Emotional vs rational branding in the housing market

The Team, Branding, Emotional Branding, Brand Strategy

It’s been a year since The Team created a new visual identity for Rightmove, one of the UK’s top ten busiest websites.

To convey Rightmove’s customer proposition ‘find your happy’, The Team injected human warmth and charm into the brand with a refreshed visual identity.

The UK housing market is said to be fast and volatile, with brands in this space having to carefully decide how to market to consumers effectively.

Why is emotional branding important?

We asked Dan Dufour, the man behind the Rightmove rebrand at The Team, the importance of emotional branding vs rational branding for companies in the housing sector given the current climate.

“Housing is a political hot potato. With a complicated market, people are priced out of buying a home and cost is making the headlines.

But a home is a fundamental human need, providing us with safety, stability and a sense of belonging. Resulting in housing becoming an emotionally rich brand category.

The Institute of Practitioners of Advertising has found that emotional brand advertising is twice as efficient as rational, and delivers twice the profit.

Decoded: Behind Why We Buy by Phil Barden explores 5 psychological insights to market better. There is a rational and an emotional side of the brain. System 1, the emotional side, is where most thinking is done on autopilot. Decisions are made quickly using intuition. System 2, the rational side, is where logical and careful considerations are made. Barden states that the secret to smart marketing is selling to the ‘autopilot’, tapping into the emotional side, through emotional branding, means you can connect with consumers quicker.

When should emotional branding be used?

In a competitive market, more housing brands need to think about how they appeal to consumers emotionally by creating emotional brand stories. Brick, mortar and price, the rational, are important but what a consumer feels about housing and what it provides them are essential in creating a brand connection for successful marketing. This is evident in Rightmove’s new marketing campaign.

Rightmove have recently shifted their marketing strategy to encourage people to find a new home when life moves on. Launched on Christmas day 2017, the new Rightmove campaign is focussed on fresh starts for home-owners or home-hunters when they move into the next phase of their lives. It is based on emotional, real-life moments, and has the “ahh factor” needed to stand-out.”

If you would like to add emotion to your brand strategy and identity, get in touch so we can create real-life connections between your brand and consumers.