What will you buy today? It depends, are you feeling anxious or empowered?

We have discussed the fact that all decision-making is emotional.  Now comes research that indicates which emotions drive us when we buy things.  For Millennials, it is largely anxiety or empowerment that drives their purchasing.

For cars purchases the most common emotions are success, love and hope.  But for car repairs they are fear, stress, and confusion.

Interestingly, travel causes nearly as much anxiety (25%) as empowerment (34%). (Sullivan, 2015)

So what about you?  Think about the last thing you bought.  Did empowerment or anxiety come into play?  Or perhaps joy, sadness, and disgust?  (Yes, I saw Inside Out this week.)

Sullivan, L. (2015, June 24)  Marketers Fail At Using Emotional Drivers To Reach Millennials.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved June 26, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/252652/marketers-fail-at-using-emotional-drivers-to-reach.html?print

Will you buy George Clooney's tequila?

Casamigos tequila is launching its first advertising campaign.  It uses online videos and social media to engage potential users.  Fans are asked to document their idea of friendship and post it on social media, winners to be shared on Casamigos social media channels. (Irwin, 2015)

Matthew McConaughey's Lincoln campaign has already demonstrated the ability of celebrity spokespeople to sell things to Millennials, but does having a celebrity owner matter ?  He certainly has done lots of publicity for the brand over the past two years.

And what do you think of this communications strategy?  Have you heard of Casamigos?  Have you seen the videos?  Do you think it's likely that you would if you hadn't read about it here?

Here's a look at one of the videos -- music by Lukas Nelson, Willie's son.  What do you think?  Does it make you want to buy Casamigos? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oxq_ismhyw

Irwin, T. (2015, June 18)  Celebrity-owned Casamigos Tequila Launches First Campaign.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved June 18, 2015, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/252215/celebrity-owned-casamigos-tequila-launches-first-c.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=83752

Give that person a raise.

Year after year consumers tell companies that what they want most for their online purchases is free shipping.  The companies have resisted, primarily because shipping is an out of pocket expense for them, so they are loath to offer it for free.  So year after year we continue to have this disconnect.

Well someone at Amazon finally came up with a solution.  And it's brilliant in its simplicity.  Let advertisers pay!  Why not?  With 3.5 million parcels shipped daily that sounds like fairly impressive reach to me.  Add social media, and the possibilities are endless.

To try it out, Universal Pictures has entered into a deal with Amazon to promote its new Minions film which will be released on July 10.  I'm not sure if that beats dressing up Chuy like they did for the last film (I miss you Chelsea Lately!) but I think it has potential.  Especially since customers have already started posting photos of themselves with the boxes on social media.  It's part of a sweepstakes to win a $1,000 Amazon gift card.  And, the effort also includes a dedicated online storefront for Minions merchandise.  (Chao, 2015)

Neat.  I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when my Amazon package arrived this week without a cute yellow box, but it was a book from an affiliate.  Too bad.  I might have posted a pic of me with it.  I look good in yellow.

Chao, L. (2015, June 8)  Amazon Puts Minions to Work.  The Wall Street Journal.  pB7.

It's about time Pinterest - what were you waiting for?

Last year when I did a survey of the current state of social media, I noted that Pinterest seemed to be the social network best positioned to become commercially viable, as its format wasn't all that different from a typical catalog.  At the time it was already skewing toward older wealthier females, so that was promising as well.

But, as a user (and a member of that demographic group) the fact that I couldn't buy the items that I was seeing was a huge negative.  What was the point in wasting my time looking, if at the end of the day all I had to show for it was a picture of what I wanted, but no way to get it?  So, I did my searching on Google instead. 

But then I discovered that many of those items were also not available, which really makes me nuts.  So I am very excited about the idea that Pinterest will soon be adding a buy button.  Of course it won't be for everything.  Initial partners will include Macy's, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. 

But maybe at some point they will connect to the maker of that dining room table I am swooning over.  One can hope can't they?

Koh, Y. (2015, June 3)  Pinterest to Soon Add a 'Buy' Button Wall Street Journal  pB1