The Emotional Life of Women

An implicit equation has hamstrung Western civilization for at least 300 years and harmed the effectiveness of advertising equally as long.I'm referring to the equation that judges rationality as superior to emotions, with the former traditionally being the cherished fiefdom of male executives at major companies and the latter the squishy, touchy-feely and not altogether important province of female consumers. But breakthroughs in brain science over the past quarter century have laid that false duality to rest: we're all primarily emotional decision makers, and since everybody feels before they think, objectivity is a myth and so is pure, disciplined rationality. For ad agencies struggling to promote often undifferentiated offers, what a relief. The days of being on-message can now give way to a greater, truer reality. What's most important in 21st-century marketing is being on-emotion, meaning to create the right emotion at the right time, for the right audience, on behalf of the right positioning of a branded offer. But even with this new freedom to follow their correct instincts (visuals and emotions win), the ad agencies -- with most of its top slots filled by men -- have plenty of work of their own cut out for them. Here's some help for them in overcoming blind spots: To be on-emotion is also to be on-motivation. That figures, since the two words have the same root in Latin: to move, to make something happen. There are five core motivations: physical satisfaction, empowerment, enjoyment, attachment and self-esteem. Male creative directors and the approximately 80 percent of CMOs who are men may be equally to blame for the fact that in the ads my company has tested over the past decade, 39 percent of them focused on enjoyment and 30 percent on empowerment -- both of which you could argue tilt masculine, especially empowerment. But what are the motivations that create the most emotional engagement and the greatest volume of positive feelings? The motivations women understand and cherish: the intimacy of attachment (to others), and the need to protect one's self-esteem. As fMRI brain scans have shown, mass murderers are cold people. Their minds show less emotional activity than those of ordinary people. (Come to think of it, so do the minds of many people in advertising.) When marketing a product, the emotions shown need to seem authentic and plausible. Do we really need to see a parade of housewives gaga over holding a conversation with the Ty-D-Bol Man? Condescension hurts. And speaking of authenticity, make sure the smiles on display don't look fake: with the two halves of their brain literally connected a bit better than those of guys, when we say a woman is in "touch" with her feelings, there's scientific proof. Finally, values matter. As Carol King famously sang, "[It this] a moment's pleasure? ... Will you still love me tomorrow?" Feelings can be fleeting. But the feelings that matter long term are those that reveal our personality and our value system, which is distinctly ours and something we are deeply invested in emotionally. Branding is, in the final analysis, entirely emotional, a matter of building a relationship between a company and targeted consumers. So don't expect cause marketing to fade. Women in particular are looking for extra, emotional reasons why they should care about a brand based on it caring about them, and the causes that matter to them. What should go away, but probably won't, are gender portrayals that inadvertently or otherwise demean women, thereby undermining self-esteem and inviting contempt for the brands trying so hard to create a positive emotional bond to the predominantly female shoppers of the world who pay their salaries by making their purchases.Dan Hill is president of the research firm Sensory Logic. He can be reached at dhill@sensorylogic.com

Brand Marketing

The Emotional Life of Women

Dan Hill

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Dan Hill