The Role of Emotion in Ad Copy

Remember when we feared AI would flood B2B with robotic content? The delicious irony is it’s doing the exact opposite. For decades, B2B marketing’s unwritten rule was to strip away every trace of human emotion, leaving behind sterile facts and features. Just be rational, they said. Emotion is for consumer brands. As a result, we built jargon-filled spec sheets masquerading as ads, “Solution-driven” copy that solved nothing, and content so robotic it may as well have been written by a calculator. Now, AI holds up a mirror and shows us the truth: We forgot B2B buyers are human, too. We forgot that heartstrings loosen purse strings. Even when research showed ads tapping into emotion outperform rational B2B ads by 3× (LinkedIn B2B Institute, 2025). Humans created robotic B2B content. Now AI is helping us humanize it. Let’s look at a couple of success stories: 1. Zendesk’s "Frustration-First" Campaign - AI’s Role: Analyzed 5,000 support tickets for real human pain points. - Human Twist: Turned raw venting into relatable ads: "‘Why does every support tool feel like a maze with no exit?’ – Actual customer, 2024. Here’s the escape route." - Result: 41% more sign-ups vs. their standard "Efficient ticketing!" ads (G2 Case Study, 2024). 2. Atlassian’s "Overwhelmed Developers" LinkedIn Series - AI’s Role: Mined Reddit/developer forums for emotional pain points (e.g., "Jira makes me want to scream into the void"). - Human Twist: Created memes and confessional-style posts: "Raise your hand if your backlog feels like a horror movie sequel. 🙋♂️ We fixed that." - Result: 28% higher engagement, 2x more qualified leads (Atlassian Growth Report, Q3 2024). 3. Dropbox’s "Creative Guilt" Video Ads - AI’s Role: Identified a hidden emotion in user interviews: guilt about unused files. - Human Twist: Produced a tearjerker spot showing a father rediscovering old family photos: “Remember when ‘someday’ was a promise, not a folder?" - Result: 57% increase in premium upgrades (AdAge 2025). Instead of erasing humanity from B2B marketing, AI is helping restore it. Put this into action in 3 steps: 1️⃣ Feed AI raw customer voices (reviews, calls, LinkedIn posts). 2️⃣ Ask: "What emotions dominate? Give me exact quotes." 3️⃣ Rewrite your blandest/lowest-performing ad using those words. Your buyers want to be seen. And they’re rewarding the brands that see them. The brands winning 2025 will be those using AI to listen hardest and infuse in the right emotions. #hicm #AI #b2bmarketing

Let me spill the tea on one of my biggest marketing wake-up calls. A few years ago, I worked on a campaign for a DTC skincare brand. We went all-in on the “rational” playbook—dermatologist-approved ingredients, clinical results, blah blah blah. Guess what? The moment the ads stopped, so did the sales. Ouch. Round two? Completely different story. We scrapped the boring stats and built a campaign around a real customer—a mom who’d been too self-conscious to take family photos for years. Her transformation wasn’t just skin-deep; it was life-changing. When we shared her story, the internet blew up. The takeaway? Emotional campaigns are more likely to generate buzz and shareability, driving more impressions and ultimately, sales. Tracksuit found that ads that elicit highly positive emotions are 27% more likely to go viral and generate word of mouth. What’s more, emotional ads are 40% more likely to reduce price sensitivity than all other ads. People will pay more for your brand if you make them truly FEEL something. At the crux of it all: Emotional ads stick in your mind and help you form positive brand associations. At any given time 95% of your target consumers aren’t ready to buy, but by creating an emotional connection with them, they are far more likely to remember you when they are. If you’re still leaning on rational, product-focused campaigns, I get it—I’ve been there! But it’s time to pivot. Tracksuit’s new report, The Emotion Effect, breaks down the “Seven Deadly Sins” of emotionless campaigns and shows you how to create ads that stick through plenty of real life examples. ✨ Ready to make every dollar work harder? Download the report 👉 https://hubs.li/Q02Zg_Bw0 Because when you tap into emotion, you’re not just selling—you’re connecting. ❤️

Being rational with your advertising is killing your brand. Here’s how the top 5% of marketers use emotion to triple their results. First, here's the uncomfortable truth about modern marketing: Your audience only considers 2-3 brands when making a purchase. Getting your brand into that 2-3 isn't about shouting about features or dropping prices. The data is clear from this report from Tracksuit: ➝ Emotional campaigns double profit growth vs rational ads ➝ Brands with emotional connections maintain premium pricing ➝ Emotional content gets 27% more organic sharing So what does this mean for you? ➝ Stop chasing immediate buyers with your marketing (they're only 5% of your market) ➝ Build an emotional connection through personal brand/meaningful stories (drives 61% higher brand differentiation) ➝ Plant memory seeds in your customers minds (hint: emotions last longer than facts) The proof? Just ask Volvo Trucks. They ignored the obvious route of showcasing steering precision and technical specs. Instead, they filmed Jean-Claude Van Damme doing splits between two reversing trucks. The marketing team probably faced resistance: ➝ "But our audience is B2B" ➝ "Truckers don't care about fancy ads" ➝ "We need to talk about our product features" But their emotional gamble paid off spectacularly with: ➝ Zero media spend ➝ 100 million organic views ➝ 24% sales increase ➝ Cannes Grand Prix winner (not so marketing related, but a nice touch) Think about the last ad that made you feel something… Now think about the last ad that listed product features. Which one do you remember? That’s the choice your customers make every day. TLDR? Next time you make an ad ask yourself: "Will someone remember how this made them feel in 6 months?" If the answer is no, you're not building a brand. You're just making noise.

We’ve spent millions on Meta Ads this year—and here’s the #1 lesson I’ve learned: If your ads aren’t connected to human emotion, they’ll fail. 📉 High-budget campaigns flop when they focus on features, not feelings. 📈 Simple, relatable creatives that speak to a customer’s “why” drive real growth. Here’s a quick example: We worked with a brand selling outdoor furniture that generated $13,000,000 in 2024. Instead of shouting about discounts, we ran ads with copy like this one: "More laughter. More sunsets. More moments. Build your perfect outdoor escape." The result? 🚀 Click-through rates increased 34%. 💰 Sales increased 70% in 90 days. The takeaway? People don’t buy products—they buy what the product makes possible: 👉 Peace of mind. 👉 Better moments. 👉 A better version of themselves. Before you run your next ad, ask yourself: “What does this product make someone feel?” If you can answer that, you’re on the path to better results. Enjoy this? Repost it to your network and follow Chris Marrano for more. Want to improve your Shopify results? Join our newsletter of thousands of subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/eqzi5mtV

You know what’s killing brands right now? They’re boring. Straight up. If you’re not making people feel something, you’re just another product on the shelf. Here’s the thing: when Aaron Nosbisch launched BRĒZ, he could’ve gone the easy route—only focusing on the ingredients, calories, effect and margin. The things people think they care about. But that’s not how it works. You know what people actually connect with? That feeling of cracking open a can and saying, “This is exactly what I needed.” That’s the emotional hook we needed! But here’s where most brands mess up—they’re stuck in “rational robot” mode. Features, discounts, rinse, repeat. And then they wonder why nobody cares. Here’s the truth: in a crowded market, you need to make people care. You need to build emotional connection to foster positive associations in the mind of your consumers, ensuring your brand is one of the 2-3 in their consideration set when they’re ready to purchase. And the data? It’s on your side. Emotional campaigns are almost twice as likely to make people see your brand as unique (shoutout to this IPA data for backing us up). Tracksuit research also provides compelling evidence for the ‘emotion effect’ where emotional storytelling outperforms rational approaches across all platforms - from traditional media to digital channels. In fact, emotional ads will even make you more money, reducing price sensitivity by 40% compared to all other ads. People are willing to pay more for the brands that make them care. So if your brand’s been playing it safe, here’s your wake-up call: 1️⃣ Quit chasing quick sales like they’re the last donut at the office. Sure, you might get a sugar rush, but you’re setting yourself up for a crash. Think long-term by building brand equity through emotional connection so that when the 95% of your market that isn’t ready to buy now but will be in the future, will think of your brand first when they are. 2️⃣ Ditch the “look at my shiny product!” vibe. Your product isn’t the hero—your customer’s story is. At Brez, we leaned into the lifestyle, the vibe, the escape. That’s what keeps people coming back. 3️⃣ Go all in on connection. Tell stories, build community, be freaking human. People don’t want to buy from brands—they want to buy into them. Told through the lens of the seven “deadly sins” of emotionless advertising, Tracksuits team recent report breaks down how you can harness emotion to fuel brand growth, with plenty of data-backed examples. Check it out here >> https://hubs.li/Q02ZhhSL0

We talk about emotion a lot in marketing. But how do you sow the seeds of emotion effectively? When I say "emotion," I don't mean moving people to tears or promoting the emotional benefits of your product necessarily. I mean doing things that make people FEEL something while they experience your message and/or brand so they listen, engage, remember, and trust. Emotion is a cheat code. The more you can evoke it, the better you will fare. → Emotion makes your message more interesting and alluring We developed emotions so we can respond to environmental threats and opportunities and not die. Which means emotions naturally arouse attention. → Emotion makes your message more memorable. Emotional events activate our amygdala (emotional processing) and hippocampus (episodic memory) at almost the exact same time, which results in our amygdala enhancing attention and perception, which helps our hippocampus store memories more effectively. → Emotion plays a critical role in the decision-making process Want to win competitive deals? Make buyers feel emotionally closer to you. Emotion can help persuade, influence, and engender trust. So how do you sow the seeds of emotion in your content? Two ways: 1. Address rational topics in an emotional way 2. Address emotional topics in a rational way First, you can address highly rational topics in an emotional way. Stick your rational message in an emotional vessel that incorporates humor, nostalgia, story, passion, surprise, or empathy (or all of the above). Make an otherwise rational argument funny, or nostalgic, or surprising. Second, you can address emotional topics in a rational way. Literally, just talk about the topics your buyers feel emotionally close to in your industry. Voice your opinion on a rational topic that evokes fear, doubt, hope, excitement, or frustration in your buyers. My esteemed colleague, Obaid Durrani, is the master of emotion. He can sprinkle emotion on his rational, logical messages about marketing, or he can go straight to the heart of the argument in his industry. Either way, everything he publishes evokes emotion, which makes people listen, remember, and trust. And I works. We've run this two-pronged approach to evoking emotions at three different companies together. Viral posts, memorable associations, us vs. them decisions... emotions underpinned them all. Emotion doesn't need to be hard. It just needs to fall into one of two categories.

If you're not harnessing emotions in your ad creative... you're losing money. Grabbing attention is just the start. The real challenge? Creating emotional connections that drive action. Let’s dive into how emotions can lift your ad performance. 1️⃣ Emotions Create Stronger Memory Retention ↳ People are more likely to remember a fact when it’s wrapped in emotion, as emotions activate the brain's emotional center, strengthening memory retention. ↳ Ads that evoke strong feelings (whether joy, surprise, or fear) are more likely to stick in the minds of your audience, enhancing brand recall and recognition. 2️⃣ Emotional Ads Drive Higher Engagement ↳ Content that elicits high-arousal emotions, like excitement or anger, is more likely to be shared. ↳ Emotionally charged ads have a higher chance of going viral, amplifying reach, and generating buzz, which magnifies the overall impact of your campaign. 3️⃣ Emotions Influence Purchasing Decisions ↳ Emotional response can be more influential on purchasing decisions than the content itself. ↳ By triggering emotions like nostalgia or joy, you can drive conversions more effectively, making your ad not just informative but compelling. 4️⃣ Emotional Branding Creates Loyalty ↳ Brands that connect emotionally with their audience build deeper loyalty. Emotionally connected consumers are more likely to advocate for a brand. ↳ Consistently evoking positive emotions turns customers into loyal advocates who promote your brand. 5️⃣ Emotional Advertising Reduces Price Sensitivity ↳ When consumers are emotionally attached to a brand, they become less sensitive to price changes. ↳ Emotional engagement allows you to position your brand as a premium choice, offering not just a product but an emotional experience, which justifies higher prices. Conclusion: ↳ Emotional advertising is a strategic lever that can significantly enhance your campaign's effectiveness. By leveraging emotions, you create more memorable, compelling, and impactful campaigns that drive meaningful results. Found this useful? Like, follow, and share ♻️ so others can benefit too!