Why Emotion Based Video Marketing Is So Important
When it comes to marketing, emotion is everything. This is especially true when it comes to video marketing.
We’ve all watched boring videos. But what is it that makes a video boring for you and I?
Is it the subject matter? Well no, because we’ve seen even the most bland of brands create some incredibly exciting and engaging films.
Is it the speaker? No, because if the message is relevant, the film will be relevant.
So what makes a video boring? The answer lies in emotion, or a lack of it.
Emotion Is What Connects Us
Emotion is the most important variable in videos. Likewise in storytelling.
It is the reason why you can vividly remember the time you were rejected in school by your high school crush – because it is highly emotional.
But I bet you can’t remember what you had for dinner last Thursday night? Why? Because unless it was the most spectacular meal you’ve had in recent time, there was likely no emotional impact on you.
Emotion is the same reason why we remember certain stories our friends and family tells us, but not every story they tell us.
The stories that are the most memorable have three variables in common:
- they contain a problem,
- they are a part of a wider relatable situation,
- and they include a vast array of emotions that as listeners, we can feel.
And these are the same 3 components that a great brand film displays.
Dove are great users of brand films. Specifically, raising awareness brand films.
There are 5 types of brand films:
- Education brand films
- Raising awareness brand films
- Social proof (from your customers) brand films
- Social proof (from your business) brand films
- Promotion (subconscious) brand films
The raising awareness brand film, is all about communicating your core values and beliefs to your customers.
However, please note, the purpose of these films is to attribute these values and beliefs to your brand – NOT to promote your brand alongside them.
This is actually a very common mistake many brands make.
They aim to do the right thing by creating a raising awareness brand film, to communicate their core values and beliefs. But in the end, what happens is they end up trying to promote their company through the beliefs.
This is a major error because in the eyes of your customers, it appears as if you are trying to take attention away from your values, or the cause in which you believe in, as opposed to actively supporting it.
It can result in your company looking inauthentic and causing a lack of trust from customers.
This is very poor for brand engagement.
Dove have become masters of the raising awareness brand film over the past decade.
Dove's Best Video Marketing Campaigns
Over the years, Dove has crafted a number of successful video marketing campaigns.
Before we dive into what these are, we first need to learn what their core values and beliefs are.
As a global personal care brand, Dove’s major core value is body positivity and inclusivity. The idea that everyone is beautiful, and that we shouldn’t change our appearances for the sake of the social acceptance of those around us.
The Real Beauty Campaign
One of their most successful video marketing campaigns, rallying for this cause, is the Real Beauty campaign.
In this campaign, a number of women (all of whom are strangers to each other), meet in a warehouse.
The women are instructed to note the facial appearance of the other women around them.
Then, each individual woman is seated with a professional sketch artist.
The artist is unable to see the women. The women describe their facial appearance to the artist, and the artist draws a sketch of the women.
The following day, the women describe each other to the artist, and the artist again sketches and image of the women.
The result of this, is that the strangers are able to more accurately describe the women’s appearance, than the woman herself. This results in a more life-like sketch of each woman.
This ‘social test’, if you will, was made into a raising awareness brand film, which acted as the ‘North Star’ of the video marketing campaign.
The message of this campaign is clear: We are harsher on ourselves than others are on us.
Again, this lives up to Dove’s core value of body positivity. Be proud about who you are.
The Reverse Selfie Campaign
The reverse selfie campaign is a very close to home for many people.
It follows a young teen girl in her process of taking a photo for social media. But the process is in reverse.
Initially, we see her take a photo of herself. But then, the film shows us everything she had to do in order to take the photo.
- Apply filters
- Put on various forms of makeup
- Touch up her hair, amongst others
It’s eye opening. This film is incredibly relatable, because we all know a young teen, male or female, who could be in this situation. And this is why it has such a strong emotional connection to it.
The reason this campaign was created, was to raise awareness for the fact that 80% of girls distort the way they look online by age 13. A horrifying statistic.
This once more links back to Dove’s core values.
What We Can Learn From Dove's Emotional Based Video Marketing
What you will notice from watching these films, amongst many of the other brand films Dove have created in the ‘raising awareness’ space, is the lack of brand promotion.
Dove do not show their logo (prominently) until after the film is completed.
This is very important, because as mentioned, if your brand appears to be using core values and beliefs for promotional purposes, you will come across as fake and inauthentic.
By waiting till the final moments to show the logo, it allows times for viewers to already experience a call to action, or to make judgement on what they have just seen.
This call to action or judgement is then attributed towards your brand, Dove in the case of these two films.
Going forward, a potential Dove customer will want to ensure they are being positive about their body, and, in turn, when shopping for self-care products, are more likely to chose a Dove product over a competitor due to associating the act of body positivity with Dove.
Need A Hand Forging A Deep Connection With Your Clients?
It’s not always easy to forge a deep connection with your clients. Which is why we’re here to help.
Brand story films are your brand’s north star. They help you to make decisions internally, and act as the centrepiece of your marketing strategy.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you forge a deep, emotive connection with your consumer through a brand story film, contact us via:
didier@fixonmedia.com.au
+61 400 801 891
All the best,
Didier Le Miere
Director | Fixon Media Group