Consider the emotional difference between these two Adwords ads and see if you can surmise the principles behind the better one … they are the principles which distinguish hype from real emotional impact:

Keyword = “Hiking Boots”

AD #1: HYPEY

Freedom Hiking Boots
The Ultimate Hiking Freedom!
True Soar Freedom Boots
TrueSoarHikingBoots.com

This ad attempts to communicate the emotional benefit of freedom and adventure, but comes across “hypey” because there’s no logical grounding to an actual feature or function that’s obviously connected to the emotions.

What makes these boots the “ultimate in hiking freedom”? Why should the user believe they’ll “truly soar”?

Because the author had to “scream” from shaky ground and the ad won’t be effective, because there’s no “reason to believe”. This is what happens when people try to “add a little emotional attitude” to their advertising copy without understanding how emotion is actually grounded in reason!

AD #2: Real Emotional Impact

High Rise Hiking Boots
Transcend Safely My Friend
w/ Guaranteed No-Twist Boots
NoTwistHikingBoots.com

This author understands the connection between a specifically desired feature of the product (high rise ankles), the rational benefit it “ladders up to” (protects from twisting), and the emotional end benefit of freedom and adventure (which the author cleverly combined into “transcendence” and gently inserted in a single word).

Because the emotional leverage is anchored in something solid the consumer can rationally connect to their desire, the ad is much more believable and should not only get a higher CTR, but attract a more motivated prospect with the right emotional expectations to buy.

I’ll summarize these principles for you tomorrow 🙂