The Advertised Mind

Emotion is critical to advertising because it is critical to all human thought

Emotion plays a critical role in guiding our instinctive reaction to events happening around us.

We monitor our environment constantly and automatically, but with so many things going on around us, we need some means to determine what to pay attention to. This cannot be a conscious process - it would take too long. So the monitoring process constantly references existing memories as those memories are spontaneously triggered by what is happening at the time.

It is the emotional properties of those memories that determine whether we pay attention or not, and how much attention we pay. The more intense the emotional charge of the associated memories, the more attention we pay. If the charge is positive it is likely we will feel attracted to what is happening. If it is negative, we will feel repelled. This is one reason why advertising that creates a positive emotional response performs better than that which does not, a fact repeatedly borne out by tracking studies the world over.

Click on the highlights below to find out more:

• Emotion is critical to advertising because it is critical to all human thought
• Emotion is critical to advertising because it helps determine the depth of processing that takes place
• Depth of processing and repetition combine to establish new memories and feelings about a brand
• Brand equity is the sum of all feelings associations and memories related to the brand
• Brand memories are stored in a way that resembles an untidy overstocked cupboard
• Advertising contributes directly towards a brand’s equity
• Advertising response is the combined effect of creative and media planning
• There is no ‘one size fits all’ media strategy that can meet different advertising needs
• The emotional response to brands and ads can be researched
• The first response is the truest response