The Art and Science of Emotion - Unlimited Group
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POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN: EDITION 1
The Art and
Science of
Emotion
02/03 POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN
Welcome to the
Possibilities Bulletin
from the Unlimited Group.
Want to Despite the sizzling summer, a royal wedding and
a World Cup near win, our monthly monitoring
of the nation’s mood since the start of the year
survive
shows that only 13% of people feel positive
about the general economic wellbeing of the
This is the first in a series of thought leadership
country.
pieces, looking at the impact of Art and Science
on how the industry markets its products and This figure falls to just 10% when the question
services, and engages audiences with brands,
all supported by audience insight from Walnut
Unlimited, our human understanding team.
Brexit? is broadened to perceptions on the general
mood of the nation. This may not be surprising
given Brexit, Putin and Trump. Each has spread
a sense of nervousness and concern over
This edition is about the impact of emotion Your company needs a new our economic future, with ‘over sensitised
purchasing’ decisions becoming an economic
on our behaviour and decisions, and how
neuroscience can help inform the way CEO - Chief Emotion Officer trend. For example 71%** of people are
concerned about food prices rising once the UK
emotions are triggered and therefore how
has left the EU, according to our latest research.
we can better market to customers. We see that the housing market is slowly
recoiling, interest rates are rumoured to be set
About our research to soar, and the economy is feeling the pinch.
Each month in our Understanding the Nation* People are, by nature, concerned about food.
survey, we ask over 2000 people how they feel Hunger is a primal instinct which can drive us to
about various aspects of their personal life. change our behaviour. What used to be regular
These include household finances, personal purchasing decisions may now become clouded
relationships, physical and mental health, and by irrational or skewed decision-making.
family, through to aspects of the UK such as The impact to brands? The obvious
mood of the nation, security of the nation and
This changing world landscape, coupled with
the economic well-being of the nation. consumers’ constant and instant access to
Submit a question to our survey 71% information, means connecting at an emotional
level with the customer is critical. How brands vie
This research reveals lots of interesting insights
for a consumer’s attention and how they connect
into how people are feeling and so can help us
with people is everything.
better understand our audiences. If you would of people are concerned
like us to add a question or two to the next So much so that companies will need to
about food prices rising once
survey then please let us know – we’d be happy pivot internally. Marketing, influencers, CRM,
the UK has left the EU** loyalty programmes and sales teams will all
to help you uncover insight around your brands
be important and have a role to play, but tying
and how consumers perceive them. Read more it all together is the overriding importance
about omnibus here. of people feel positive of emotional impact. Will we see ‘Emotion’
only
omnibus@walnutunlimited.com about the general departments start to evolve in companies?
or call Louise on 01962 454564.
13% economic wellbeing Possibly, but where emotion needs to really lie
is at the heart of leadership. And here the new
of the country
‘CEO’ is born. The Chief Emotion Officer.04/05 POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN
Reject the
The science blank canvas
of emotion To connect with people, we need to reject the idea that
people are a blank canvas for us to project our brand onto.
The fact is that emotion and memory are intertwined. They
We do not are the basic ingredients of how we learn and remember –
think as much the glue of our experiences. Emotions help us to navigate
and interpret the world around us, provide meaning to
as we think we do! our choices and make faster and more efficient decisions.
Every time we communicate a new message or make
While we may like to think we are
a new product, we are activating and piggy-backing on
very rational, weighing up the pros
and cons of our decisions, modern millions of existing memories and experiences. And it is
neuroscience has shown us this is the job of neuroscience to help navigate us through all this,
simply not the case. It is emotion that understanding where the strongest connections are and what
underlies our behaviour and is at the the most effective levers are.
very heart of our decisions, defining
Therefore, unlocking the secrets of emotional engagement is
who we are and why we do what
recently, permeated the industry, key to how people engage with our brands and propositions.
we do. Understanding this hidden
with the idea that every purchase Every day we make thousands Successful brands emotionally connect with people across
unconscious world is the key to truly
decision is in itself rationalised and of decisions, and are exposed
connecting with people. all touchpoints, whether it be in their advertising, in-store
internalised through conscious to countless ads, comms, brand
experiences, packaging or digital channels.
Why? Because a brand’s main aim thought. interactions and retail experiences
should be to emotionally connect – we simply cannot process all this
Thinking in this way has far-reaching information consciously and expect
with people.
effects, from the briefs that are people to remember and tell us
The theoretical structure of marketing written to the way they are validated about it.
strategy places a singular focus on with research and how their success
the conscious over the unconscious. is measured. However, the emotional The fact is that emotion underlies
Even the discussion of unconscious revolution has torn up the rule book. our decisions and behaviour, but this
in marketing is a bit of a taboo Modern neuroscience has challenged is far from conscious. Most of this
for it would suggest that those in this approach and turned it on its information and our decisions are
the industry do not already totally head, placing FEELING at the heart driven by unconscious processes.
understand the attitudes and of our decision-making. First, we Even the most introspective
behaviours of people. The linear FEEL, then we DO, and only if we individuals lack accurate insight into
THINK-DO-FEEL has, up until quite have to, we THINK. their decision-making and attitudes.06/07 POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN
It’s not rocket Why are these
science! techniques Emotional
changing how promotion
we work? begins
Quite simply cost, speed and accessibility barriers with
are being removed. For example, in-ad testing,
from early stage to final cut we have a unique level
of introspection into the unconscious, emotional
people
moment-by-moment reaction to our creative work.
Understanding emotion can also can be more
widely applied from website testing all the way
through to pack tests.
The possibilities are seemingly unlimited. Such is
their adaptability that we can combine them with
But it is brain science. Modern neuroscience has
new and established approaches to gain unique
equipped us with the tools and techniques to
insights. For example, by pairing eye tracking with
understand this hidden world of emotion. Breaking free
GSR, we can understand the emotional profile of
from the lab, the great variety of approaches once only When it comes to creating a memories and emotion to strengthen From this perspective, unique
a store journey, not just through what people are
available to academic institutions are at our finger tips. piece of content or advertising, and trigger them. insights can be gleaned and
looking at but also the emotional reaction to this.
Or with online implicit testing, we can understand to maximise effectiveness any harnessed creatively. For example,
With electroencephalography (EEG) we can measure But above brands and anything else,
memory that is triggered by a we know that people respond to
emotional engagement directly from the brain. We can what is truly important to someone when visiting a we have people.
piece of communication needs people. We are equipped with
pair this with galvanic skin response (GSR) to measure store – they may say it is customer service but is
to be strongly associated with While the brand may be the centre of ‘mirror neurons’, magic neurons that
the intensity of the emotional reaction and eye tracking this really what drives behaviour? If what people say existing brand memories. We must our world, it is unlikely to be the centre enable us to understand each other’s
to measure visual attention. Facial coding has given is only part of the story, then we’re lacking the most not forget that brands are simply of our audience’s. Therefore, you behaviour and feelings without having
us an online way of automatically measuring emotions important part - how people feel. expectations based on memories need to begin with people, including to think about it. These specialised
expressed by the face. Online implicit testing has and this is how brands become everything from sensory receptors in neurons activate when we see
opened a whole new world of unpacking the ‘brand shortcuts in decision-making. The the brain to the nerves that control another person doing something,
in the brain’, a network of connections that help us brand in the brain is simply a network movement. This is because the quite literally ‘mirroring’ the action in
of associations, built up over a way we feel about the world around the brain just as if it was the observer
understand what drives our perception and
lifetime; some are weak, and some us, how we remember things, our themselves doing it. This is how
behaviour towards a brand.
are strong. As marketers we need dreams, desires, fears and hopes are empathy emerges, how we feel what
to understand these networks of all imprinted on our brain. others feel and learn behaviour.08/09 POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN
Why do
Connecting through stories? stories
Meaningful stories move people towards us, and can draw
them to our world. We have established that connecting
work?
our brand with people is not a simple job, but one requiring Because this is the way humans
complex navigation and an effective strategy to create sticky have survived: through stories that
we were told and have given us
memorable experiences. Stories can be the gateway to this, something; stories that explain the
to create strong emotional connections that can be triggered world around us, the things that we
should care about, and the things
across multiple touchpoints. that are important to pay attention
to.
If you were to lay in a brain scanner
and be told a story, you will see that
it puts our whole brain to work; a
story draws us in, evokes emotion,
activates our senses, enhances
memory processing and creates
personal relevance. Therefore,
when advertisers provide engaging
stories they should give the brand
a real role to play, beacuse when
it is well-embedded, rooted in its
brand essence and has a good
reason to exist, that’s when we
get the emotional engagement
and motivation required to drive
effectiveness. Moreover, brands
need to be genuine and authentic as
this is also an important motivational
ingredient that helps create a strong
level of emotional engagement with
people.10/11 POSSIBILITIES BULLETIN
Knowledge is power
If we accept that emotion motivates our decisions, then understanding it
is everything. Emotion is critical to a brand’s success, from new product
development to the customer journey. It doesn’t matter how you think a
person should feel about your brand, you need to know how they really
feel. Only then can you hope to connect with them - from the colour of
your packaging, to the way you frame a price or the content of your key The National Trust, for Ambius Premium Scenting
message; all of these things affect our emotional connection, our formation instance, knows that we all knew that scent was
and strength of memories of a brand. have emotional connections to important, but because our
special places. But it wanted sense of smell while being
to understand why places highly discriminating, and
mean so much to people. the gateway to memory
What exactly is at the heart and emotion, is largely
of that connection? Its use of unconscious, we cannot
brain scanning and large-scale simply ask people how they
qualitative research provided feel.
insights into people’s links to
places that were rigorously
In a unique study we Welcome to an
accurate and emotionally
resonant. Our report has laid
combined virtual reality
experiences with scent and
measured the effect with
emotional future
the foundations of the why
galvanic skin response,
places mean so much. So, to the role of the Chief Emotion products and communications,
bypassing the conscious
“This research showed more mind, to understand the Officer. Understanding that the art and more effective ways to reach,
clearly than ever before that impact of smell. What we of emotion must be underpinned by connect and resonate with people
places make us who we found went far beyond what the science of it is key to unlocking and ultimately thrive.
are – something our founder people were able to tell us success with today’s consumers.
This emotional connection requires
Octavia Hill instinctively and built a powerful story and Neuroscience cannot and must not
knew. It brings vividly to life business case for the brand. such focus that brands will soon
replace creativity, but its insights should
the importance of caring Through this research we have whole departments dedicated
fuel and enhance our craft and knowing
for special places for public were able to show how scent to the power of feeling. The rise of
this is fundamental to becoming a CEO
benefit and validates the affects the experience and the Chief Emotion Officer becomes
at the top of their game.
relevance of the Trust’s cause how retailers could use it to essential if brands are going to
now and in the future.” enhance their multisensory Neuroscience gives us access to prosper amid the uncertainty of
Laura Appleby, Head of experience. those unconscious processes that Brexit and the growing numbers of
PR & Content, National Trust nervous consumers, because the
have previously remained hidden
from research. This helps brands need to emotively move audiences
create more intuitive ‘easy to think’ will be more significant than ever.The Unlimited Group has fostered a unique way of unleashing
the power of data, insight and digital creativity to deliver maximum
impact, and provide our clients with Unlimited Possibilities.
*About Understanding the Nation research
This survey is the eighth instalment of Walnut
Get in touch
Unlimited’s ‘Understanding the Nation’ monthly
research, which asks people how they feel about
various aspects of their personal life, including Unlimited Group
household finances, personal relationships, physical Unlimited House
and mental health, and family, through to aspects of
the UK such as mood of the nation, security of the 10 Great Pulteney Street
nation and the economic well-being of the nation. London
**About Brexit Research WIF 9NB
Survey of 2,000 UK Adults about their feelings
towards retail prices in the run-up to Brexit. Research Sarah Shilling I Chief Marketing Officer
August 2018 in partnership with Retail Week.
sarah.shilling@unlimitedgroup.com I +44 (0)20 7792 7452
Stay in touch
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