Have You Hugged Your Target’s Amygdala Today

Studies have shown that emotionally arousing events are more likely to be recalled later than more neutral events.  That’s because strong sensory stimulus causes information to bypass the short-term memory and go directly into long-term memory. It is a matter of survival.  Things that are very painful or scary should be remembered so as not to be repeated. Touch a hot stove once and you pretty much have that down. Conversely, more is more with things that are pleasurable. So, biologically speaking, memory is a very useful thing indeed.

Marketers know this and have tugged emotional strings in their targets for years. But marketers are rarely rigorous about making an emotional connection. Especially when there are pressures on sales, our industry tends to hit ‘em between the eyes with rational reasons to buy.

The research is clear, and the implication is as old as the species:  activity in the amygdala, the so called pleasure center in the brain, at the time of encoding information correlates with retention for that information.

So, don’t hit your target over the head. Get inside their heads and give their amygdalas a gentle hug.

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