Emotionalize the product

Posted on 11 June, 2021

by Joan Abante, CEO Sensory Value

Up now, food brands have mainly relied on their emotional values and, to a lesser extent, on the functional or rational aspects of their products. For example, both Ferrero Rocher and Nespresso have used aspirational emotional elements and other brands like Kellogg’s and Häagen-Dazs have used functional benefits, such as “no added sugars” or “best quality”, when advertising their products.

However, private labels have greatly influenced the perception of brands in recent years, achieving their rationalization by using price as one of the main levers. They have made consumers realize that good products do not require huge advertising campaigns or high prices as a guarantee of quality. Consumers now believe that they can have a “suitable product” at a substantially lower price. This change in perception has redirected the focus of the consumers’ value proposition to the product itself, radically changing their mindset.

One of the ways in which brands can react to this reality is “emotionalizing the product”. This can be achieved by focusing the proposal positioning on the product itself. More specifically, the proposal positioning should be focused on the “emotional attributes of the product”. These attributes are generated through the senses and should be founded in a “product truth”.

We choose to eat foods that elicit fun and pleasure and that we ultimately enjoy. As a result, a product is not a mere functional element of the proposal since emotion is a fundamental part of the product itself. Thus, when a product is devoid of emotion, this needs to be addressed immediately. On the other hand, if the product at hand can produce an emotional reaction, then our communication strategy must leverage this. In doing so, we will fill the brand with real content, and consumers will appreciate it.

The sensoriality of branded products must have a great personality to generate an emotional response that makes consumers want to repurchase the product. Altogether, this will result in product superiority and other benefits discussed in a forthcoming post.


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