It’s how it makes us feel …
“We love sport because of how it makes us feel.”
So ran the headline on the BBC’s cricket page after England had just won the 5th Men’s Ashes Test at the Oval.
Whilst there were 22 men involved in that game, the article’s focus was on just one of them.
Stuart Broad.
Dreams don’t come bigger or better than his last ever cricket match.
Striking his last ball in Test cricket for six and then claiming the last wicket with his final ball as Australia were bowled out just 49 runs short of their target.
My goodness, that made us all feel good.
Even if cricket isn’t your thing at least it wiped the relentless “We’re going to hell in a handcart” headlines from the news for a while.
But without all the drama and excitement would anyone have bothered paying it any attention?
A thought which crosses my mind sometimes when reading the copy used in many items of promotional material I come across.
Whilst much of it is excellent, a good proportion reads like it’s been written by a robot with an emotional IQ somewhere south of zero.
Just as in sport, it’s the emotional engagement which so often moves us to make a purchase.
Even everyday items such as a bar of chocolate.
You don’t go and buy a bar of chocolate for its nutritional content, do you?
You buy it because it tastes fantastic and eating it makes you feel good.
Or at least it does until you’ve finished the half-pound bar and wished you’d stopped sooner.
Rarely do we buy the “product” but sure as eggs are eggs, we do buy what it does for us.
Just a thought as you refresh your promotional material and gear up for the Autumn exhibitions.
Until next time.
Alec