Advertising
Tactic

Find Mediums With Congruent Emotions

Find people who are experiencing a helpful emotion, then expose your message to them.

An ad for indigestion medicine being shown outside a restaurant

Overview

Sparking emotion is hard.

It’s much easier to find people who are experiencing an existing emotion.

I noticed that Tums sponsored episodes of Hot Ones, a YouTube show where celebrities eat spicy wings.

Ad for Tums being shown during a YouTube video of somebody eating spicy wings

That’s clever. Humans have mirror neurons — if you watch somebody perform a behavior, like eating spicy food, you simulate this experience. In other words, viewers of Hot Ones are experiencing a body state that can help them simulate the value of antacids.

Alternatively, Tums could advertise around dinnertime (when viewers are more likely to be experiencing heartburn).

The Takeaway: Expose your ads in a time or location in which viewers can simulate the value of your product.