I really enjoy advertising and marketing. Friends and family get annoyed watching television with me; I almost never fast forward through the commercials. When I open a magazine, I look at the ads before I read the articles. And don’t even get me started about the Super Bowl! I have no idea who won (or even played) in this year’s Super Bowl, but I loved hearing Paul Harvey talk about how “God Made A Farmer.”
While advertising may seem like a subject that has nothing to do with web development, it’s actually one of web development’s closest siblings. After all, your website is your business’ front door. Depending on the type of business you operate, it’s likely that more people will visit your website than will ever walk into your place of business. The story you tell on your site needs to be more thought out than the biggest billboard you’ll ever rent.
That said, I’ve always been a firm believer in creating an emotional bond when it comes to introducing somebody to a product. If your customers can “feel” their product in their life then you’ve taken a very strong first step toward bringing them to you. It doesn’t matter if the emotion is affection or humor. If it’s done well, it just works. I don’t know if Dodge sold more trucks as a result of the “God Made A Farmer” commercial, but I do know that just a few more people felt an emotional affinity for the Ram logo because of that commercial.
I’m always keeping an eye out for emotional ads. This Argentinian commercial for Coca-Cola showed up on my Facebook wall today courtesy of my childhood friend, Jonnie. I couldn’t help but let out laugh after laugh throughout the entire thing – not because it was funny (which it is), but because it created an emotional bond.
Mini-stories like these are really powerful.
