The heart is a vast market. Why? Because most of our actions,
including purchases, are driven by emotion. It’s easier, and more fun,
than to turn to the killjoy brain for a predictable cost-benefit analysis,
where the answer to “Should I buy this?” is usually “No.” The heart is
also powered by the greatest force in history: love.
We feel better when we love, nurture, and care for others. We also
live longer. The Okinawa Centenarian Study examined the lives of
people on the southern Japanese island, one of the world’s blue zones
for centenarians. The researchers found that these old folks ate a lot of
beans and drank every day (good news) in moderation (bummer).^3
They also exercised daily and were social animals.^4 Finally, they loved
and cared for large groups of people.^5 Recent research from the Johns
Hopkins University Center on Aging and Health found that caregivers
had an 18 percent lower mortality rate than noncaregivers.^6 Love
keeps you alive. It’s Darwinian—the species needs caregivers to skirt
extinction.
The heart may be irrational, but as a business strategy, targeting
the heart is a shrewd and sober strategy. In fact, the explosion of
consumer marketing that followed World War II was targeted, almost
exclusively, at the heart. The brands, slogans, and jingles were
engineered to latch onto what mattered most to consumers—what they
loved. The heart was the relentless focus of the real-life Don Drapers of
Madison Avenue. Thus, J.M. Smucker convinced people the love they
felt for their children was directly correlated to the peanut butter they
chose: “Choosy moms choose Jif.” Love is also the key to seasonal
promotion, from Christmas to all the Hallmark holidays: “Show Mom
how much you love her.” A diamond engagement ring that cost three
months’ salary was “forever.” Forever for 50 percent of us, that is.
For a marketer, each string tugging at the consumer’s heart
translates to margin. There’s (among others) beauty, patriotism,
friendship, masculinity, devotion, and above all, love. These are values
you can’t put a price on—but marketers do. And that provides the
markets of the heart with a cushion. Even if their competitors gain an
edge (like logistics or value), they can survive, and even thrive, as long
as they continue to connect with their customers’ irrational hearts.
If this all sounds superficial, it is. That’s the nature of passion—and
the heart is one of the few forces that can override the decisions of the