Reason versus emotion. Right brain versus left brain. Science versus intuition. Fact versus feeling.

The “versus” puts these elements in opposition. But successful companies understand that, in truth, there is no conflict. Consumers clearly operate emotionally as well as rationally.

These are the beliefs we at MARC USA and our partners at Carnegie Mellon University, Professors Peter Boatwright and Jonathan Cagan, share and employ consistently to build powerful emotional connections between our clients’ brands and their customers.

Our understanding of the role emotion plays in brand decisions has deepened thanks to advancements in neuroscience. We now know that it is critical to engage the “whole brain” in marketing communications. But making the right connection with marketing communications alone is not enough. What many companies overlook is that their products or services should be designed to deliver specific emotions.

In their book Built to Love – Creating Products that Captivate Customers, Professors Boatwright and Cagan introduce the science of product emotions – the proven basis from which emotion-based products can be developed.

Many companies have superior products when it comes to performance, technology and features. And yet, their sales don’t take off. Here’s how Boatwright and Cagan explain what’s missing.

“Successful companies already know well the power of emotion. If you study companies that consumers associate with emotion, you will find out that, on average, they outperform companies that are not associated with emotion. We created a high-emotion index of companies that consumers identify as high emotion companies. The index significantly out-performs the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500. Companies make money by delivering high emotion products. At the same time, at the product level, if you introduce features that stimulate customers’ emotions, they will pay a higher price for that product.”

How can your company achieve an emotional connection supported by the product or service experience?

The first step is to uncover both the rational and emotional components of decision-making in your category. With this foundation, the product development team then defines the emotions customers will seek out and enjoy in the product. Using a scientific approach to understanding emotional needs, just as you do for functional needs through a product development process, has been proven to be successful in developing high-emotion products.

Sixteen key emotional pairs define product experience

Through research, Boatwright and Cagan have identified 16 pairs of contrasting emotions that capture the range of emotions that people feel when they are using a product – pairs like vulnerable versus secure, embarrassed versus proud and lonely versus connected. The goal is to use these 16 pairs to assess the current and desired state of emotions delivered by your product and others in the industry – then set a strategy to achieve the specific emotions your customers seek.

Product emotion in action

Boatwright and Cagan have helped companies across categories create product emotions. Their work turned Navistar’s LoneStar big rig from utilitarian into a brand truck drivers stood in line to have the logo permanently tattooed on their arm (in some cases both arms) without yet owning or even having driven the vehicle. That’s a truck that was built to love!

The exterior of LoneStar is bold, classic and head-turning – arguably the most aerodynamic long-haul vehicle in the market.  On the inside, respect and dignity are delivered to the driver. Unlike traditional trucks with cramped, Spartan living spaces, LoneStar’s interior is more like a cabin in a private jet. Its interior incorporates amenities not available in standard trucks – a couch that supports a full-sized Murphy bed, a kitchenette allowing for simple meal preparation and a pullout table that provides space to eat and work. Airline-like overhead storage keeps the cabin neat and organized. The truck even has hardwood flooring you might find in your living room. The interior design and its features make the driver feel professional, successful and comfortable.

The Bottom Line

When you reach people at a deep emotional level like this, the marketplace lights up with energy and enthusiasm. Customers will talk about your product to other customers when your product captivates their passion.

MARC USA recognizes the untapped opportunity for many brands to leverage emotion to drive real business results. In partnership with Professors Boatwright and Cagan and their Built to Love product development approach, MARC USA can create a seamless brand experience that encompasses the right strategy, right product experience and right marketing communications to create powerful and authentic emotional connections with your customers.

Leveraging the science of emotions may not lead to customers tattooing your logo on their bodies, but it just might be your key to beating the competition!

For more information on building an emotional connection for your brand contact Karen Leitze: kleitze@marcusa.com.

Using our “whole brain” approach – based on the understanding that most decisions are driven by emotional more than rational factors – and  our proprietary Visualizer™ research tool, we identified a crucial disconnect between tire brands and consumers. Most tire advertising featured imagery of speed, extreme proofs of performance, adrenaline and cars. In contrast, the consumer imagery was based in controlled movement, real life and people.

This disconnect enabled us to differentiate Cooper Tires as the tires that are built for people, not cars. We leveraged the key Behavioral Economics principle of “framing” which refers to the importance of the context placed around a decision. In contrast to the conventional approach taken by most tire brands, our idea for Cooper reframed the tire purchase decision from what a tire does for the car to what a tire does for the person. We created a powerful emotional connection with both consumers and dealers with a campaign that illustrates the role of Cooper Tires in facilitating its customers’ life and business journeys. The new brand positioning: “Cooper Tires: Crafted for Your Life’s Road Trip.” .

The integrated campaign – creating strong emotional connections to our targets and their personal road trips – launched in August and has been enthusiastically embraced throughout Cooper Tires from the factory floor to the executive board room to Cooper Tires’ large network of retail partners. And it’s ringing up results with consumers as measured by the results of the Fall Rebate Program. At year end, the program was ahead of plan – and the best in the history of the program.

PITTSBURGH, November 2, 2011 – Interactive marketing pioneer Paul Magnani has joined MARC USA as SVP/Director of Interactive Marketing Innovation to lead the continued expansion of the agency’s interactive practice.

Magnani brings 20 years of experience in delivering highly successful innovative solutions to brands. Early on in his career, he was hired to create and direct a digital media division at Nike to explore how the brand could best leverage emerging technologies. Magnani’s development and leadership of a multi-disciplinary team produced a series of proprietary products that reinforced Nike’s cutting edge reputation.

At MARC USA, Magnani will direct the agency’s 30-person Interactive team providing strategic counsel to agency clients, including Rite Aid, True Value, Pennsylvania Lottery, General Growth Properties and Cooper Tires.  He will also serve on MARC USA’s senior leadership team and play a pivotal role in business development efforts.

“Paul truly lives the MARC USA ‘wezog®’ philosophy as demonstrated by his passion for delivering innovative ideas. He is a true game changer,” said MARC USA President and CEO Michele Fabrizi. “Paul brings a proven track record of growing and expanding interactive practices through a multi-disciplinary approach, which is perfectly aligned with MARC USA’s integrated team culture. He will keep our clients at the forefront of the ever-changing world of technology.”

Most recently, Magnani served as SVP of Digital Strategy at Chemistry, an integrated marketing agency in Pittsburgh, where he catapulted the growth of its interactive practice. Prior to that, he was president of Ripple Effects, Pittsburgh’s first interactive-only shop recently acquired by Barkley Advertising.

“I am thrilled to be joining MARC USA, an agency that truly understands the role technology can play in a brand’s overall marketing strategy,” said Magnani. “I’m excited to work with people who have such a passion for innovation across every discipline.”

His hire follows that of several other senior level marketing executives who have recently  joined MARC USA in leadership roles.  Last month MARC USA announced that agency vets Mark Modesto and award-winning creative director John Immesoete had joined MARC USA in Chicago as a new leadership team. Last week, the agency announced that Anheuser-Busch alum Dan McHugh had joined in a senior account leadership role.

PITTSBURGH, PA, October 27, 2011 — Long-time Anheuser-Busch executive Dan McHugh is joining independent marketing services company MARC USA as VP/Group Account Director working on the agency’s Rite Aid account and business development.

“In his many years at A-B, Dan worked across all disciplines and mediums. He is an integrated marketing master and exactly the kind of leader we need to help drive further innovation for our clients and our agency,” explained Michele Fabrizi, President of MARC USA. “His experience in working with retailers is particularly significant for his role on Rite-Aid where we are aggressively developing award-winning and business building programs.”

McHugh spent over 21 years in marketing at Anheuser-Busch where he rose through the company’s various brands and divisions overseeing the marketing of the flagship brands of Budweiser, Michelob, and Busch Family of beers. This included managing the double digit growth of Bud Light and the introduction of Bud Light Lime, considered one of the most successful new product launches in the beer industry. He was most recently VP, Media, Sponsorship and Activation managing the division responsible for placing all media, sports marketing, entertainment marketing and digital marketing assets for the company on a national and local basis. He holds a BS in Marketing and Business from the University of Evansville, IN.

“The game changing ideas in marketing today are coming from independent agencies like MARC USA where there is deeper emphasis on integration and collaboration,” said McHugh. “I’m thrilled to be joining MARC USA and look forward to helping accelerate the momentum it is experiencing today.”

McHugh will play a central role in MARC’s Rite Aid business. Rite Aid just won a LEADER Award from the Shopper Technology Institute for its wellness + customer rewards program which MARC USA helped develop and implement. Launched in 2010, wellness + was heralded as the industry’s first customer loyalty program to provide health and wellness benefits in addition to shopping discounts.

Carle Foundation Hospital, a 325-bed regional care hospital, was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Thompson Reuters in 2011. Also this year, for the second time in two years, the Most Wired Survey cited Carle among top hospitals that continue to improve adoption of technology to manage health information and patient care. Carle’s services include the Urbana area’s only Level I Trauma Center, Level III perinatal care and advanced diagnostic and treatment options from the Mills Breast Cancer Institute, Carle Cancer Center, Carle Spine Institute and Carle Heart and Vascular Institute as well as a 325 member Physicians Group.

Health Alliance Medical Plans, a 330,000-member offering of Carle Foundation, provides coverage to individuals, groups and self-funded business in the region. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings, 2011-2012, ranked Health Alliance as the number one health plan in Illinois and Iowa for its Private (commercial) plans. Health Alliance also earned the highest ranking in Illinois for its Medicare HMO plan.

Mike Billimack, VP of Strategic Planning and Marketing for Carle Foundation Hospital, reported, “We chose MARC USA on their strong track record of marketing success for both hospitals and health plans. As a health system known for innovation and technological advances, we were looking for an equally innovative marketing partner.”

Jane Hayes, SVP of Corporate Communications at Health Alliance Medical Plans, added, “MARC USA brings us a deep understanding of consumers. With their in-depth knowledge from a healthcare and a broader marketing perspective, their expertise and ideas stood out from the others in the pitch.”

MARC USA will partner with Carle Foundation Hospital and Health Alliance Medical Plans to develop a new brand positioning and information architecture for campaigns that will cover multiple lines of the business. The new campaigns for both brands are scheduled to be in market between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012.

“Both Carle and Health Alliance are well known for their high level of quality as well as their innovation in the healthcare space. They are ideal additions to MARC USA, and we are looking forward to helping them build their brands through integrated solutions across multiple channels,” said Jean McLaren, Chief Marketing Officer, MARC USA.

About MARC USA (www.marcusa.com)

MARC USA is a national full-service integrated marketing communications firm known for creating game-changing business solutions through big ideas, insight and the creative application of new technology. With offices in Chicago, Miami and Pittsburgh, 200 employees and more than $300 million in annual billings, it is one of the largest independent agencies in the country. Services include advertising, strategic planning, research, public relations, social marketing, media planning and buying, interactive marketing, direct and customer relationship marketing and sales promotion.

About Carle Foundation Hospital and the Health Alliance
Medical Plans

Based in Urbana, Ill., The Carle Foundation is the not-for-profit parent company of an integrated network of healthcare services. At its core are Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Physician Group and Health Alliance Medical Plans. The 325-bed regional care hospital has achieved Magnet® designation, the nation’s highest honor for nursing care. It offers a more advanced level of clinical expertise and technology than any area hospital, housing the area’s only Level I Trauma Center as well as Level III perinatal services. The Hospital admitted more than 19,900 patients and treated more than 56,700 patients in the emergency room during 2009. The Mills Breast Cancer Institute, Carle Cancer Center, Carle Spine Institute and Carle Heart and Vascular Institute bring additional advanced diagnostic and treatment options. Carle Physician Group, the outpatient practice serving more than 200,000 unique patients annually, is comprised of more than 300 physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality care in 50 specialties located in nine communities across central Illinois. Health Alliance Medical Plans, Inc. is a licensed health insurance provider ranked among the nation’s top 50 health plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, administering coverage for 330,000 members. Also among the corporate entities are the philanthropic arm, The Carle Development Foundation, and nine healthcare related businesses that provide residents a complete array of quality health services. As an integrated system, Carle remains a committed partner in strengthening the health and well-being of the communities we serve.

PITTSBURGH, PA (October 17, 2011) – Signaling its commitment to build its leadership and business, independent full service marketing and advertising firm MARC USA has hired veteran agency leader Mark Modesto and highly awarded creative director John Immesoete to lead its Chicago office. Jean McLaren, president of MARC USA’s Chicago office for the past eight years, has been elevated to a new corporate role as chief marketing officer for the agency.

“Proof that independent companies are the engines of the economy, this move underscores MARC USA’s ongoing expansion and our goal to accelerate further with the addition of proven industry leaders and innovators – Mark Modesto, who successfully integrated the two Chicago offices of Draft and FCB into one of the largest integrated advertising agencies, and one of the industry’s most celebrated creative directors, John Immesoete,” explained Michele Fabrizi, president and CEO of MARC USA.

Mark Modesto joins MARC USA as president of the Chicago office. He was most recently president of DraftFCB North America and had worked at its predecessor agency Foote Cone & Belding where he started in account management in 1980. While at DraftFCB, more on AdAge.com » Modesto built its far-reaching digital capabilities, oversaw the creation of integrated multidisciplinary client teams, built international capabilities and served as the worldwide executive management director on important agency accounts including SC Johnson, one of his first agency clients.

Bill Perez, who worked with Modesto for 15-plus years as CEO of SC Johnson, said, “Mark understands the importance of building a true partnership with his clients. He gets the fast-changing dynamics of the advertising industry and how to help marketers invest in solutions that meet both immediate and long term goals. I expect to hear great things from MARC Chicago under his leadership.”

Also joining Modesto in the Chicago office is John Immesoete as SVP, executive creative director. One of the most highly awarded creative directors and copywriters of all time, Immesoete has more than 25 years of experience creating award-winning work that has defined and built major brands. Before embarking on a successful directing career, Immesoete was group creative director at DDB Chicago where he ran the Anheuser-Busch and McDonald’s accounts. While there, Immesoete and his teams created some of the most memorable ad campaigns of all time for Budweiser and Bud Light, including many well-known Super Bowl ads and Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” – one of the most awarded ad campaigns of all time, including the first ever Cannes Radio Grand Prix.

“Independent agencies are driving innovation in our industry because they have the flexibility and resources to invest in their agency and clients. MARC USA in particular has excelled at a time of unprecedented change,” said Modesto. “To be part of MARC USA’s strategy for the future and to partner with one of Chicago’s all-time best creative directors is a fantastic opportunity.”

John Immesoete echoed, “I think the most exciting work is taking place today at independent agencies like MARC USA where full integration is not hampered by silos or egos and the most amazing work is being done. I’m looking forward to being part of the new age of creative story-telling and working with the team at MARC USA.”

MARC USA has quietly built one of the most successful mid-sized, full-service marketing agencies in the industry with headquarters in Pittsburgh and offices in Chicago and Miami. The independent agency was founded in 1955, and its clients include such well-known companies as Macy’s, True Value, Rite Aid, Cooper Tire, Pennsylvania Lottery and the top malls in the General Growth Properties portfolio.

“MARC USA is in the unique position of being able to invest in great talent, and Mark and John are at the top of the list as the best in our industry,” explained Tony Bucci, chairman of MARC USA. “I know our Chicago office and our agency overall will benefit from their expertise. They are great additions to our leadership team.”

Fabrizi added, “As Jean McLaren takes on the new role of agency-wide CMO, you can be sure you’ll be hearing a lot more about us. She helped grow the Chicago office business with such clients as Macy’s, General Growth Properties and, most recently, Carle Foundation Hospital and the Health Alliance Plan. She will now extend her focus across the agency.”

McLaren will continue to be based in Chicago as she oversees the agency’s business development and marketing initiatives.

Let’s clarify, the format is alive and well – and actually growing and thriving.  In fact, here is a scary number from Nielsen:  the average American watches 153 hours of TV per month.  How does your viewing compare to the 153 hours?

However, at MARC USA, the nomenclature of TV is for all intents and purposes dead.

When you say “TV”, does a picture of a mother, father, two kids and the family pet all sitting on a couch in the living room watching an episode of Happy Days, Leave It to Beaver or the Wonderful World of Disney come to mind?

The reality of today’s media environment is that “TV” is reserved for the “living room.”  Like a slightly amended Oldsmobile tagline – “This is not your father’s or grandfather’s TV.” And, think about it, the term “living room” is antiquated – people sitting in one room not interacting with each other is not living.  In some new home construction, home designers and architects have eliminated living rooms and replaced them with “media centers.”

There was an article in the New York Times on April 29, 2011 called “Electronic Devices Redefine Quality Family Time.”  The article started with a picture a family of four in seated on a couch each with their own screen [game console, laptop, tablet, mobile phone] and not a single one was a TV.  One family . . . one room . . . four screens . . . four realities.  The article is an interesting perspective on a multi-screen world and how people, especially the traditional family model, share and engage.

The reality is that the “living room” [as well as bedrooms, kitchens, family rooms across America] is not the only place for the TV anymore.  Video screens, not TV, have started popping up everywhere.  As such, at MARC USA, going forward, we are eliminating the word “TV” from our vocabulary and replacing it with the word “video.”

Video screens are everywhere – malls, gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, office building lobbies, elevators, sports stadiums, taxis, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, high school classrooms, college campuses, amusement parks, airports, airplanes, banks, ATMs, movie theaters, health clubs, hotels and pharmacies.  And, of course, this list doesn’t include all the mobile devices and tablets flooding the market.

While the number of video screens has grown outside the living room, the number of people viewing video online has grown exponentially over the past few years, as broadband has expanded and connection speeds have improved both connectivity and download times.  On a weekly basis, approximately 25% of consumers watch video online.  This number grows to 67% on a monthly basis.  And more people are watching video online than using e-mail – this has been the case since February 2009.

A whopping 75% of this video consumption occurs on YouTube.  And an amazing statistic – over 36 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Hulu, Netflix, and IMDB are garnering a fair amount of the viewing behind YouTube.  Not to mention Yahoo, Facebook, and Vevo [Sony’s music site].  And all the broadcast networks also get decent audiences to their websites to view past episodes of their favorite programs.

Online video provides marketers the best of both worlds.  The sight, sound, motion and magic of traditional TV. . .  and the targetability, accountability, interactivity of online media. And online video delivers measurable impact over traditional TV across all measures: memorability, brand and message recall, and likeability/appeal [according to a Nielsen IAG study].

Think of some of the recent celebrities, like Justin Bieber and Jackie Evancho, that made it big first on the web, most notably YouTube, and then transitioned to the mainstream media. . .  sort of like reverse engineering.  And the list continues with names like Greyson Chance, Bo Burnham, Esmee Denters and Liam Sullivan – although their fame and exposure hasn’t been as widespread.

Going forward, we are proposing MARC USA’s 3% Solution.  Simply stated, we’ll shift 3% of our clients’ broadcast budgets (national or local) into online video to take advantage of the growing population of online viewers.

If HGTV is the right place to reach our target, doesn’t it make sense that HGTV.com is the right place too?  Same goes for ESPN and ESPN.com.  Most websites already have video players on their front page.  Going forward, online video networks like BrightRoll, Yume, DBG and Tremor will join YouTube and traditional cable networks like E!, AMC, Food Network, Discovery and Comedy Central in our video buys.

If you go back 20+ years ago, cable proposed the 5% solution to start growing their budgets from the traditional broadcast networks as viewing migrated from broadcast to cable.  Look where we’ve come – some of our clients are 100% cable, delivering comparable reach as the broadcast networks.

There are some precautions everyone needs to be aware of.  First, the standard video unit online is a :15 spot, not the :30.  Additionally, there are talent payment issues for online airings.  However, as long as we know of these issues ahead of time, we believe we can develop effective game plans to work online video into our contact plans at MARC USA.

In summary, the migration continues as people shift their video viewing to online and mobile devices and place-based video screens.  As such, you should remove “TV” from your vocabulary.  Tomorrow morning, you’ll say “What did you watch on video last night?”

To learn more about MARC USA’s 3% Solution, contact our SVP/Executive Media Director, Dan Albert at dalbert@marcusa.com.