Today I remembered a documentary on the making of Jaws. Obviously a very successful film. But why?
One statement in the documentary captured it for me: “It struck a primal chord in the American public”. The movie was well made, which helped make the message memorable, but the premace itself was powerful. Amost everyone has swam in an ocean, but few had avivid and memorable picture stored in their mind of what it would be like for a shark from the deeps of the ocean, unseen and unheard, clamping down on your legs, sucking you underwater, never to be seen again — until Jaws.
When you think of marketing and persuasion, you think of tapping into customers’ emotions, and tying those emotions to your brand and promise of your product or service. But even more powerful is to tap into the primal chord of emotion in people. What are their deepest fears and aspirations? Does your message reach this raw emotion, or even scratch the surface? Could it?