Why can selling exactly the same shoes with multiple Nike logos double the price and attract fans?
Why can selling identical oranges with a "Chuzheng" label and a few motivational phrases make them more expensive and desirable?
Why do most Chinese liquor brands, from Moutai and Wuliangye to Jiangxiaobai, prefer to advertise by talking about culture, history, sentiment, and passion?
Because as emotional beings, people need more than just the functional benefits of a product; they also seek fulfillment of their emotional needs.
The renowned American social psychologist Abraham Maslow categorized human needs into five levels, from basic to advanced: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.
(1) Physiological needs (breathing, sleep, food, sex...)
(2) Safety needs (personal safety, health, property...)
(3) Belongingness needs (friendship, family, love...)
(4) Esteem needs (self-esteem, respect, achievement...)
(5) Self-actualization needs (ideals, realizing one’s potential...)
These five levels of needs can be divided into two categories. The lower-level physiological and safety needs fall under material functional needs, while the higher-level belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization needs pertain to spiritual and emotional needs.
The motivation for consumers to purchase a product can be either to satisfy their material functional needs or their spiritual and emotional needs, or a combination of both.
For example, drinking a bottle of Nongfu Spring water satisfies a material functional need, while going to an art exhibition satisfies a spiritual and emotional need.
When buying a car, the desire to purchase a Mercedes-Benz is not only about wanting a vehicle with better performance and features, but also about the social status and self-actualization that comes with driving a Mercedes, satisfying the consumer's spiritual and emotional needs.
If a product can simultaneously satisfy the consumer's material functional needs and spiritual/emotional needs, it possesses an irresistible power, and the consumer will become a loyal fan of the brand, continuously purchasing its products.
Brands like Apple, Starbucks, Harley-Davidson, and Zippo are examples of products that can fulfill both types of consumer needs.
The value of consumers' cultural and emotional needs is greatly recognized in marketing and branding strategies, as acknowledged by top consulting firms in China.
For instance, the founder of a leading strategic planning firm, Wang Zhigang, emphasized the importance of capturing the regional cultural characteristics and consumer psychological preferences formed by historical and cultural influences, and infusing them into the concept development and marketing of a project.
Furthermore, a renowned brand marketing consultancy, Hua & Hua, proposed the concept of a "cultural matrix," emphasizing that a brand should be embedded in the common cultural matrix of humanity to evoke emotional resonance and achieve lasting vitality.
Incorporating spiritual and emotional elements into the product and brand marketing process can be achieved through two main approaches.
