Many traditional methodologies focus more heavily on measuring the rational component of the response. Tapping into human emotional responses provides valuable insight that is not readily attained through common research methods. Accurately assessing a fleeting emotional response is not easy or practical. Methods such as EKG may be reliable but not feasible in many settings, for example with children or in large studies with many respondents and multiple stimuli.

There are different methods for assessing emotional reactions. The most common approach utilizes semantic differential scales that consist of pairs of pre-calibrated emotion denoting adjectives. Researchers have discovered many inherent problems with the verbal based semantic differential. Besides being cumbersome, these types of measurements create verbal biases that distort immediate reactions. Researchers have adopted non-verbal pictorial methods, such as the measure ADSAM® utilizes, that reliably assess human emotions and are not only easy to administer but also very accurate.

Voters Only Care About Giuiliani, Clinton and Obama

Leading Emotional Response Polling Used to Predict Candidate Viability

GAINESVILLE, FL — October 2, 2007 — More voters feel that former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani is the “hottest” presidential candidate, according to a new type of non-verbal poll conducted by the leading company for predicting consumer behavior based on “Emotional Temperature.” Only Guiliani, Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barak Obama arouse enough visceral excitement in voters to sustain them through the long primary process, concludes the SenseUS™ poll conducted by AdSAM® and Itracks, conducted September 15-21, 2007.

“Our poll correctly shows how intensely voters feel about each candidate, both positively and negatively,” said Jon Morris, PhD, president of AdSAM® and professor of advertising at the University of Florida. “Guiliani leads all candidates in terms of Emotional Strength, which is most important now to the GOP as only 31% of Republican voters are enthusiastic or excited about their party”

Proven Method for Disproving Conventional Wisdom

The viability of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is called into question by the poll. Although he performs strongly in many traditional preference polls, 56% of Republicans feel “ambivalent” or “uninterested/unexcited” about him.

“To sustain a long campaign, a candidate must inspire strong feelings in voters,” Morris said. “In addition to Guiliani, Obama and Clinton, the only other candidates to register positive Emotional Temperature were Sen. John McCain and former senators Fred Thompson and John Edwards.”

The SenseUs™ candidate poll used the same AdSAM® methodology the company employed in 2006 to prove that ads that use sexy models in national women’s magazines are not compelling or effective at motivating female readers to buy. To measure the Emotional Response the participants were asked “How does (name of each candidate)make you feel? . The participants were then shown three rows of manikins – an icon-like figure – that represented their emotional reaction. Then they were asked to select one on each row. The first group of manikins represented pleasure, the second arousal or engagement, and the third control or dominance.

What Most Polls Miss

According to Dr. Morris, most polls focus heavily on rationale measures, which only reveal half the story, as every human response is a combination of rational and emotional processing. Previously, the AdSAM® method has been used in over 600 proprietary studies worldwide and incorporated into research of many FORTUNE 500 companies.

About AdSAM®:

AdSAM® specializes in Emotional Response measurement. The cross cultural technique has been used in over 26 countries in communications, marketing and other research.

About Itracks:

Itracks is a leading provider of data collection for market research. Information on the company and industry trend summaries are at http://www.itracks.com and http://www.itracksnews.com.

Media Contact:

For a copy of the Executive Summary of the SenseUs poll please contact Conrad Morris at (800) 563-8654 or email conradmorris@adsam.com

The Happy Intersection of Style and Substance that Breeds Media MagicClients want press coverage for……

You can use both perspectives, just not in the same piece of copy. The choice you make should serve as a unifying framework for your copy, and it can’t do that if you vacillate between perspectives. That said, you can experiment with the opposite perspective in switching from one piece of copy to another. Blog posts, articles, and e-mail campaigns are all great places for this kind of experimentation.

Hope this helps.

-Jeff

Good article though. Looking forward to the other articles as well.

I’m looking forward to the remaining articles.