Feelings matter

Imagine walking into McDonald’s and finding caviar on the dollar menu.

You’d feel like you were getting away with something. You might tell your friends about it or come back for more the next day.

Now, imagine if a brand could bottle that feeling and offer it up every time you engaged with it.

You’d remember that brand, even choosing it over the others vying for your attention.  

This type of connection goes beyond a great name or an eye-catching identity or a memorable line of copy. It’s what’s behind those things. 

It’s a feeling. 

At Agenda, we believe strong brands start with strong feelings. So we begin every branding exercise by defining the emotions a brand should evoke. Knowing how you want your brand to make people feel ensures that each aspect leaves an indelible impression in hearts and minds.

So, what does brand feeling achieve? And what makes a feeling feel right?

Feelings creates focus

You’re building one brand but there can be different approaches to the story you’ll tell. 

When choosing a direction to take, it often comes down to feeling. It can be hard to know exactly what ideas you want your brand to stand for, but the associated feelings provoke a visceral response.

Building your brand with a strong emotion in mind from the start achieves focus, centering in on a truth that will guide the rest of brand development.

Feelings build alignment

If you told two people a brand was about joy, they could take it in very different directions. One might think of winning the lottery. Another might think about the birth of a child. Now, imagine instead you’re given a feeling: “when your teacher tells you to put your books away.”

This prompts a clearer picture of childlike joy and the anticipation of doing something novel.

Brand feeling brings us beyond the interpretation of a single word or phrase to a shared understanding of a robust sensation. This creates alignment across teams, from strategy to design to marketing. 

What makes a feeling feel right?

When done well, brand feeling is delightful–but not surprising.

It’s like unboxing an iPhone. Every detail is immaculate, from the pristine packaging to the way each accessory fits in its own perfect place. The phone itself is a blank canvas, waiting to be filled with details from your life. 

It’s exactly what you’d expect from Apple while simultaneously exceeding your expectations. And it makes you want more of that feeling. This is the promise of a brand: that every time someone engages with you, they’ll experience a feeling that can’t be found elsewhere.

How do you create brand feeling?

A successful brand feeling should balance relevance and specificity, making it meaningful to the people who engage with it. For example, if your audience skews younger you might avoid a feeling like “Attending your first Grateful Dead concert.”

But it should also be specific. Choosing something broad like “attending your favorite concert” won’t work since different concerts provoke different feelings. Classical music fans might expect to feel relaxation; EDM fans, quite the opposite. So, brand feeling should balance relevance to the audience with a level of specificity that can’t be misinterpreted.

Lastly, strong brand feelings are visceral. They draw on the senses to immediately transport you. Think about this: “hearing an ice cream truck on a hot summer day.” What senses does this evoke? The sound of music from the truck, the heat of the sun, the anticipation of the taste of ice cream. What does it make you feel? Nostalgia, excitement and simple satisfaction.

This feeling checks all the boxes–it’s likely to resonate with any audience while bringing you to a specific moment and place, and it’s rich with sensory details.

Be irresistible and unforgettable

Your brand does some heavy lifting. It ensures your business stands for something appealing to the people you need to reach and makes them stick with you long term.

Brand feeling makes that job much easier.

The ultimate goal is to center your brand on a feeling people don’t get to experience all the time and want more of, ensuring that everyone who encounters it feels driven to make your brand a part of their lives.