If explanation created desire, the safest, clearest ads would win every time. An ad that thoroughly lists the features and benefits of your product or service would send people your way every time it ran. But it doesn’t work that way, does it? The ads that work best are often doing something far less tidy. They inspire emotion first, and let the logic show up later.

The mind justifies what the heart already wants.

 

Take the old 1986 Obsession commercial. It makes very little actual sense, which is part of why it worked. It does not explain the perfume. It does not walk you through notes or ingredients or who it is for. It creates a feeling and then you attach that feeling the product. And it worked! Obsession, introduced in 1985, was reportedly responsible for about $150 million in annual retail sales by 1987, after launching with a $17 million advertising campaign.

@mineperfumelab Carmè. The elegance that comes from love. #mineperfumelab #handmadecraft #madeinitaly #handmade ♬ suono originale – Mine Perfume Lab

Recently, a man on TikTok describes a perfume in a perfectly thoughtful way. He tells us it was inspired by his mother. He tells us it means more when it’s given by someone you love. He is reaching for feeling. But instead of making you feel cared for, he is explaining care. It is a perfectly reasonable sales pitch. It just doesn’t make me hit “Add to Cart” or even remember the name of the fragrance.

That is the trap of being a business owner. You are great at what you do. You care about your work and your customers. It seems like if people just understood that, you would be the obvious choice. But when everyone is saying they are great at what they do and they care, saying it louder does not help. You have to give people something to feel.

A lot of marketing does not fail because it lacks heart. It fails because it explains the heart instead of transmitting it. It tells me the owner cares deeply. It tells me the product is meaningful. It tells me the service is excellent. Maybe all of that is true. But facts about a feeling are not the same as feeling the care, the meaning or the excellence.

People do not move through the world as neat little logic machines. They are running. Distracted. Overwhelmed. Hopeful. Insecure. Tired. They are not sitting around waiting for someone to finally explain a plumbing company, a gym, a med spa, or a portrait session with enough precision to convince them. They respond to what feels interesting. What feels relieving. What feels exciting. What feels like them.

That does not mean information is useless. It means information is rarely the first spark. We like to imagine people make careful, rational buying decisions and then feel good about them afterward. Usually, it is the other way around. Something catches. Something resonates. Something in them leans forward. Then the mind shows up to make the case. That is why so much “good marketing” underperforms. It answers questions no one is asking yet. It rushes to explain before it has earned attention. It presents evidence before it has created desire. Then the business owner decides the audience was wrong, or the algorithm was bad, or people just do not appreciate quality.

Or maybe the marketing made perfect sense and left them bored.

This is not just a perfume problem. It shows up everywhere. The HVAC company talks about efficiency ratings and financing options, but never creates the feeling of walking into a cool house on a brutal July afternoon and hearing the blessed whoosh of air coming through the vents again. The photographer talks about wardrobe, posing, retouching, and products, but never creates the feeling of being seen beautifully enough to forget, for a moment, everything you thought you needed to fix. The gym talks about class times and programming, but never creates the feeling of becoming the person who walks in stronger than she was six months ago.

The business is describing the thing instead of creating an experience of the thing. And no, this is not about random pretty things. It is not fluff. It is strategic. We do not throw gold bricks in the air and see where they land. We build a yellow brick road. We make the path inviting enough, clear enough, and interesting enough that the right people want to follow it. That is what great marketing does. It creates a pull. It paints a picture of a scene the customer can see themselves in. It says something that makes them feel understood. It gives them a feeling to associate with your brand.

And then, yes, the product still has to be good. The Obsession commercial did not do the whole job. The perfume still had to smell good. The ad’s job was to make someone want to walk into the mall, remember the name, and ask for a spray. That is not a small thing. Most businesses are trying to close the sale with marketing, when the real job of marketing is often simpler: make one person want to take the next step.

Calvin Klein’s Obsession ads were also unusually memorable. In a 1989 survey of 24,000 consumers, the campaign was ranked the most memorable print advertising of the year for the fourth year in a row. That is what feeling-first marketing can do when it is done well: it sticks.

Then, once they care, the logic has something to support. The best marketing is not the kind people understand most. It is the kind they feel strongest.

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