BBNaija Lockdown: Underlining The Power of Emotions in Marketing

The Big Brother Reality Show continues to wax stronger despite the COVID 19 public health challenge and the threat of economic recession. We look at the underlining secret sauce guaranteeing its success

As the 2020 edition of the popular annual reality show, BBNaija and the post-event activities come to an end, the numerous lessons from the highly engaging show can never be lost to the marketing world, especially players in the experiential sector. These lessons are vital with the expected rise in virtual activations.

Despite the debilitating influence of the current COVID-19 pandemic, including the fear of mass layoff within the working population, coupled with a possible economic recession at the country's doorstep as predicted by experts, this reality show has been able to consistently pull huge attention on all media platforms- online, television, radio and print.

The show constantly enjoys an influx of many young people salivating over greener pasture and economic liberation an appearance in the house can actualise. Little wonder so many brands jostle to associate with the BBNaija show annually with the organisers smiling home with millions from sponsorship fees and votes via SMS for housemates up for eviction.

Now the puzzle - how is MultiChoice Nigeria achieving this consistently? Definitely, the show is beyond the 20 housemates, the invisible big brother and the weekly host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, we see on the screen.

In 2014, the American Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology found that all human emotion is based on four feelings: happiness, sadness, fear/surprise, and anger/disgust. It has been a smooth and successful combination of these four options that culminated into the huge yearly success story of BBNija events. In marketing parlance, this called emotional marketing or branding.

The role feelings play in decision making in individuals is something that today’s marketers can’t afford to ignore. In a fast-paced world, organisations need to make sure that they’re appealing to their buyer persona’s primal wants and needs.

While scientists often brag about how complex the human brain is, the truth is that most of our modern emotions stem from a handful of base feelings. The way we perceive happiness, sadness, fear, and anger determine how we make some of our most vital and complicated decisions. It is obvious that the handlers of the BBNija brand have been building their emotional marketing strategies around the right feelings? The logical expectation is for communications and experiential marketing experts to draw lessons to create many more virtual and real projects that are successful and sustainable that will truly deepen and expand Nigeria's integrated marketing communications industry.

Let’s take a look at how you can use emotional appeal in marketing. For marketers, that power of emotions is something that can be harnessed and used to great benefit. By using the emotions of potential customers, brands can influence them towards the steps they want them to take. All it may take to get consumers is the right approach to emotional marketing. It is a major achievement for any company to turn the power of emotions to her advantage, and it comes with plenty of benefits if the following facts are in focus.

Achieve an Emotional Connection with the Audience The emotions of your audience are simply your ticket to their conversion and even their loyalty. Create a connection with emotional marketing and you will have them for the long term instead of just for the sale.

Of course, by tapping into the right emotion with your audience, you will win that sale and the relationship that guarantees multiple sales and other gains. Yes, pushing facts and figures can take you far, but for most of humanity, it really does all pretty much come down to the emotional.

Humans as Emotional Decision-Makers Human beings are simply not rational creatures. We are influenced by our emotions for every small, insignificant moment and for every major life-changing decision. Even in those situations where you’d really hope logic and rational thought were taking the driver’s seat, people often remain emotional decision-makers. From what we want to have for lunch to the person that we decide to marry, emotions have an impact on our decisions. Once you know that humans make decisions based heavily on our emotions, your job in taking care of the marketing actually gets a whole lot easier. With just that shift in strategy towards emotional marketing, you can see much more of the results you’re after.

Emotional Marketing Works Advertisers have long known the power of using emotions to get the sale. Flip on the TV, open up a magazine, or scroll around on the internet, and you’ll see it: almost all the advertisements key into emotion in order to make their convincing point. And these ads work!

In experiential marketing, If nothing else, it can get the audience to pay attention. Getting their emotions involved is one secure way to get the audience to notice your brand. And if the marketing is effective, having that emotional connection will help to cement that desired bond with your brand. This is where sustainability and success begins.

How to Harness the Power of Emotion Your brand can take advantage of the power of emotions by carefully and strategically implementing an emotional marketing campaign. No matter what is involved, this technique can work for you. If you can get emotional marketing right, you will see the results that the power of emotions brings in.

Strive for Authentic Emotion To start, you will need to lock down on the emotion to emphasize in your marketing materials. You don’t want to force it.. Using emotion in marketing works best when the emotion feels authentic. Avoid falling into cheesy territory with your emotional marketing by using your target audience research and tapping into the real, honest emotions that you can find there. With authentic emotion in marketing, the connection formed with the audience can also be authentic and long-lasting.

Craft a Campaign with Emotion That Resonates Once you know which emotion fits your brand best, you can begin integrating this into a carefully crafted marketing campaign. One way to do this is by telling a story. This is a technique that has been working for marketers for quite a long time. Just as humans are emotional beings, we also all love a good story and this can certainly be used to your benefit as a marketer. The BBNija is the stories of 20 strange bedfellows trying to outwit one another as they push in a pulsating manner for the star prize. So, weave together a story that packs an emotional punch and that makes your brand an integral element. With a story-based emotional marketing campaign, you can successfully get that emotional response out of the audience.

Of course, there are other ways to make emotion a central component of the marketing campaign, but you have to be careful with it. Get the emotional message in whichever way works best for your brand and, importantly, for your target audience.

Earn the Marketing Results You’re After If you can successfully elicit strong emotional responses from those that you target with your marketing, you can find definitive success with your marketing. Emotions prompt people to act and if you’re the one bringing out their emotions, you can prompt them to do as benefits you. But to unlock the right action from them, you need to target the right emotion with your marketing. There is a particular way to tackle this as a strategy.

You have a few different emotions you can choose from, and each can bring you a different outcome. Make people happy and they’ll sing your praises and share your brand’s social media post. Tap into the more negative emotions though and you can really drive people to act. When we’re scared, angry, or sad, we want to act quickly to fight against these negative emotions. When your customers feel scared, angry, or sad, they may turn to your brand for the solution.

Targeting the right emotion at the right time will give you the right results for your marketing campaign. That is where success and sustainability begins.

Story By Ntia Usukuma, with Femi Fagite

Sources -Brittany LeMoine, Head Marketing, Regex SEO --business2community.com/marketing