys a new car but of course it’s not the same, because her old car holds powerful memories and a special place in her heart.
However, a whole new world slowly opens up for her as she tries ride-sharing, and begins to enjoy meeting new people that she would never have interacted with otherwise.
The connections she makes aren’t superficial, either, as she finds out in the story’s climax and heartwarming ending.
As an additional bit of fun trivia, the original song for the video was written and performed by Lyft driver-turned-recording artist Sir the Baptist, who launched his music career after a connection with a Lyft passenger.
What we can take away from this amazing video is pretty clear: If you want to really connect with your customers, go beyond merely speaking to their minds with a sales pitch. Connect with their hearts, through a good story.
3D animation technologies are highly flexible, allowing you to create a virtual world that helps you explain things better and bring clarity to the complex business world.
Below is a great example of a 3D explainer video used to showcase IBM’s AI-powered supply chain solutions in a fun and friendly way.
In the video, the main character tours the fictional IBM Lab, where each room represents a different supply chain scenario.
The team from MediaMonks nursed this fledgling idea into a full-fledged CG animation from synopsis to script to storyboard and soundtrack.
The animation was translated into 10 languages, priming it to reach a global audience.
The immense flexibility gives you complete control over the works, elements, movements, and everything.
Full control over everything will allow you to make changes at any time and head in a creative direction that rewards you optimally.
Need more reasons? Learn how to explain your offering better with 3D animated videos!
The best animated commercial videos take you far beyond merely selling a product or bragging about their brand.
They tell a real human story that touches you on a heart level, without coming off as cliché or crassly exploiting sentimentality.
AirBnB is a brand that takes this seriously, striving to be authentic. So they used a true story from one of their own users.
All to underscore the message that they’re all about people, connections and relationships.
To really bring the story home, they got artistic and used the beauty of animation, rife with simple but powerful visual metaphors and symbols.
If you’re not moved by the end of this beautiful character animation video, we recommend you check your pulse!
The holiday season is a fantastic time to connect your brand with that timeless feeling of holiday cheer and warmth.
This beautifully animated video for McDonald’s McRib seamlessly blends their product with Christmas imagery and cheer.
It has that all-important sense of nostalgia, and the gorgeous animation turns it into something magical and wondrous. All in just fifteen seconds!
Access to drinking water is something most of us take for granted. It’s ubiquitous and therefore just a given, we don’t really think about it any more than we think about breathing.
And a constant challenge for NGOs and nonprofits is presenting their cause in a way that’s new and refreshing, to grab people’s attention and interest, and get them invested.
So WaterAid used the power of animated storytelling, crafting a beautiful story that draws you in and keeps you watching to find out how it ends.
Like a Pixar blockbuster movie, it’s charming, and innocent, and takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions through highs and lows. We don’t want to spoil it for you because you really should give it a watch and enjoy it.
But the point is, this is how you can use storytelling to communicate your cause or mission. And more importantly, really connect with your audience at a heart level.
A key component of emotional marketing is finding ways to make it personal to the viewer.
And that can be harder than it seems.
That’s why storytelling is so powerful, because it takes an issue or cause that affects thousands or millions of people, and focuses on how it affects one specific person– the protagonist in the story.
Why is this so effective? Because on an instinctual, emotional level, we can connect with, and relate to, a single person rather than a huge faceless crowd.
Take this touching infographic animated video about miscarriage by the charity Tommy’s. It draws us into a sweet story about a young couple in love before things turn and they’re hit by tragedy.
And in trying to heal from it, they find needless obstacles and difficulties in getting the help they need.
The video ends with a call-to-action to sign the petition that removes these unnecessary hurdles to care.
And just like that, the video has taken an issue that affects millions and turned it into a personal story that touches hearts and makes the issue feel more real and urgent than if it merely quoted dry facts and statistics.
It just goes to show that broadly speaking, people’s minds are factual and logical, while their hearts are more emotional and instinctual.
But through storytelling, you can touch both together, for a far more powerful impact.
Miso isn’t the most glamorous or exciting of Japanese foods. It’s a seasoning that’s a staple in almost any Japanese home.
So how do you really connect with your audience’s hearts with a simple product like that? Well, nothing’s impossible if you tap into your creativity and imagination.
Marukome created a fittingly anime-styled advert, telling the story of a busy single mother doing her best, but still feeling like she’s not good enough.
As we watch how they both get sick and stay home from work and school, we can’t help but wonder where this story is heading.
Until the soft twist at the end, where we find that her son was simply happy getting to spend more time with her.
And that’s how you turn a simple staple food product into something magical– through the power of human connection.
Emotional marketing isn’t just about selling—it’s about connecting.
It’s about showing your audience that you understand them, that your brand aligns with their values, and that you’re here to make a difference.
Whether you’re leveraging nostalgia, joy, or compassion, emotional marketing transforms your campaigns into memorable experiences.
And when paired with powerful visuals like animated videos, it can take your storytelling to the next level.
Ready to connect with your audience on a deeper level? Start weaving emotions into your marketing strategy and watch your brand loyalty—and conversions—soar.
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