HyperRealism As A Motivating Factor in Web Video, Part 2

Presenting Value in Marketing Communication

Eisenberg’s four reasons to buy are really a variation on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that form a pyramid of need, want, and desire: the basis for everything we require and everything we crave, starting with survival and ending with self-fulfillment. Most of us have moved up the pyramid from basic survival and procreation needs to more sophisticated desires based on belonging, identity, and self-actualization, the elements that form an Emotional Value Marketing Proposition.

Most sophisticated marketers understand the power and importance of self-actualization as an emotional trigger upon which a brand identity can be established and promoted; however a distinction must be made between the audience’s desire for individual fulfillment and a company’s objective of meeting its marketing goals. 
In a Web-based business environment populated with newly minted entrepreneurs who do not distinguish themselves from their businesses, it is easy to understand why this confusion exists.

A business is a living breathing entity unto itself and should not be confused with it’s owners, managers, and employees. It may be trendy to think you are your brand, but unless you’re Tony Robbins, with his personality, performance skills, resources and ‘shtick,’ it’s best to implement a less egocentric strategy.

Where self-actualization in marketing plays out is as a basis for presenting the emotional value you provide your audience: a desirable value that motivates that audience to act, and thereby fulfill your corporate marketing goals.

An ego-based misreading of self-actualization has led to a plethora of self-promotion and do-it-yourselfism that works against business success. It’s the fulfillment of your audiences desires that management needs to be concerned with, not their own.

Perception, Reality, and Communication

Once you’ve figured out what your Emotional Value Proposition is, the next thing is to figure out how to present it, which brings us to the idea of hyperrealism, a term we use for developing effective Web-based video presentations.

Marketing communication is essentially a storytelling discipline that relies on shorthand reference and pattern recognition wrapped in the context of an idealized reality, what we call hyperrealism. In art, hyperrealism is intended to convey something deeper and more significant than what mere reality can convey, and the same principle holds true for marketing communication. Reality is messy, complex, and confused, while hyperrealism is simplified and focused, a prime directive in any effective marketing, branding, and advertising strategy. You need to simplify in order to clarify, in order to persuade.

HyperRealism As A Concept Development Principle

Every sane human being understands gangsters and serial killers are bad, yet television audiences flock to consume episodes of the ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Dexter.’ In the same way most of us know the images presented by Victoria’s Secret bear little relation to reality. These examples may be obvious, but all effective commercial presentation is stylized, not because it’s an effort to mislead, but rather because it needs to focus and clarify a message aimed at engaging and connecting to an audience on an emotional level.

In order to connect to your audience your marketing presentation must communicate something more than the lowest príce, or the latest feature, it must show the way to that idealized version that viewers have of themselves that only exists in their minds. Once you come to grips with that reality, you’re on your way to developing a successful marketing communication strategy.

By Jerry Bader (c) 2010

About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visitwww.mrpwebmedia.com, www.136words.com, and www.sonicpersonality.com.