Photo by Andrew Jalali

I want to share with you an interesting article I found in New York Times. The article is a review of marketing and advertising campaigns which took place in 2009, and which share one common theme: l-o-v-e.

Maybe the reason is the economic downturn, and people are tired of negative news. Just like Black Eyed Peas sing:

What’s wrong with the world, mama
People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that’ll bring you trauma

Or maybe the reason is something else — but so many brands, especially in the US, think that it’s best to talk to their consumers using the simple, emotional language of love. The power of this approach is that it has a good chance of connecting to consumers emotionally, and that’s probably the best any brand can hope for.

Here is a quick list of marketing campaigns mentioned in the article For Marketers, Love is in the Air:

Blackberry Love What You do commercial

Subaru’s commercial: Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru

LensCrafters eyeglasses See what you love, love what you see campaign

Other brands that worked around the love theme in their marketing campaigns, have been McDonalds, Olay and Payless shoes.

Since the mentioned article talks about US brands only, I wanted to find a couple of other recent examples of love related campaigns undertaken on other continents. Here they are:

Australian beer Pure Blonde, and its Dove Love campaign:

Schweppes Signs commercial, which has already featured on this blog before.

Of course, it’s not that if your brand talks about love, that your consumers fall in love with your products. In most of the cases, something else is needed before you can allow yourself to use the word “love” in your marketing discourse.  Call it chemistry or mutual attraction. Or, using a bit of less romantic language, you can call it a superior product combined with great customer care. And most likely, it will be your customers who’ll talk about love. Brand love.

Related posts:

1. Learn to speak the language of your brand
2. The brands we love and what we call them
3. Why meerkats help markets
4. From Mallorca with love: interview with Camper shoes
5. A new kind of brand ambassadors: famous entrepreneurs