When Everything Starts to Feel the Same, We End up Feeling Nothing
The ad industry has a feelings problem. By that I mean we keep recycling the same feelings over and over again, trying desperately to stand out. The happy brand, the inspirational brand, the optimistic brand, the wink-but-not-a-laugh brand.
Since Spencer and I joined ONE23WEST, we’ve been throwing around the term “100% Feeling.” Not only does it mean making things with the strongest emotional response possible, it also means pushing for work that explores the entire emotional range we possess to get better results for our clients.
We believe this is important because people crave new feelings. So much so that they pay handsomely for them. Movies, comedy shows, amusement park rides, the list is endless. And then, in the middle of their favourite TV show – the one that has them on the edge of their seat, laughing, crying, or cringing – we interrupt with a fifteen second ad that makes them feel absolutely nothing. In an era where attention is currency, emotionless work is the most expensive investment a brand can make.
I’m coming up on fifteen years as a copywriter, and over that time I’ve rarely encountered a brand that took a ton of effort to grasp and embody their brand tone. Now that’s not because I’m some Pulitzer-worthy writer. It’s because almost every brand tone or personality feels damn near identical to one another. And when everything starts to feel the same, we end up feeling nothing.
As much as people believe themselves to be rational beings, the vast majority of our behaviour and decisions are emotionally motivated. Our feelings ultimately determine what we do — and certainly what we buy. So why have we allowed ourselves to be limited to such a narrow range of emotions in advertising? Surely the key to standing out is to not just look or sound different, but to make people feel something different from everyone else.
Some of the best pieces of work in the last decade tap into feelings most brands are far too scared to even consider. ‘Save Ralph’ for Humane Society International harnessed disgust in a way that felt entirely new. ‘Viva La Vulva’ for Libresse went all-in on uncomfortable taboos. And on more than one occasion, Channel 4 made viewers squeamish by getting a little medically graphic in their Paralympics spots. None of these feelings were “safe.” But all of them made the work unforgettable.
That’s the power of underused emotions: they burn into memory. They create brand salience. They turn a campaign into culture. And right now, there’s an incredible amount of emotional whitespace out there for brands brave enough to claim it. And why shouldn’t they? Using the same feeling as everyone else is just leaving a share of mind (and wallet) on the table.
So get angry. Get sad. Get disgusting. Get weird. Get 100% feeling.
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