It’s interesting to me that the words “emotion”, “marketing” and “customers” are finding themselves together in what seems to be increased frequency over the past few months.

Since August, just a few of the publications that speak of emotions as a powerful force for binding brands and customers/consumers include Entrepreneur (8/7/15), iMedia Connection (8/27/15) and Harvard Business Review (November 2015).*

This is just a sampling of publications recently featuring articles on the topic of marketing to emotion(s).

Do you wonder why this is a topic that seems to be building in popularity – AGAIN?

Developing marketing communications that engage the target audience emotionally is not new.  Actually, wasn’t that the point of the very earliest of advertising?

Arguably, we could go back even before that very bright star in the East that lit the way for Kings and Shepherds alike.

The emotion: HOPE.  I can be saved!

With rapidly growing mass media in the 20^th Century, marketers angled at the emotional level.

For example, Coca Cola promised “exhilaration” and the Winton Motor Carriage Company dangled more carefree transportation, enabling buyers to dispense with the anxiety of caring for a horse….

And if there ever was a marketer who nailed it on emotions, what about Hallmark?  Who rivals Hallmark’s ability to deliver movies that send emotions into overdrive?

Hallmark even published a book in 2001, Emotion Marketing – the HALLMARK Way of Winning Customers for Life.

So in 2015, how do emotions and marketing come together again in such great frequency?  Is it the exponential growth of new media options – ways to connect with your audience faster, and more individually and personally, than ever before?

And, by the way, this question is not only for the consumer market.  What relationship exists between marketing and emotions in the B2B world?  What are the opportunities?

As the HBR article urges – “given the enormous opportunity to create new value, companies should pursue emotional connections as a science—and a strategy.”

Indeed, and I might add: foster emotional connections with authenticity.

*The articles mentioned can be accessed through these links:

• Entrepreneur: Effective Marketing Appeals to Emotions Instead of Reason
• iMedia Connection: The art and science of customer persuasion
• Harvard Business Review: The New Science of Customer Emotions