Essay on Google’s “Friends Furever”: Can Appeal to Emotions Help Advertisement To Win?

Google is an American-based multinational company specializing in providing internet services, such as search engines, cloud computing, software, and hardware electrical engineering. It operates in a competitive market with big players, such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, and as such, Google has strategized promotion techniques, particularly by using an emotional approach in order to capture clients. In this regard, the goal is to engage human feelings and emotions so that they can purchase goods and services. Through Android phones, Google Company has developed an advertisement method, “Friends Furever,” as their primary marketing tool. This Ad depicts a rare friendship between two unlikely animal species relating seamlessly. The objective of this ad is to arouse the buyer’s emotions by creating a picture of togetherness in human interactions and that with Google Androids mobile phones, global unity is a possibility. Though debatable, the scientific correctness and prospects of such a picture of two unfamiliar animals to reflect on the human’s emotions regarding the ability to buy a product based on this Ad, has been effective, especially with the additional assistance of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogosphere, to name a few. Consequently, this method was noted as the most shared ad in 2015. However, critiques argued in opposition to its implementation, particularly be stating that emotional advertisement negatively impacts people’s wellbeing and that in some cases, it may propagate moral decadence, especially among social media users. This paper, therefore, delves into emotional marketing theories in order to investigate whether a moving advertisement can translate to increased revenue to the company or not.

Human behavior is majorly influenced by emotions rather than intuition. This aspect affects significantly how people decide, particularly in choosing what to buy (Han, Ling, & Lim, 2013). The people’s choices are commonly emotional and rarely practical. So, marketers can exploit this weakness by focusing on the aspects that can trigger users’ feelings rather than delving on facts (Hamelin, Moujahid, & Thaichon, 2017). It is worth noting that emotions encompass four aspects namely, happiness, sadness, anxiousness, and anger. The human’s survival is, therefore, premised on these four facets of emotions since they are embodied in the brain, thus implying that they can influence a person’s perceptions. Notably, a concern regarding demerits and merits of social media content exists. This worry adheres to a standard rule, “if it bleeds, it leads,” which means the media uses despondency and fear to keep the audience tuned in so that they can sell their promotions. In an attempt to increase the number of viewers globally, Google has utilized animals depicting happy moments so as to increase more shares on the social platform since happy news is shared most. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, enhance media advertising (Furnham & Goh, 2014). By using these platforms, the company has the potential of reaching out to many people within a short period. So, Google’s strategy, “Friends Furever,” has attracted more than 6 million viewers worldwide, as well as over 4 million shares, thus becoming one the most-watched ad. This promotion majorly targeted social media users, especially by evoking adult’s feelings. Also, the toy playing attitude from the children was extensively targeted by this marketing strategy. Notably, as the children engage in play activities, the ad accrues more shares, and therefore, it gains a broader market so that a higher sale for the product could be gained. Once the promotion attracts more audiences, the company will be able to attract more clients’ base, thus increasing the products’ demand rate, which translates to more sales. It is explicit that people are more likely to respond positively to visuals that trigger feelings, and therefore, once a company is able to implement this technique, the volume of sales can increase for an item.

Two psychological perspectives can be used to describe the impact that video ad has on the target audiences. Firstly, this marketing tactic can be viewed from the central route that implicates that the consumer is the dominant player who requires the product and that he or she can make a feasible decision based on the logic and facts. Secondly, it can be envisaged from the peripheral perspective whereby the consumer is a dormant player who does not have the skills to carefully analyze the effects of a situation before making any feasible decision and that his or her choices are based on the items at his or her disposal. By this angle, it means that the audience is more likely to decide based on overt features of the advertisement, which may be displayed in terms of music, or storytelling (Sakas & Tomaras, 2019). So, it depends on how these aspects are portrayed in a given promotion. Alternatively, it can then be insinuated that the target audience tends to ignore the contents and facts pertaining to that particular product. It is on this basis that emotional advertising becomes useful to the company. Google Company, therefore, capitalizes on this strategy by structuring a video ad that aims to achieve both the central and peripheral routes of appealing to its audience by ensuring that all two components are simultaneously used. Leading on from this inference, the main objective, therefore, is not only to sell the product but also to trade an idea that provokes audiences’ emotional responses of joy, pride, sadness, and anger. Such emotions will undoubtedly orchestrate a long-lasting brand relationship between the company and the consumer (Curtis, Arnaud, & Waguespack, 2017). Appeal to emotions is, therefore, an important tool that every company should use in order to capture potential clients’ attention so as to enhance sales. Whether the two viewpoints, such as considering a consumer as a central player or as a dormant one, is noted, the company can still capture them by releasing a promotion that has appropriate content and motion pictures.

The visual media is a feasible strategy that has been proved beyond doubt to impact the viewers’ feelings. This emotional advertisement then offers an intricate mechanism upon which psychological video marketing applies (Costa-Sánchez, 2017). As a requirement, marketers should, therefore, be able to prepare the video content adequately before unleashing it into the market. This prospect can be achieved by critically analyzing the audiences in terms of what can arouse them emotionally, and then considering the available facts that are able to support their emotions. In the process of constructing a storyline that can attract the attention of the target audience, the creator should be able to consider the impact of colors, design, music, and even its technical aspects. With all these variables reflected in the production stage, the visual ad will be able to attract more viewers, thus leading to successful marketing. Concerning Google’s ad strategy, “Friends Furever,” it is explicit that no connection exists between the mobile phones operating system and the animals used in the marketing, yet it attracted more audiences. This merit was attained because the video that was used had features, such as upbeat music, which theatrically appealed to the target audiences, and even created positive attributes in the realm of consumers. In an attempt to improve the viewing rate globally, Google utilized happy moments of animals sharing in order to increase more shares on the social platform. Explicitly, happy moments were shared vastly by the viewers, thus increasing the number of customers to their product.

It is worth noting that YouTube, as a platform for video-sharing, has had a significant impact in the realm of psychological video marketing, particularly enhancing the aspect of emotional advertisement strategy. This approach has a feedback mechanism whereby people can comment below the video without any restriction. Therefore, Google and the potential buyers get the chance to interact freely, whereby the latter can provide their opinions on the product offered by the seller, thus making the promoter to get insights on how to improve the item so as to gain more sales. According to Lee and Burns (2014), YouTube is the most popular video marketing website that is used globally. With the use of visual ads, Google has ensured that it reaches many audiences while considering their feelings and using it to their advantage by continually enhancing their products. Both comments, whether negative or positive, are carefully analyzed by the Google online experts, and the results of the assessment are then used in the production process in order to create a superior item. Overall, visual capabilities offered by YouTube in advertisements, accompanied by comments sections below the video, is a complete set of tools that the promoters can use in improving the quality of their goods.

The emotional advertisement can be viewed from another angle involving the pictorial point of view whereby Google, as a company, opt to increase its marketing arena by having its graphic ads on the media platforms, such as newspapers and magazines. Even though not so many people may prefer taking time to read the adverts on these platforms, the pictures they spot on the ad sections can have a psychological impact, especially when they are portrayed attractively (Sunde, 2014). For example, Google has exploited this merit by using two unlikely animals, which depict a very cordial friendship between them. Such pictures resonate well with the targeted audiences, which in the case of humans, may represent the families and children. It is worth noting that families prefer hanging pictures of that kind on their living rooms, thus forming toys and playing materials for their children. This case is common because everyone would want happiness at home. In order to achieve success, Google Company considers simplicity and uniqueness while making magazine ads, which can easily be interpreted by viewers, and that appeals to their emotions. This way, they are able to win more clients, thereby improving their sales.

The Google Company has effectively employed emotional advertisements through media streams, such as television and radio. As such, the company has financed television ads in order to target those individuals who spend most of their time watching. It is worth noting that high-speed internet-connected televisions directly affects local businesses. Therefore, viewers can watch seamlessly. As such, the ad can then appear continuously without unnecessary buffering, and that the viewer can enjoy every bit of the advertisements, which then can influence his or her line of thought (Furnham & Goh, 2014). Television marketing is realistic because many people can access it in this 21st century. Also, the promoter can incur less amount of money in the advertisement process. With the adventure of google fiber television, the company is able to determine the number of people who viewed the ad, and this feature gives then an advantage of making an informed managerial decision.

The demerit of appealing to the emotions of the audiences is that the content may be ignored. This problem contradicts the success story that the Google Company attained so far concerning this strategy. By giving little consideration to the ad content, the company risks losing analytical consumers who may be keen to details. For example, there may be a case of false representation of the product by the advertiser, thus prompting a potential buyer to make a less informed decision. So, such fake images portrayed on the television ads may not only misinform the clients but also harm children who may be watching at that juncture. Notably, the pictures may remain ingrained in the victims’ minds over a long time, thus instigating continuous stress. These videos may have a detrimental effect on the user, especially when it leads to addiction. For example, in YouTube marketing, the number of young users is high, and these groups of people can easily be addicted to them, which then can result in poor nutrition, and eating disorders. In other words, moving advertisements can be envisaged as a threat to society. It is because the advertisers may impose a forced consumption of products that cannot be sufficiently handled by the natural forces of demand and supply. According to Lee and Burns (2014), emotional advertisement has resulted in cases of consumers buying goods unconsciously to excite their moods, which eventually affects the environment. Even though visuals ads have elements of detriments to the society and users, it has a significant positive impact on sales to the companies that use it.

In conclusion, it is explicit that the side effects of emotional advertisement are debatable, considering it has both positive and negative effects. However, its impacts on the sales are significant and benefit the companies, thus implying that its merits outweigh demerits. The Google Company can be noted to had had the utmost accuracy in using this advertising technique because it managed to increase the sale volume of the android phones. It is, therefore, imperative for the advertisers to take stringent measures that would ensure strict adherence to the content of the ads both on the social media platforms and main media streams. Importantly, the parents and caregivers should, therefore, play an active role in ensuring that their children consume only contents that fit their stage. This inference is realistic because these minors may access subjects that may cause distress to them, thus injuring them emotionally. Also, the advertisers should not only be able to disseminate the ads with a strong emotional appeal but also consider their contents in order to capture all types of viewers. On the whole, emotional ads have a high impact rate on the viewers, thus making it one of the desirable promotional approach for increasing sales volume.

References

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