Name: Why your business brand needs emotion
Uploaded: 2023-10-03T12:53:45.583Z
Duration: 425.64
Description: Building an emotional connection with the audience has long been the aim for consumer brands, but emotions are increasingly seen as important in the B2B realm too. Russell Holmes, Creative Strategy Director at Nalla, gives his thoughts on why business brands should focus on consumer benefits over product features, building trust, and creating emotional connections.

Russell Holmes v6.mp4

Russell Holmes v6.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
When we think about building and marketing
consumer brands, it's natural to think

{{00:00:04}}
of the emotional connection between
the audience and the brand itself.

{{00:00:08}}
But when it comes to business brands,
sometimes that's forgotten about, and

{{00:00:11}}
I think there's a real problem there.

{{00:00:23}}
It goes back, I believe, to thinking
that started off in the 1950s, this

{{00:00:28}}
idea of the difference between B2B
and B2C consumers and the idea that

{{00:00:32}}
actually we are two different people.

{{00:00:35}}
The person we are nine to five; we have a
nine to five brain, a nine to five head.

{{00:00:39}}
This is how we think.

{{00:00:40}}
And then an out of office brain.

{{00:00:42}}
So how we act and respond is
completely different if we're

{{00:00:45}}
at home and in the office.

{{00:00:47}}
That might have been the case back
in the 1950s when work was siloed and

{{00:00:52}}
we use different tools and technology
in the office that we did at home.

{{00:00:56}}
But nowadays it's just not true.

{{00:01:04}}
This really started to change
with the advent of digital.

{{00:01:08}}
If you think about how we now work and
how we live, we might be using the same

{{00:01:13}}
tools, the same platforms, the same
technologies, even the same device to

{{00:01:17}}
buy, say, a software as service plug
in or buy a holiday for our family.

{{00:01:22}}
Digital has had a real profound effect
on our relationship with brands because

{{00:01:27}}
we're much more engaged with them, much
more connected on a day to day level.

{{00:01:30}}
One of the other things that
digital has done is it's changed the

{{00:01:34}}
decision making within organizations.

{{00:01:36}}
Decisions are no longer
just taken at the top level.

{{00:01:40}}
They're increasingly taken by
people lower down in organisations.

{{00:01:44}}
There's much more
democracy in organisations.

{{00:01:46}}
And, in fact, if you think about, say,
software as service brands, they're

{{00:01:49}}
advertising not to the person who's
the ultimate decision maker, but also

{{00:01:53}}
to the workforce themselves, say, on
their tube journey into the office.

{{00:02:05}}
Whether we realise it or not,
emotion plays a really important

{{00:02:09}}
part in decision making.

{{00:02:10}}
Whether we are at home or in the office,
there's a oft cited research from Harvard

{{00:02:18}}
Business School that says 95 percent of
our decision making is done at a kind of

{{00:02:23}}
subconscious level, and really, that is
the superpower of a really strong brand.

{{00:02:28}}
Whether you're talking to a business
or a consumer audience, the power of

{{00:02:31}}
brand is the ability to emotionally
connect with an audience, both a

{{00:02:35}}
conscious and subconscious level.

{{00:02:38}}
Around about a decade ago, research that
Google conducted revealed that business

{{00:02:42}}
consumers were actually much more
emotionally connected to their vendors

{{00:02:48}}
and service providers than consumers,
which sounds actually quite startling.

{{00:02:53}}
But when, the more you think about it, the
more you think about the connection that

{{00:02:56}}
you have with a brand in your business
life, the longevity of that, the actual

{{00:03:03}}
value of sometimes of the purchase, the
fact that you're not just purchasing

{{00:03:06}}
for yourself, you're actually purchasing
for the good of an organization.

{{00:03:09}}
You can see why emotional connection
is really, really important.

{{00:03:13}}
And for business brands, it's
critical that they can tap into

{{00:03:16}}
that emotional connection, really
build value in their brand.

{{00:03:25}}
A lot of times businesses
like to talk about features.

{{00:03:28}}
This is especially prevalent
in say tech startups.

{{00:03:33}}
There's a kind of Mexican standoff
of who's got more features than the

{{00:03:37}}
other brands and other businesses.

{{00:03:39}}
This is great for the business themselves,
but it's not great for the consumer.

{{00:03:44}}
If you think of what we respond to as
consumers, we respond to the benefits.

{{00:03:49}}
What that company does for me,
not what that company does.

{{00:03:53}}
Think of a car advert, for example.

{{00:03:56}}
They may have a new brake system.

{{00:03:58}}
They don't lead with that.

{{00:04:00}}
They lead with a message about
a smoother, safer cornering.

{{00:04:03}}
That's more of an emotive benefit,
but it also talks to me as a consumer

{{00:04:06}}
and as a person and says, actually,
this is what this product does for me.

{{00:04:10}}
This is what this innovation does for me.

{{00:04:12}}
And that is where a lot of
business brands fall down.

{{00:04:15}}
I think they they're obsessed by
sometimes the features they have

{{00:04:19}}
rather than thinking, what do
those features offer our end user?

{{00:04:22}}
What is the benefit?

{{00:04:24}}
How is it improving their life?

{{00:04:25}}
How is it improving their work,
their workforce or their work career?

{{00:04:36}}
In the future, we can really see
how business and consumer brands

{{00:04:40}}
are going to come closer together.

{{00:04:42}}
I can see emotional connection being
a real driver for business brands.

{{00:04:46}}
It's already happening if we think of
software service brands that are out

{{00:04:50}}
there in the market at the moment,
the sort of productivity tools.

{{00:04:53}}
They're already using some of the
kind of tools and techniques for

{{00:04:57}}
their brands that we've previously
seen in consumer branding.

{{00:05:00}}
If we imagine going forward into
an era where the Gen Z's make up

{{00:05:08}}
the majority of the workforce.

{{00:05:09}}
This is a generation who have been
completely connected their entire life.

{{00:05:13}}
Their expectations of brands are
much more nuanced, I would say.

{{00:05:20}}
They demand a lot more from brands.

{{00:05:22}}
And it's forcing a lot of industries
to change their kind of paradigms.

{{00:05:27}}
If we think about banks in the past,
they were very much institutions.

{{00:05:32}}
They talked in a particular
way, they had a very kind of

{{00:05:35}}
conservative approach to design.

{{00:05:37}}
Then a new generation of
banks entered the market.

{{00:05:40}}
They were aimed at people who were used
to accessing money through their phone.

{{00:05:46}}
They understood that audience,
they understood the connection that

{{00:05:49}}
those people had, not just with the
device, but also with their finances.

{{00:05:55}}
They could develop a new language, not
just visually, but verbally as well.

{{00:06:00}}
They really built that connection.

{{00:06:02}}
So suddenly the old banks felt
stayed, they felt conservative.

{{00:06:06}}
And as we've seen a lot of the traditional
banks in the UK have had to really

{{00:06:09}}
adapt communications, change their
brands, really start to use design in

{{00:06:15}}
interesting ways in order to, to not
appear like the incredible laggards in

{{00:06:20}}
a, in what is a huge sector, obviously.

{{00:06:22}}
At Nalla, when we create brands,
we're thinking business to

{{00:06:26}}
people rather than B2B and B2C.

{{00:06:28}}
We're thinking of that audience not
as somebody who is, has a work life

{{00:06:32}}
and a home life, but somebody who's
a fully rounded person who might be

{{00:06:37}}
interacting one minute with a tab
on their phone to buy something for

{{00:06:41}}
their family, and the very next minute
they're making a business decision.

{{00:06:44}}
And consumer brands have to
have that emotional connection.

{{00:06:47}}
They have to build it using their
tone of voice, using their visual

{{00:06:51}}
language, using their marketing using
every single touch point that's out

{{00:06:55}}
there because connection counts and
connection adds value for brands.

When we think about building and marketing
consumer brands, it's natural to think

of the emotional connection between
the audience and the brand itself.

But when it comes to business brands,
sometimes that's forgotten about, and

It goes back, I believe, to thinking
that started off in the 1950s, this

idea of the difference between B2B
and B2C consumers and the idea that

The person we are nine to five; we have a
nine to five brain, a nine to five head.

So how we act and respond is
completely different if we're

That might have been the case back
in the 1950s when work was siloed and

we use different tools and technology
in the office that we did at home.

This really started to change
with the advent of digital.

If you think about how we now work and
how we live, we might be using the same

tools, the same platforms, the same
technologies, even the same device to

buy, say, a software as service plug
in or buy a holiday for our family.

Digital has had a real profound effect
on our relationship with brands because

we're much more engaged with them, much
more connected on a day to day level.

One of the other things that
digital has done is it's changed the

Decisions are no longer
just taken at the top level.

They're increasingly taken by
people lower down in organisations.

There's much more
democracy in organisations.

And, in fact, if you think about, say,
software as service brands, they're

advertising not to the person who's
the ultimate decision maker, but also

to the workforce themselves, say, on
their tube journey into the office.

Whether we realise it or not,
emotion plays a really important

Whether we are at home or in the office,
there's a oft cited research from Harvard

Business School that says 95 percent of
our decision making is done at a kind of

subconscious level, and really, that is
the superpower of a really strong brand.

Whether you're talking to a business
or a consumer audience, the power of

brand is the ability to emotionally
connect with an audience, both a

Around about a decade ago, research that
Google conducted revealed that business

consumers were actually much more
emotionally connected to their vendors

and service providers than consumers,
which sounds actually quite startling.

But when, the more you think about it, the
more you think about the connection that

you have with a brand in your business
life, the longevity of that, the actual

value of sometimes of the purchase, the
fact that you're not just purchasing

for yourself, you're actually purchasing
for the good of an organization.

You can see why emotional connection
is really, really important.

And for business brands, it's
critical that they can tap into

that emotional connection, really
build value in their brand.

A lot of times businesses
like to talk about features.

This is especially prevalent
in say tech startups.

There's a kind of Mexican standoff
of who's got more features than the

This is great for the business themselves,
but it's not great for the consumer.

If you think of what we respond to as
consumers, we respond to the benefits.

What that company does for me,
not what that company does.

They lead with a message about
a smoother, safer cornering.

That's more of an emotive benefit,
but it also talks to me as a consumer

and as a person and says, actually,
this is what this product does for me.

This is what this innovation does for me.

And that is where a lot of
business brands fall down.

I think they they're obsessed by
sometimes the features they have

rather than thinking, what do
those features offer our end user?

How is it improving their work,
their workforce or their work career?

In the future, we can really see
how business and consumer brands

I can see emotional connection being
a real driver for business brands.

It's already happening if we think of
software service brands that are out

there in the market at the moment,
the sort of productivity tools.

They're already using some of the
kind of tools and techniques for

their brands that we've previously
seen in consumer branding.

If we imagine going forward into
an era where the Gen Z's make up

This is a generation who have been
completely connected their entire life.

Their expectations of brands are
much more nuanced, I would say.

And it's forcing a lot of industries
to change their kind of paradigms.

If we think about banks in the past,
they were very much institutions.

They talked in a particular
way, they had a very kind of

Then a new generation of
banks entered the market.

They were aimed at people who were used
to accessing money through their phone.

They understood that audience,
they understood the connection that

those people had, not just with the
device, but also with their finances.

They could develop a new language, not
just visually, but verbally as well.

So suddenly the old banks felt
stayed, they felt conservative.

And as we've seen a lot of the traditional
banks in the UK have had to really

adapt communications, change their
brands, really start to use design in

interesting ways in order to, to not
appear like the incredible laggards in

At Nalla, when we create brands,
we're thinking business to

We're thinking of that audience not
as somebody who is, has a work life

and a home life, but somebody who's
a fully rounded person who might be

interacting one minute with a tab
on their phone to buy something for

their family, and the very next minute
they're making a business decision.

Expert Insight

Building an emotional connection with the audience has long been the aim for consumer brands, but emotions are increasingly seen as important in the B2B realm too. 

Russell Holmes, Creative Strategy Director at Nalla, gives his thoughts on why business brands should focus on consumer benefits over product features, building trust, and creating emotional connections.

Emotion

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Russell Holmes Profile Pic.jfif

Russell Holmes

Creative Strategy Director

Holmes explores how digital has significantly impacted our interaction with brands, as we are now more deeply engaged and connected with them on a daily basis.

 Why emotion is essential in B2B

According to Holmes, a brand's strength lies in its capacity to establish emotional connections with its audience. Emotion plays a crucial role in customer decision-making

The role of emotion

Holmes explores how brands market themselves, highlighting the importance of focusing on what genuinely benefits consumers and enhances their lives, rather than solely benefiting businesses.

Pitfalls and benefits

Find out how in the future business and consumer brands will feel very similar as our work and personal lives become less distinct.