The Failure of Emotional Branding?

Because I am doing the sponsorship for this coming week, I have re-watched The Persuaders a couple of times and I found the case study on Song Airlines particularly thought provoking. Throughout the documentary, Song Airlines has been praised for evoking emotional appeal to potential customers. Using Andy Spade's words, the most important attribute of the airline was not its service, its product nor its benefits, but instead, it was the emotions and ethos that Song Airlines attempted to create. The documentary could not stress more on the shifting importance of emotions over product attributes over the years. It is true that customers nowadays want more than just information and functionality of the products. They want something deeper, and more substantial, something that can make them part of the experience. Adidas, for instance, has followed Song in creating an online virtual community where its sneaker fans can participate, rather than just owning a pair of the collectibles. This Adidas augmented reality campaign is still under construction, but the teaser already shows a lot of emotions, that we as consumers do not know what the commercial is selling anymore. It is definitely correct that consumers pay more attention to their emotional attachment/ detachment they have towards certain brands.



The Persuaders was made back in 2004. By 2006, Song Airline completely failed and eventually closed down. If emotional branding is that important to consumers nowadays, what made Song fail? I have come to conclusion that:

1) Consumers are still directed by price. Low price doesn't necessarily appeal to general public anymore. In fact, low prices often signal low quality, thus consumers are unsure of the quality of the brand.
2) Traditional media may not be the most effective way to convey messages anymore. But while Song is creating buzz by opening concept store in Boston, it is also important that this "buzz" is well managed. Because information is spread so quickly, poorly managed buzz could create inconsistency of image.
3) And of course, it just happened that Song launched in an economic downturn.

It is certain that emotional connection is and will still be essential to marketing and branding, but there are certain trends in consumer behavior that marketers have to pay close attention to. After all, emotional appeal is not the one size fit all solution to all the marketing crises.