Emotionomics leverating emotions for business success

i

Praise for Emotionomics
“Dan Hill’s book is a revelation. Marketers have clearly
overemphasized the power of rational over emotional factors in
their ads, packaging, product design, and sales presentations. We
all know that emotions count but we lacked the vocabulary and
tools for capturing and quantifying emotional appeals and impacts.
Read this book so that your next marketing campaign creates high
emotional buy-in.”
Philip Kotler, S C Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
“Emotionomics leads the global business mindset into a new
paradigm – one that demands and rewards sensory and emotional
connections between the 21st-century corporate entity and its
consumers. Dan Hill’s expertise guides business in securing the
bonds of empathy that will drive commercial growth over the
coming years.”
Martin Lindstrom, author of BRAND sense and BRANDchild
“Dan Hill’s new book is the most penetrating and playful application
of the latest research in the psychology of emotions, human
interaction, neuroscience and endocrinology to sales and marketing.
Read it – you’ll never think about your brand the same again!”
Professor Richard Boyatzis, Departments of Organizational Behavior and
Psychology Case Western Reserve University, co-author of Primal
Leadership and Resonant Leadership
“Dan Hill tantalizes us to the very end! He travels along familiar
paths to what we are afraid to know and yet knew all along.
Emotionomics compels us to rethink all old assumptions. It captures
the heart of capitalism! We must blend our aspirations and business

imagination with our heartfelt intentions to truly engage those we
serve. This is a ‘must read’ for all great leaders and great followers!”
Juli Ann Reynolds, President & CEO, Tom Peters Company


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“Emotionomics is a powerful new work that pushes the limits of
research into the emotional dynamics that connect brands with
people. By using facial movements as an expression of the
subconscious, Emotionomics captures powerful emotional responses
and gives new insights into people’s subconscious realities. This book
is a must-read for marketers and designers, as it sheds new light on
the ways brands can better fulfil consumers’ unspoken desires.”
Marc Gobé, author of Emotional Branding and Brandjam
and Chairman and CEO, Desgrippes Gobé
“Dan Hill has cracked the code on how to get deep inside the
hearts and minds of today’s consumer. Emotionomics provides a
‘radical’ approach to the holy grail of business: find out what the
customer really wants. He deftly blends the best of the old (rational
appeal) with the radically new (emotional connection) to offer
businesses an effective way to reframe their products and their
marketing. The book itself is visually exciting, simply presented,
and well designed. Halleluiah! The heart can no longer be
marginalized if you really want to connect to your customer.”
Robyn Waters, author of The Trendmaster’s Guide and
The Hummer and the Mini: Navigating the Contradictions of the
New Trend Landscape
“Every aspiring experience stager must understand how to
manipulate – and I mean that in the nicest possible way! – the

emotions of its customers. Read Emotionomics to learn how to do so
in a way they will perceive as authentic. How you market to your
customers will never be the same.”
B Joseph Pine II, co-author of The Experience Economy and
Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want
“Emotions matter! Long gone are the days when it was enough to
help your customers ‘understand’ what you sell, or grasp rationally
what it can do for them. On today’s increasingly competitive
playing field, marketers missing emotional savvy won’t be able to
keep up. Happily, Dan Hill’s compelling examples show how the
findings can predict the future before you commit your budget. If
you’re looking to build the success rate of your marketing,
communication or hiring decisions – and who isn’t? – cancel your
meetings until you’ve read Emotionomics cover to cover!”
Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women


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“Consumers often answer ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no’.
Emotionomics will help you get emotionally and rationally integrated
and finally understood.”
Michael J Silverstein, author of Treasure Hunt and
Senior Vice President, Boston Consulting Group
“Reading Dan Hill’s new book, Emotionomics, was fascinating, with
hundreds of useful ways of discovering how consumers say one
thing but feel and do another. Dan gets to the ‘heart’ of consumer
choice and brand loyalty, proving that if our eyes are mirrors of the
soul, then our faces are translators of desire.”
Faith Popcorn, author of The Popcorn Report

“Emotionomics is a truly unique read. Mr Hill’s cutting edge
applications of sensory, emotional and rational research are a must
for today’s business environment.”
Daniel H Pink, author of A Whole New Mind
“Business – take heed! Emotions can make the difference between
success and failure, and Dan Hill’s book offers valuable insights.”
Daniel L Shapiro PhD, Harvard Negotiation Project; co-author of
Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate
“Dan Hill’s new book should be a core part of any Human
Performance Centre of Excellence across industries. His fresh
insight and keen understanding of emotions and their critical
‘mind–business’ connection helps define the future of successful
and happy companies that realize exceptional results. Read it,
enjoy it, apply it!”
Cathy L Greenburg PhD, co-author with Marshall Goldsmith of
Global Leadership Next Generation and co-author of What Happy
Companies Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can
Change Your Company for the Better
“Emotionomics is a must read for marketing and advertising
executives looking for more creative insights to benefit their
brands, products and services. It makes current fads such as
hypnotized focus groups, anthropological explorations and
derived importance analyses look like tools from another century.”
Kevin J Clancy PhD, Chairman, Copernicus Marketing Consulting
and Research


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“Emotionomics is a must-read book for all businesses aiming to create

and maintain a dynamic, persistent and potent brand. Most brand
owners fail to infuse emotional attributes to their brands. The
dynamic of how emotions can be utilized to sell your brand is very
well-outlined and described in the pages of this book. Fasten your
seat belts and discover what you’ve missed in your organization and
your brand, in order to be productive, creative and to engage with
your target audience. The invaluable insights in this book are the
keys to your success for your brands to flourish both locally and
globally.”
Said Aghil Baaghil, marketing strategist and author of Eccentric
Marketing
“Being able to appeal to customers emotionally is the way to success
in the marketplace. It is a profound transformation. It is not easy,
but Dan Hill shows how to do it – in a convincing and fun way.”
Rolf Jensen, author of The Dream Society


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A profound, practical guide to navigating the
emotional dynamics that determine a
company’s sales and productivity
Step closer to customers and employees, step ahead of competitors. How?
First, by acknowledging the say/feel gap: the frequent disconnect between
what people say versus how they feel and what they will actually do. Then
by adopting a new approach to measure and manage emotions. Achieve
success by ensuring that one’s efforts avoid the say/feel gap into which
most of the business world falls.
In the tradition of Blink and Emotional Intelligence, Dan Hill takes a
concise, incisive look at how breakthroughs in brain science have mindopening implications for how companies should be conducting business

in the 21st century. Gone is the old consumer and worker model in which
appeals to utilitarian benefits alone will carry the day. Instead, making a
sensory–emotional connection through superior creativity and empathy
becomes the key to winning over those on whom profitability depends.
What can bridge the say/feel gap, exposing the self-justifying rationalizations (intellectual alibis) that often mask people’s true, intuitive gut
reaction? It’s facial coding, a research tool so powerful that both the CIA
and FBI rely on it and so universal that, as Charles Darwin first realized,
even a person born blind signals feelings to others using the same facial
muscle movements.
As the originator and decade-long veteran of applying facial coding to
business issues, Hill is uniquely qualified to quantify the extent of the
say/feel gap and instruct companies on ways to maximize emotional buy-in.
Advantage now depends on mastering the emotional dynamics that actually drive results. So to help readers survive and thrive in today’s extraordinarily competitive environment, Emotionomics comes complete with:

• emotional strategies for success, using the Emotionomics Matrix™ as
•
•
•
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a guide;
specific, tactical action plans ready to be enacted;
real-life examples from leading companies;
a top-line introduction of how to read faces;
a vast supply of helpful, provocative and, at times, amusing insights
about human nature.


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vii

Emotionomics


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ix

Emotionomics
Leveraging emotions for
business success

Revised Edition

Dan Hill

London and Philadelphia


x
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in
this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors

cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No
responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining
from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the
editor, the publisher or the author.
First published in the United States in 2007 by Adams Business & Professional
Revised first edition published in Great Britain and the United States in 2008 by
Kogan Page Limited
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by
the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent
to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
120 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JN
United Kingdom
www.koganpage.com

525 South 4th Street, #241
Philadelphia PA 19147
USA

© Dan Hill, 2007, 2008
The right of Dan Hill to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 978 0 7494 5399 2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hill, Dan, 1959Emotionomics : leveraging emotions for business success / Dan Hill. – Rev. ed.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0-7494–5399–2
1. Economics–Psychological aspects. 2. Decision making–Psychological aspects.
3. Emotions. I. Title.
HB74.P8H55 2008
658.001Ј9–dc22
2008023377
Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd


xi

To Lucinda Williams for ‘Song to a Poet’
and to Karen for everything else


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xiii

Contents
Foreword by Sam Simon
Acknowledgements
Introduction

xvii
xxi
1

Part One: Why emotions matter

13

1

The new mental model
Overview
Science: the meaning of a three-part brain
Psychology: balancing blind instinct with growth
Economics: plugging emotions into the equation

15
16
17
23
28

2

The science of facial coding
Overview
The challenge: when words alone fail us
Origins and scope: why and how facial coding works
Deliverables: facial coding in practice

37
38
39
44
60

3

Emotions and motivations
Overview
Contextualizing emotions: how feelings fuel behaviour
Motivations: what spurs us on
The Emotionomics Matrix: introducing a strategic model

75
76
77
85
89


xiv Contents

Part Two: Marketplace applications

97

4

Branding

Overview
Reflected beliefs: keep consumers’ values in view
Belonging: where status and security meet
Telling a story: selling familiarity and comfort
Conclusion

99
100
101
109
114
126

5

Offer design, packaging and usability
Overview
Winning superiority: nurturing a ‘wow’
Sensory payoff: the way to the heart
Functional fulfilment: joy not frustration
Conclusion

129
130
131
142
148
154

6

Advertising
Overview
Being absorbing: what stopping power entails
The invisible line: why knowing the target market matters
Reassurance: defusing scepticism
Conclusion

157
158
159
168
178
189

7

Sales
Overview
Commitment: adopting a relationship model
Unity: staying in step with the prospect
Interwoven rewards: creating a ‘we’ mentality
Conclusion

193
194
195
203
218
224

8

Retail and service
Overview
Respectfulness: enabling efficiency
Engagement: bringing back delight
Reassurance: proving oneself right
Conclusion

227
228
229
236
246
253


Contents xv

Part Three: Workplace applications

255

9

Leadership
Overview
The greater good: why character matters
Clear vision: forward thinking and feeling

Cohesive culture: bringing everyone along
Conclusion

257
258
259
269
280
286

10 Employee management
Overview
Compatibility: identifying what works
Reciprocating trust: avoid disconnects
Mission critical: inspiring a questing mentality
Conclusion

289
290
291
300
314
320

Afterword

323

References
Credits and permissions

Index

327
337
341


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xvii

Foreword
I met Dan Hill when he was a fellow panellist on a PBS show called Mental
Engineering. You’ve probably never heard of it, but Bill Moyers called it
‘the most interesting half hour of social commentary on television’.
On the show, they would screen commercials and the panel would
analyse them for ‘larger meanings’. I know that sounds kind of wide
open, but the discussions often revealed political, sociological or psychological messages in the ads that you would never have thought about
unless you were a panellist on a national television show and were
worried about looking stupid and not having anything to say. The panel
was usually composed of three highly educated intellectuals, such as Dan
Hill, and some comic relief, usually a stand-up comedian who was on the
road for a gig in Minneapolis, or sometimes me.
Most of the commercials were bad, even offensive. No surprise there.
You’ve probably seen a few yourselves. Making fun of them was like
shooting fish in a barrel. But Dan had a unique ability to identify the
mistakes the advertisements – and the people that were paying for them –

were making. He was insightful. He even had an answer to the big question: ‘Why do all these intelligent people with all their sophisticated
testing waste so much money on these horrible commercials?’
I’m fond of saying that I never worked a day in my life, and I think that
most coal miners would agree that comedy writing, which is basically
sitting in a room with a bunch of funny people while you crack jokes and
eat catered food, isn’t really work, but we did have testing. Just like in the
real business world. Networks would use it to help decide what pilots to
pick up, and just like with products and ads in the real business world, the
testing process seemed wildly inaccurate. Every year it seemed that a truly
funny pilot would test poorly and not get picked up, while a pilot that
everyone hated would test ‘through the roof ’, only to get on the air and
be cancelled after one showing. Sometimes a pilot would test badly, get on
the air through a miracle, such as a network executive trusting his own
judgement, and would go on to become one of the finest, longest-running
shows in the history of television. I think Cheers, a show I’m proud to have
worked on, was one of those.


xviii Foreword

The show that will be in the first line of my obituary, The Simpsons, tested
through the roof. The scores were so crazy high that the guy who was
interpreting the data for us didn’t really know how to deal with it. One of
the characters was an infant named Maggie. She didn’t do anything. She
couldn’t even talk. All she did was make a sucking noise on a pacifier. Still,
her test score was a 97, which meant that test audiences liked her better
than 97 per cent of all the characters from every pilot tested in the history
of network television. Now normally, the network would have asked us to
dump the rest of the cast, revamp the show, and make this amazing
Maggie character the star of the series, but they didn’t. Because, at 97 per

cent, Maggie was still actually the lowest-testing character on the show. So
they advised us not to do a lot of stories about Maggie.
It’s an exception that proves the rule, I think. The Simpsons was not only
good, but it contained a lot of the stuff – fast pace, vulgarity, broad
cartoony performances – that allowed bad shows to get high scores. It was
something so powerful the system couldn’t screw it up.
Chocolate would probably have tested well, too. I doubt anyone would
have tasted chocolate for the first time and wondered how such a Godawful tasting product ever got to market the way I did when I first tasted,
for example, Tab energy drink. I’m sure anyone that watched Emeril!, the
short-lived situation comedy starring chef Emeril LaGasse, wondered
what NBC was thinking. Ever been to Disney’s California Adventure?
It turns out that a lot of big companies are making a huge, fundamental
mistake, and Dan Hill knows what it is. They don’t know how to connect
with their customers emotionally.
Dan also knows how they can, and it’s all in this book.
As I said, I’m not a businessman, I don’t work, but if I ever decided to
give it a try, I think Emotionomics would be a very powerful weapon. For a
recreational reader like me, it’s fascinating and fun.
I’ve already worked the tidbit about the Red Bull can into the conversation at a couple of parties.
Sam Simon
co-creator of The Simpsons
writer, director and producer for Cheers, Taxi and The Drew Carey Show
Pacific Palisades, California


Foreword xix

Sam Simon

xx

The author


xxi

Acknowledgements
When I started on this book two years ago, I never expected it would be
this much work. Many drafts later, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude
to all of the people who have compelled me to keep revising so that the
book could best achieve its potential.
Three people in particular deserve my heartfelt thanks. The first is my
dear friend, Joe Rich, whose insights, humour and profound caring helped
me get to the human dimension of the business issues discussed here.
Conversations with Joe aided me greatly in developing the content. Second
is my wife, Karen Bernthal, who not only read and re-read chapters,
offering wise advice, but also had patience as weekends and evenings went
into this project. The third person is Andrew Langdell, who helped hone
my prose and whose creative wit can be found in the visuals that so enhance
this book. Emotionomics wouldn’t exist without his talents and effort.
Readers and editors have emerged from numerous parts of my life.
They include Judy Bell, Arlene Carroll, Jeff Christiansen, Joe Dylla,
Eldon Hill, Holly Johnson, Jennifer Manion, Jack Murphy, Kim Saxton,
Paul Schuster and Kathy Seamon.
Thanks also goes to the designer of the US edition, Jay Monroe of
Soulo Communications, and to Milt Adams of Beaver’s Pond Press for
having the vision and generosity of spirit to create a viable alternative to
how the publishing industry is normally run. Without Milt, the earlier
version of this book wouldn’t have been possible.

Finally, I appreciate the valuable input of staffers not already cited:
people like Joe Bockman, Nancy Christensen, Kate Cook, Dominique
DuCharme, Luke Elstad, Rhonda Farran, Nik Hengel, Todd Kringlie,
Kim Wanten and others who have kept Sensory Logic moving along while
I was distracted by getting this book finished.
To one and all, thank you.


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1

Introduction
So why are you here?
For far too long, emotions have been concealed behind closed doors and
ignored in favour of rationality and efficiency. But as businesses are forced
to forge emotional connections in this age of commoditization, emotions are
now front and centre.
Emotionomics opens this long-locked door and shows the importance of
leveraging emotions in business.


2 Emotionomics

Breakthroughs in brain science have
revealed that people are primarily
emotional decision makers. To help

readers capitalize on those scientific
findings, this book is twofold in
nature. At a strategic level, the key
point is that emotions matter.
Emotions are central, not peripheral, to both marketplace and
workplace behaviour. As a
result, companies able to identify, quantify and thereby act
on achieving emotional buyin or acceptance from
consumers and employees
alike will enjoy a tremendous competitive advantage.
Meanwhile, at a tactical
level this book showcases
facial coding – the research
tool highlighted in Malcolm
Gladwell’s Blink has brought to popular
Gladwell’s bestseller, Blink attention the degree to which people make
(2005) – as a means of scien- quick, intuitive decisions and how facial coding
tifically gauging emotional can be used to reveal them.
response. It’s a powerful tool
my company, Sensory Logic, Inc, first brought to business applications a
decade ago.
Taken together, both the theory and practice of combining psychology,
biology and commerce, as shown in this book, can benefit three distinct
groups of readers:

• The first group consists of business leaders, creatives (including

•

notably those at advertising agencies and design firms) as well as

anybody else in business who has long advocated for the importance
of emotional buy-in in achieving business results. For them, this book
is meant not only as affirmation or supporting evidence for their
views, but also as a source of additional insights.
Second, the book is meant to serve those readers who have been
noticing the accelerating wealth of brain science and emotion-related
articles in mainstream publications. For them, this book represents an
opportunity to get up to speed on a topic they find interesting and
sense is vital, but haven’t had the time to investigate on their own.