SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Have you ever had a love affair with a brand? Felt yourself so completely attached to a company that you find yourself coming back again and again? You’ve likely felt this way because of something called, “Emotional Marketing,” and no that doesn’t mean you call your customers in tears and tell them about your breakup—it means you make connections that go deeper than just having a great product. It’s about establishing a brand identity that your customers want to be a part of. 

And, lucky for fellow attendees of United Fresh’s upcoming BrandStorm™ conference on November 13 through 15, we will have an emotional marketing master in our midst. For the event’s opening keynote, emotional marketing expert, man behind firm 602 Communications, and author of Red Goldfish, Graeme Newell, will be sharing with attendees how they can attract passionate brand loyalists to their own produce industry brands. 

“Emotional marketing moves beyond just having a great product, but connects on an instinctual level because it builds upon the customer’s ego,” Graeme tells me as we discuss what BrandStormers can expect during his keynote. “At 602 Communications, we specialize in the neurological traits that make people love these brands, and we actually throw them inside an MRI, show them images, and we can see objectively just what parts of the brain light up. We even use eye tracking software to see what makes their pupils dilate.”

Marketers that have been in the industry for a while now probably remember a time when you could just market based on the quality of your product, but Graeme says those tactics just don’t work as well in an era where it isn’t as difficult to produce high-quality products. People today–particularly millennials–don’t just want good brands, but want brands that stand for something and match their values.

“It’s not just transactional. It’s a relationship, it’s a love affair, it’s about buying into a special club where you know you belong,” Graeme explains. “Think of Whole Foods—that is a company with incredible customer loyalty. It has a clear vision for suppliers and for customers, and isn’t just selling organic produce, it’s selling the mission of wellness and fair trade practices as well.”

So how does Graeme think the produce industry specifically can tap into emotional marketing? The key is to step into the idea of owning what your company stands for and showing yourself in a light that makes consumers want to be a part of your club. 

“Companies just need a viewpoint and to speak to more than just a product,” he says. “In produce, we can do this by selling the sensual attributes of the product. An experience as simple as eating a perfectly ripened peach can be one of the greatest pleasures in the world. It’s about putting our produce on par with chocolate or even brandy by appealing to people on a core and gut level. I want to see produce ads that look as indulgent as Applebees ads.”

Helping produce companies, Graeme says, is a bit of a personal mission for him, having revolutionized his diet with fruits and vegetables about four years ago. Seeing things like food deserts, or unhealthy products being marketed to children, he believes the produce industry has a huge role to play and even an opportunity to lead the conversations.

Are you ready to lead the conversation through emotional marketing? Catch Graeme Newell’s full discussion at BrandStorm on November 13 by registering here, and pick up his latest book, The Red Goldfish, to learn even more of his marketing expertise.

BrandStorm