How can you create emotionally resonant commercials that stick in viewers' minds?

1 Understand your audience

The first step to creating emotionally resonant commercials is to understand your audience. Who are they, what are their needs, pain points, desires, and aspirations? What are their values, beliefs, and emotions? How do they relate to your brand, product, or service? You can use various methods to research your audience, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, personas, or customer journeys. The more you know about your audience, the better you can tailor your message and tone to resonate with them.

2 Choose an emotion

The next step is to choose an emotion that you want to evoke in your audience. There are many emotions that you can use, such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, or disgust. However, not all emotions are equally effective for every purpose. You need to consider your goal, your brand identity, and your audience's preferences. For example, if you want to inspire action, you might use fear or urgency. If you want to build trust, you might use happiness or gratitude. If you want to create curiosity, you might use surprise or intrigue.

3 Tell a story

One of the best ways to create emotionally resonant commercials is to tell a story. Stories are engaging, memorable, and persuasive. They can capture your audience's attention, connect with their emotions, and convey your message in a clear and compelling way. To tell a good story, you need to have a structure, a conflict, and a resolution. You also need to have a protagonist, a character that your audience can relate to and root for. Your protagonist should face a challenge or a problem that your product or service can help solve. Your resolution should show how your product or service benefits your protagonist and your audience.

4 Use visuals and sounds

Another way to create emotionally resonant commercials is to use visuals and sounds that enhance your message and emotion. Visuals and sounds can stimulate your audience's senses, evoke associations, and create mood and atmosphere. For example, you can use colors, shapes, images, symbols, or icons to convey meaning and emotion. You can also use music, voice, sound effects, or silence to create rhythm, contrast, or emphasis. You should choose visuals and sounds that match your tone, style, and theme.

5 Test and refine

The final step to creating emotionally resonant commercials is to test and refine them. You need to measure how your audience reacts to your commercials, and how they affect your key performance indicators, such as awareness, recall, engagement, or conversion. You can use various tools and methods to test your commercials, such as feedback, analytics, or split testing. You should also be open to feedback and suggestions from your team, your clients, or your customers. You should always look for ways to improve your commercials and make them more emotionally resonant.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?