Finding the magic

The increasing use of emotion in advertising has been the subject of much discussion over the past decade. In order to understand how this shift has come about, consideration needs be given to the changes occurring in today's marketing environment, changes which have resulted in new marketing challenges. These challenges have reshaped the task which advertising is designed to accomplish and, hence, the nature of advertising itself. They have reshaped the way consumers respond to advertising, and the kind of research that is done to identify and measure that response. What follows is an examination of the classical approach to marketing and the environmental changes which are making this approach untenable for many of today's brands. These observations will provide insight into both the use of emotion in advertising and the new research techniques, which are being developed to create and evaluate emotional commercials.