Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Emotional connections to inanimate objects

This morning's paper had an article about emotional branding--which is a product that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Things like Radio Flyer wagons and Campfire brand marshmallows. The author interviewed some of her friends and one of them was this gem:

Mickey McGee, who lives in Northeast Portland, likes his deodorant. "I'm serious. Superman has the yellow sun, Popeye has spinach, Underdog has a secret compartment of his ring which he fills with a super energy pill...and I have Speed Stick Cool Scent/Cool Fusion Antiperspirant/Deodorant. This is no ordinary underarm protection! It has been the single source of all my confidence for 20 years."

There's a guy who REALLY connects with his health and beauty products. The article got me thinking about my own emotional branding:

1) By far the strongest connection to brands I have is Apple Computers. I've come to the conclusion that if I were ever offered a job, no matter how lucrative and ideal, if I couldn't use an Apple, I wouldn't accept the job. I've had more success converting people to the truth of Apple Computers than I did converting people to Mormonism while I was in Norway! (I have to admit, it's a much easier sell!)

2) Given any choice whatsoever, if peanut M&M's are available, I'll take them every time. In Norway, they had a candy-coated chocolate covered peanut candy that I tried ONCE. It just wasn't the same.

3) Volkswagens. I don't know if it's because my first new car was a Volkswagen, but I LOVE this brand. Something about its German engineering marketing and youthful memories gets me every time. I have so many memories of cruising around Provo in my little red Jetta that I always makes me feel carefree and like I'm on my way to be up to something. Also, that Jetta saved our lives in our car crash, and we of course replaced it with another red Jetta as soon as we got our insurance settlement. I'm sure the last car I'll own will be a red 2054 HoverJetta with black leather interior and a Mr. Fusion drive.

4) Diet Pepsi. Anyone who knows me knows that I can inhale 96 oz. of this nectar without even thinking about it. I've learned to tolerate Diet Coke, but that's only out of necessity. I've been places that don't serve Pepsi products and I've ordered WATER there instead of a Diet Pepsi alternative. I had to get less picky because a couple of restaurants we frequent only had Coke products and I needed the caffeine infusion. Any I can hardly stomach generic cola--it tastes like metal!

Well, there's four emotional brands for me. I'm sure I have more--I'm a slave to pop culture and cool advertising, so I can be swayed to connect with pretty much anything. What can I say, I'm a product of the tv generation.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

tuned in today to see the picture of you with your goatee but was sadly dissapointed.....you must not have gotten your daily diet pepsi fix this morning and was running a little sluggish eh?

Jeremy said...

No goatee picture until Thursday, maybe--that way it'll have grown in enough to not look like I got some iron filings stuck to my face.

Anonymous said...

You forgot Ikea... Target... Nordstrom... Noah's... Taco Bell... Boy - you really are a slave to pop culture. And apparently that's the way I like it. PS - I'll let Jer field the Jackson County questions as he'll be taking another wife.

Dave D. said...

Don't forget Outback and Lego.

Jeremy said...

Ok, ok, I left off a FEW things I rabidly promote. I'll post a follow-up on a slow news day.