(book review) Emotional Branding

Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for connecting brands to people by Marc Gobe`

Allworth Press, NY-USA, 2001

This book, 'Emotional Branding' by Marc Gobe` gives a meaty insight into the delicious history of branding. The book tries to bridge the gap between 'business centered' brands and consumers. Marc Gobe` understands that, for a brand to be effective, it should appeal to the consumers' emotions and feelings instead of treating its consumers as enemy targets and forcing themselves into the consumers' life.

The landscape for brands is changing by the day and increasingly, consumers run the brands. A brand needs to appeal to the emotional senses in order to succeed. Gobe` gives 10 commandments of emotional branding: 

1. from Consumers to People (consumers buy, people live)
2. from Product to Experience (products fulfill needs,experiences fulfill desires)
3. from Honesty to Trust (honesty is expected, trust is engaging & intimate)
4. from Quality to Preference (quality is a given, preference creates sale)
5. from Notoriety to Aspiration (what does your brand mean on an emotional level to consumers?)
6. from Identity to Personality (identity is recognition, personality is character and charisma)
7. from Function to Feel (function is practical & superficial qualities, feel is about experiences)
8. from Ubiquity to Presence (ubiquity is seen, emotional presence is felt)
9. from Communication to Dialogue (communication is telling, presence is felt)
10. from Service to Relationship (service is telling,relationship is acknowledgement)

The book starts with an Introduction chapter, ends with a Conclusion chapter and sandwiched between are 4 chapters named after the 4 pillars of emotional branding: Relationship, Sensorial Experiences, Imagination & Vision.

Though I enjoyed reading the book where Gobe` goes into small details such as describing various symbols and colors and their properties, to painting diagram for portraying the logo and identity evolution or writing about the generations - Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, to demonstrate relationship between 'Needs' and 'Desires', to stating 'Why' brands need to make that emotional connection, I would have enjoyed more had Gobe` shed more light on 'HOW' to make this emotional connection. 

This book is for people who think that products that sell the best, target the emotional level and one's who want to learn about branding and strategies and get insights into capturing emotions. It provides key insights into branding that will be useful for everyone in the chain - designers, marketing people, strategists and business people.