The Feels and The Facts

By: Stew Redwine

This Verizon TV commercial caught my eye because it includes something that often gets left out of advertisements. Especially those that are couched as a “brand play.” Facts. Google used the same move, for the same phone, in this playful TV commercial. They’re showing you, through demonstration, and telling you, by listing specific facts, about features you care about and will benefit you – and doing it in a captivating way. Microsoft is doing the same thing with their outdoor advertisements for the Surface. There is a billboard just down the street from our Hollywood office that reads “You can take 1.73 pounds just about anywhere.” over an eye- catching building that has a tall picture of a gorgeous waterfall. Of course, you can go all facts and are left with something that has no heart and is merely a man sitting at a desk talking at the audience. It’s a delicate balancing act, but in MOST cases there is far more feels, or emotional appeals, in a piece creative than facts, rational appeals. We’ve seen a meaningful increase in performance, 15-30%, by replacing emotional appeals with rational appeals. In short, making a spot entertain less and sell harder.

Audiolytics™ is the messaging model we use at Oxford Road to ensure all the building blocks of a persuasive message are in place, including the facts and the feels.

Too often these two aspects of a persuasive message and any message for that matter are seen as a trade-off – you either appeal to the head or the heart. And the Zeitgeist is all about catching feels. Take a look at Ace Metrix break down of TV spots from 2017