u Engineers are often stereotyped as hyper-analytical beings with negligible emo-
tional depth who make decisions based on data, logic, and cold, hard facts. Let
me tell you something based years of experience working with various kinds of
engineers: Data may be how they
make calculations, but it’s not how
they make decisions. My experi-
ence shows that engineers make
decisions (at least non-technical
decisions) just like the rest of us—
based on emotion and backfilled
with logic. I’m not denigrating en-
gineers; I’m pointing to a fundamental human proclivity for following our hearts
while convincing our brains that they’re in charge. Nothing to be ashamed of here.
We all believe we’re immune to emotional decision-making, and yet we all do it.
You shouldn’t need any more reason than that to invest time in some serious
visioning about your business brand. It’s brand that conveys emotion, and it’s
emotion that drives profit. You can make emotion work for you.
Rory Sutherland wrote an article for the May issue of Entrepreneur magazine
called “The Best Ideas Are the Ones That Make the Least Sense.” He gives some
simple, relatable examples of our irrationality as consumers, including the fact
that Ikea furniture has to be assembled by the user because the company found
that customers assign greater value to furniture they put together themselves.
“We don’t value things; we value their meaning. What they are is determined by
the laws of physics, but what they mean is determined by the laws of psychology,”
Sutherland writes. He argues that alchemists of old didn’t need to go through all
the trouble of trying to transform lead into gold. “All you need to do is to tinker
with human psychology so that it feels as valuable as gold, at which point, who
cares that it isn’t actually gold? If you think that’s impossible, look at the paper
money in your wallet; the value is exclusively psychological.”
Your brand is not merely important. In fact, it’s essential because it outranks
product quality in terms of the impact it can have on consumers. In his Entre-
preneur article, Sutherland cites an example. A research company specializing in
analyzing carbonated beverages had never seen a worse consumer reaction to
the flavor of a proposed product than when it did taste tests of Red Bull. And yet,
illogically, 6 billion cans of this medicinal tasting drink are now sold annually.
People don’t value things because they are inherently valuable. People value
things that are imbued with meaning. What emotions are you eliciting in consum-
ers with your brand? Take advantage of the opportunity to infuse your personali-
ty and your philosophy into your brand, and show how what you do can bring so
much happiness to your clients and the world. •Jane Gaboury
Director of PublicationsEMOTION IS
EVERYTHING
AND BRAND EQUALS EMOTIONEDITOR’S NOTE
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to emotional decision-making,
and yet we all do it.10 PPMAG.COM