The Emotional Promise and the 'Why' Behind a Product

Advertisement of Kenzo addressing customer emotions

Have you ever watched an ad and were completely fascinated by it, but wondered, what product or service it actually promotes? This has happened to me several times, and last week in class we talked about this kind of promotion and its relevance in branding.

Leslie Crombie who works as a strategy consultant for well-known global brands, explained her theory of components to develop a successful brand equity to us:

• Brand promise: overall additional value created for the customer

• Aesthetic promise: memorable design of the offer

• Performance promise: features and quality of the product or service

• Emotional promise: catering to deeper needs or desires of the customer

All these aspects have to be considered when designing and marketing the brand.

Especially the emotional component can be stimulated with advertisements. I interpret the emotional promise as the reason or motive behind the product. It could even be the vision the company follows and that consumers can identify with.

An outstanding example of addressing emotions that we watched in Crombie's lecture is this video by the brand KENZO:

Video 'KENZO World - The new fragrance' (Kenzo, 2016)

The incredible dance performance has nothing to do with the sold product - on first sight. But it creates a feeling, triggers emotions. The whole video screams at the viewer: Wanna be uniquely you? Wanna forget about conventions? Wanna dare something?

Wear the perfume KENZO World to become that person you want to be.

Who would have thought it was about perfume when watching the ad?

Well, it is not actually about the perfume, but about the way of life you can have and the group of same minded people you can belong to when buying the brand.

The way in which the communication is structured reminded me of a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek I saw some time ago. He explains how good leaders and organisations inspire people by their way of communication:

Video 'Simon Sinek - Start With Why - TED Talk Short Edited' (Lima, C., 2014)

His point is that the why, the vision, the reason behind the product is what people identify with and what makes them buy a product in the end. This can be linked directly to the emotional promise of Leslie Crombie's theory.

My favourite quote of Sinek is he following:

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. (Sinek, S. in an extract from TED Talk provided by Lima, C., 2014)

By analysing the thread of communication in the Kenzo ad, this powerful method is applied. First they show that they strive for empowering people to truly be themselves, also against any conventions. Then they promote the perfume as a mean of how to achieve this.

The symbol chosen for the perfume is the eye print, which is not only an iconic symbol of the brand, but also a symbol for their vision (Kenzo, no date). The designers of the perfume, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, underline their message of the perfume with it:

The eye is both feminine and powerful at the same time. (Lim, C., Leon, H., quoted in Kinzo, no date)

Last night I dreamed about the dance performance of the ad. Could a brand wish for more than to get potential consumer this emotionally involved?

Reference List:

Kenzo (no date) KENZO WORLD. Available at: https://www.kenzo.com/eu/en/kenzoworld (Accessed: 16 November 2018).

Lima, C. (2014) Simon Sinek - Start With Why - TED Talk Short Edited. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw (Accessed: 16 November).

Kenzo (2016) KENZO World - The new fragrance. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABz2m0olmPg (Accessed: 16 November 2018).