从宝洁看奥运广告大战的情感牌

    再过一个月，索契冬季奥运会（Sochi Olympics）就要开幕了。本周一，旗下拥有汰渍（Tide）、帮宝适（Pampers）、吉列（Gillette）、金霸王电池（Duracell）、邦蒂纸巾（Bounty）等知名大众品牌的宝洁公司（Procter & Gamble）发布了索契冬季奥运会期间的宣传广告，同时也是宝洁公司“感谢妈妈”系列广告中的最新一则。这段时长两分钟的广告讲述了运动员们从蹒跚学步的婴儿变成奥运赢家的过程，结尾的广告词是：“您教会了我们，跌倒只会让我们更强大。谢谢你，妈妈。”

    截至周二一早，在视频网站YouTube，这段广告就被点击了约130万次。网友们的意见基本是一边倒：荡气回肠、感人至深。澳大利亚报刊AdNews在Twitter上转发了这条广告的链接，同时提醒网友：“观看之前请准备好纸巾。”其他Twitter评论也都认为这则广告“非常感人”，“绝对催人泪下”。

    然而，在社交媒体上快速搜索一下后你会发现，网友们虽然深受感动，却并没有立刻跑去买一袋汰渍洗衣粉。

    人人都喜欢温馨动人的瞬间，但是从商业的角度来说，让观众热泪盈眶是否真能带来利润呢？

    答案是：确定无疑。

    美国雪城大学（Syracuse University）广告学教授爱德华•罗素说，赚人热泪的广告虽然不会立即提升销量，却会在公司与顾客之间创造一条情感纽带，激励消费者购买这家公司更多的产品。罗素说，以宝洁为例，如果其广告传达出了它对消费者及他们经历的深切理解，观众很可能会得出结论：宝洁的产品比其它公司的产品更适合他们。

    一些产品本身比较平庸的公司如果想要成功，也可以用拨动消费者的心弦这一招。“大家可以参照一下贺曼公司（Hallmark）”，罗素说。在他看来，贺曼公司的感性广告“在消费者与贺曼品牌之间创造了一条情感纽带，而贺曼的产品其实相当一般。他们卖的不过一张该死的卡片而已，但消费者却会被这种情感纽带所维系，心甘情愿购买更多的产品。”这番话对于宝洁也同样适用，正是使用了这一策略，宝洁才保持了洗衣粉、剃须刀、电池等家居用品的长期稳定销量。

    据宝洁估计，2012年伦敦夏季奥运会中，“感谢妈妈”活动共为公司增加了500万美元的收益。当《财富》杂志问及宝洁对索契冬季奥运会的销售预测时，宝洁北美营销与品牌运营副总裁乔迪•艾伦回应道，她还没有准备好要讨论公司的销售目标。

    据宝洁称，这则索契冬季奥运会的宣传广告反映了所有母亲在培养孩子的韧性和坚定信念方面的探索。据乔迪•艾伦说，宝洁正在往它的广告系列中加入一些单一品牌广告。这些广告讲述的都是符合宝洁“品牌价值”的“真实故事”，比如由美国滑雪运动员泰德•里格蒂出演的维克斯（Vicks）品牌广告。艾伦说：“我们发现，消费者一旦知道某件产品是宝洁生产的，就会产生积极的联想。”

    感性广告在奥运会期间尤为普遍。观众们被奥运会 “战胜重重困难终获成功”的主题所感染，这时候会更喜欢看一些感人的小故事，即使只是一些销售纸尿裤和纸巾的小广告。很多商家在奥运会期间的广告都有这种 “让人起鸡皮疙瘩”的风格，如全球支付技术公司Visa的“Go撼动世界（Go World）”，耐克（Nike）的“活出你的伟大（Find Your Greatness）”，百威淡啤（Bud Light）为1984年夏季奥运会制作的“中心地带（Heartland）”广告等等。

    On Monday, a month before the start of the Sochi Olympics, Procter & Gamble, the company behind household brands like Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Duracell, and Bounty, released the latest commercial in its Thank You Mom campaign. It's a two-minute spot that follows athletes from their childhood tumbles to their triumphs at the Games and ends with the tagline, "For teaching us that falling only makes us stronger. Thank you, Mom."

    By Tuesday morning, viewers had watched the ad about 1.3 million times on YouTube, and the reaction was nearly unanimous: It's an emotional roller coaster. "Tissues at the ready," tweeted AdNews when it linked to the spot. Other tweets called the ad "touching" and a "guaranteed tearjerker."

    Yet a quick search on social media yielded no responses that indicated that it had moved someone to immediately run to the store and buy some Tide.

    Everyone loves a warm-and-fuzzy now and then, but from a business perspective, does it pay to make your consumers teary-eyed?

    In a word: definitely.

    Ads that turn on the waterworks don't translate directly to increased sales, but they create an emotional bond between a company and its customers, says Edward Russell, an advertising professor at Syracuse University. That bond encourages consumers to pay more for a company's products. In P&G's (PG) case, if the ad communicates that the company understands its consumers and what they're going through, viewers are likely to conclude that the company's products fit them better than others, Russell says.

    Tugging at consumers' heartstrings is also a way for companies with somewhat run-of-the-mill products to stand out. "Look at Hallmark," Russell says. Its emotional ads "bring a bond to a particular brand that's fairly generic in its category. It's a friggin' card," Russell says. "But consumers feel that bond to that brand and are willing to pay more for it." The same could be said for P&G and its stable of household products like laundry detergent, razors, and batteries.

    P&G has estimated that its Thank You Mom campaign for the 2012 summer Olympics in London resulted in a $500 million sales lift. When asked about sales projections for the Sochi campaign, Jodi Allen, P&G vice president of North American Marketing and Brand Operations, told Fortune she wasn't prepared to discuss the company's goals.

    P&G says that the Sochi ad was created to tell the story of all moms in their quest to teach their children resiliency and determination. The company is supplementing its P&G ads with individual brand ads that tell "authentic stories" consistent with "the equity of the brand," like the Vicks ads featuring U.S. skier Ted Ligety, Allen says. "We have learned that consumers have a positive association when products are made by P&G," Allen says.

    Emotional ads are especially prevalent during the Olympics -- an against-all-odds-themed television event that primes viewers for sentimental stories, even if they're aimed at selling diapers and paper goods. Visa's Go World campaign, Nike's Find Your Greatness ad, andBud Light's 1984 Heartland commercial have all struck a similarly goose bump-inducing tone.