There are two target markets we look at when coming up with a campaign.

There are the winners and then there are the losers, but we can only sell to one at a time.

Sounds harsh, but bear with me for a second.

At any given time of our life or in our day, we sometimes feel like a winner, while other times we feel like a no-good lousy loser. 

Popular culture, social media and other mediums remind us every day what losers we are.

Our friends are posting posts of their holidays, their “lifestyle”, their happy relationships, great bodies, the accessories they own, and all the super fun they are having.

And we are just missing out all the time.

Why? Because sometimes we feel we are losers. So we need the wise marketer to come and rescue us, immediately!

*** Trigger warning for the trolls: This is just an example and not aimed at body-shaming nor is it for scientific purposes. ***

For instance. I am fit, healthy and feel great. Therefore, I feel I am a winner and want to remain a winner. So I need a marketer to target products that will keep me a winner. Better food choices, excursions, hiking trails, mountain bikes etc.

This is called maintained levels of gratification targeting Pride, Lust, and Envy.

On the other hand, I may have an insecurity about my body. Bad food choices, inactivity, etc, with no inclination to improve.

Therefore, I need targeted marketers to soothe me with more snacks and more sugar, and of course, be bitter about it later.

This is soothing gratification targeting Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, and Wrath.

Or, alternatively, I may be inclined to improve my life or my body image. So, sell me healthier options but through the vision of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. But not in the form of health benefits, hell no! It needs to be the lifestyle I could have. Sun-soaked beaches, happy faces, 

This is called elevating gratification. Pride, Lust, Envy.

Whatever your product, it needs to fix my emotions by selling me something to uplift, empower, ail or fill that void.

Turn me into a winner, keep me a winner, or MAKE me THINK I am a winner!

When people are feeling vulnerable, guilty, sad or lonely, or have a desire to feel better, they buy things they do not really need. This is consummatory rewards, and we all have it!

Why? Because it feels good to have new stuff.

It’s just retail therapy.

Marketers know this and exploit it to its limit. They target their products, even lame ones, to resonate with our emotions to bring us to the point of selling the idea to us first.

That’s the gateway drug. One more click and we’re hooked.

Is it bad?

Who cares? A marketer’s job is to sell; your job is to buy with freedom of choice and with no gun aimed at your head.

This seems like an invasive means of selling which seemingly preys on weaknesses. Sure, but no matter who you are, you are not an exception to adopt consummatory rewards.

Freedom of choice is always there to either uplift your life or to use a temporary relief by means of consuming.

Sell me stuff to make me feel better!

This applies to every product available, from glow-in-the-dark toilet paper, liquid detergents, car tyres, all the way to the latest mobile phone.

If the advert promises us to not be losers any more, we will buy, and become wonderful again, for now.

The same applies if you are selling plumbing supplies, fishing tackle or frying pans.

Tell me that your plumbing company will save me from having to shove my hand down my own toilet.

Tell me that your organic-nano-carbon-graphite fishing rods with solar GPS will guarantee me to be a winner. Convince me that I can beat Willy, Billy and Jim at the next “fish-‘n-meet” and be on the cover of next month’s Hicksville newsletter.

Tell me that your non-stick-vegan-pet-friendly frying pan will boost my useless cooking skills so Mary Jane will finally make out with me.

Sell me the fantasy!

Sell me the emotion!

Sell me the dream!

Food, cars, vacations, homes, useless ornaments, coffee, saucers, linen, ottomans and kettles, they’re all the same. You have to make me “feel as though” I am a winner when I buy your wares.

The trick is identifying your audience, and this is where targeted emotions come into play.

Ever noticed that sports car manufacturers never advertise their cars with cowboys, dusty roads and short-jean-pant-wearing ladies playing with their lassos?

Why? Because Ferraris don’t look good in cow pastures.

Ever noticed that massive 3-tonne double-cab pickup trucks with extended back-loader, 35inch “gator-rough-rider-tyres”, carbon fibre bull-bars and rugged headlights are not marketed outside the Burj Khalifa or on the Monaco strip?

Why? Because hard-core-red-neck vehicles don’t bring glamour to draw drop-dead-gorgeous, gormless sugar babies willing to “put out”.

Target your audience, let it resonate, and let them buy.

But it takes some out-the-box thinking and damn hard work, with great results!