Emotional Intelligence—Leveraging the Feeling

Have you ever laughed until your stomach hurt? Until there are no sounds but

just teary-eyed flailing of arms?

Happy emotions can do a lot – elevate your mood, for instance. The U.S. News

Health says laughter improves heart health. No wonder then, that we instantly

connect to brands that make us laugh. Brands that provoke some emotion,

make us feel. That is the key to stand apart – make consumers feel something.

According to the Atlantic, “over the past decade, an abundance of

psychological research has shown that experiences bring people more

happiness than possessions.”

And that is what brands all over are clamouring to deliver – a meaningful

customer experience. It is the key to customer loyalty, and a major influencer

along the buyer’s journey.

Let us look at how brands are forming these connections, giving people

experiences worth remembering.

HOW NOT TO BE ‘NASALLY MISUNDERSTOOD’ – OTRIVIN SHOWS THE WAY

Otrivin is Novartis India’s flagship brand in the OTC nasal decongestant

category. It is a space densely populated with remedies ranging from balms

to tablets and inhalers to nasal drops. Consumers know the brand, but do

not know how it provides superior relief. In a way, it was like any other

product in the category.

                               

What becomes paramount in this situation, is enhancing trials and creating

brand preference among the target audience – in Otrivin’s case, males in the

age group of 25-44 years. Currently, consumers live with, and ignore the

problem of nasal congestion until it becomes severe, a behaviour which was

acting as a barrier in getting trials.

“To develop the TVC, the agency tapped into the consumer insight that

when a person is suffering from a blocked nose, he cannot speak clearly.

This not only hampers his performance but also causes social

embarrassment, as he is ‘nasally misunderstood.’

The inability to speak / breathe clearly, and being ‘nasally misunderstood’

was a crucial insight into developing the TVC – a welcome relief, comic

even, that drove the point across quite effectively, and even made viewers

laugh while doing so.

LISTERINE - THE SELF-MADE SOLUTION TO BAD BREATH

Before becoming the go-to solution for oral freshness and as an antiseptic

mouthwash, Listerine was used for anything from cleaning floors to curing

gonorrhoea. But in the 1920’s, the smart people at Listerine found that the

composition could cure chronic halitosis – bad breath. And there began a

radical shift in positioning – the communication dramatized how people

were turned off by those with bad breath. It was not such a big deal back

then, but this shift drove Listerine to becoming a multi-million dollar brand in

less than a decade. Bad breath was made the enemy, and Listerine, the

knight in shining armour.

The emotional connect here was everyone’s intrinsic need to be close to

people they liked, and possibly help intimacy.

SAVING MILLIONS OF LIVES – ALL WITH A SIMPLE BINDI

The bindi – as instant a marker of being an Indian woman as the saree. Visit

any Indian village, and the one thing you will almost instantly notice is the

bindi on the women’s foreheads. This dot that has several meanings, from

the religious to the spiritual and even cosmetic. But did you know, that this

small dot has helped millions of women in rural areas lead better, healthier

lives? Well, here’s the story.

Lack of iodine has been linked to several life threatening medical conditions

such as breast cancer, brain damage and pregnancy-related complications.

And in India, iodine deficiency is a grim reality finding its root in the inherently

deficient soil of the subcontinent. Adding to the problem, is the fact that in

spite of iodine-fortified salts being introduced, close to 350 million people

still have not started using it.

This unique problem needed an equally unique solution. And the bindi came

to the rescue. Something so ubiquitous, something that’s part of everyday

life, the bindi was turned into the ‘Life-saving Dot (Jeevan Bindi).’

Special bindis were manufactured with a small dose of iodine in them.

Flawless drug delivery combined with zero compliance issues – the

Life-saving Dot is what all pharma products aim to be.

‘A RELIEVING STORY’ – MOOV’S SUCCESS FORMULA

Stressful work atmosphere and long hours filled with lectures, presentations

and activities, and a lifestyle that leaves no room for exercise – all these come

together to create an ideal for backache to set in. Relief remains elusive, with

pained expressions like “aah” slowly becoming part of vocabulary.

Moov entered this distressed space, with its benefit of relief closely locked

in with its message. A message that brought smiles to everyone’s faces,

and respite from backache.

“Aah se aha tak”, an expression that encapsulates ‘from pain to relief’ drove

home the explicit desire for a credible relief process. And helped Moov

secure a solid position in the minds and hearts of consumers.

There you have it – a change in vocabulary that remains true to the product,

aids recall and ensures presence in almost every Indian home. This is the

spirit of Moov, a friend that has seen a long, unbroken continuum with

consumers’ lives. 

EMOTIONAL BRANDING – GETTING STARTED

We have now seen examples of how consumers connect with brands that

elevate their benefits to an emotional level. Mastering the messaging, then,

might seem like a daunting task. Let us strip the concepts and reveal some

simple truth behind the messages. Here are the key takeaways –

Know your target audience and what they feel, want and need.

Know the emotions that your brand and marketing materials should evoke.

Craft marketing messages that skilfully trigger the emotions in your target

audience in a way that aligns them with your brand.

Ready to give emotional branding a go? We’d love to hear how you did.

References:

1. http://www.bestmediainfo.com/2012/01/otrivin-shows-the-way-not-to-be-nasally-misunderstood/

2. http://www.referralcandy.com/blog/feels-13-examples-emotion-centric-marketing/

3. http://www.thebetterindia.com/21565/jeevan-bindi-can-save-million-of-lives-iodine-patch-innovation/

4. http://www.superbrandsindia.com/images/brand_pdf/consumer_1st_edition_2004/moov/moov.htm

Google vs Doctors - Why Internet self-diagnosis is a bad idea

Google – a storehouse of information for anyone that’s looking. It is like the go-to guy for any sort of query, bringing you information, opinions, ideas and what not. In short, it is an encyclopedia of anything and everything. Lacking in one crucial quality, though – the ability to think. In spite of the advent of Artificial Intelligence that has made today’s computers much smarter, the very human ability of thinking and reasoning is unmatched, something a machine is not capable of, at least now. 

With the universal availability of smartphones, the sheer number of people searching the Internet for information has skyrocketed, along with the quantity of information available online. In all the queries flooding the Internet, medical queries sit somewhere close to the top.

The question, then, is, how reliable is the Internet for the purpose of disease diagnosis? Who scores over the other – the doctor or Google?

Though the web provides meanings of certain technical terms, understanding and analysing medical literature in its true sense is not possible for the average Internet user – someone without a background of structured training in healthcare.

Medicine is a language in itself, and comprehending medical literature involves not only knowledge of technical terms, but a deeper understanding of its finer nuances, such as bio-statics – something that comes only from structured training and experience. In the absence of such a background, a collection of mere words (specialised terminology) will obviously appear meaningless, leading to anxiety, confusion and sometimes, even overconfidence.

And an anxious mind is a veritable door to lack of logical thinking, and arriving at pessimistic, unrealistic conclusions. For example, a person who is already anxious about his headache, going about searching Google for causes, might eventually focus on the most serious cause – a brain tumour, whereas in reality, a migraine might be indicated as more likely.

For reasons stated above, among many other, many sensible doctors themselves do not attempt self-diagnosis. They would rather consult another doctor as they are aware how their own anxiety could cloud their judgement.

The computer, though quite advanced as a tool, cannot replicate the analytical thinking capacity of a trained human mind. A website can generate an algorithm or probability based on its limited access to symptoms; it cannot match intuition (heuristic analysis) and deductive reasoning, the mainstay of professionals.

Another question raises its head frequently –What if the doctor’s treatment is not working?

We should understand that medicine is not an exact science. Not all doctors share similar treatment approaches, and not all patients with the same condition can be treated by the same medication. It would then be sensible to go back and let the doctor know about the apparent lack of response to treatment. It is any day a sensible option compared to Googling symptoms and medications, and ending up becoming more confused.

So, what’s the verdict?

The Internet no doubt is an excellent resource, a tool, to help patients understand procedures that they might be undergoing, for example, cardiac catheterization, colonoscopy, or an MRI scan. However, those with an undiagnosed symptom are better off consulting a qualified medical practitioner, than attempting self-diagnosis through Doctor G – Google. It can save people from coming up with premature, uninformed and erroneous conclusions.