If you’ve read Tony Robbins, you’ll see some clear parallels. I firmly believe that emotions can be used to market products in a radically different way than traditional marketing.
Think about why you buy from specific brands—because you associate the product with joy. At the same time, you associate not having the product with a sense of pain.
If you manage to embed this dynamic in your own marketing, you can—just like brands such as Apple and Louis Vuitton—compete on entirely different terms than price.
Pain and joy
Think about when you buy a product from, say, Apple. Why do you buy the newest iPhone? The one you already have probably works just fine. You’re buying with emotion.
I would even argue that other phones have better specs than the latest iPhone—but it’s the feeling you get when you buy Apple.
To understand this, we need to think psychologically. When you create a product, consider what pain you remove from your users and what joy you bring. Let’s use personal training as an example.
So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.
If I were a personal trainer, I would blog about how fitness not only leads to weight loss, but more importantly improves your quality of life. I’d emphasize the joy of playing football with your kids—not just the weight loss. Simultaneously, I would connect pain to not working out—such as a significantly shorter lifespan.
The joy you associate with a goal must be stronger than the temporary joy of doing nothing.
Let’s return to the personal trainer. It’s far more satisfying in the moment to lie on the couch, eat chips, and watch trash TV. The trainer’s job is to link pain to that action and joy to going to the gym and reaching long-term goals.
Example
Make a video showing what happens if someone continues to eat unhealthy food.
Take cigarettes for example. They used to be associated with joy—especially back when the dangers weren’t known.
Today, cigarette packs are covered in disgusting warning images—designed to create a direct emotional link between smoking and pain.
Or take this refugee video that helps us understand the pain that refugees experience. It shifts the emotional focus—from associating refugees with problems to associating joy with helping.
Autographs and limited editions
Here’s another strong example. Imagine 2,000 fans queuing to get Cristiano Ronaldo’s autograph. The young people who don’t get one often feel such pain that they become even bigger fans—attending every match. That’s why it’s crucial Ronaldo doesn’t give out autographs to everyone. If he did, the pain of not having one would disappear—and so would the joy of getting one.
Limited editions
The same applies when brands launch limited editions. Take the current example of Yeezy shoes from Adidas. These sneakers are massively hyped because people associate them with intense joy. People are even willing to camp out for them—and cry if they miss out.
Now consider your own product or website. Can you create the same feeling—where people feel left out if they don’t follow your blog, use your software, or join your app?
Think about how many people have tried quitting Facebook, only to find themselves hooked again. The joy of being on Facebook outweighed the pain of wasting time. And the pain of not being in the loop was simply too much.
It’s hard to remove pain
Imagine you’ve built a brand that people just don’t like anymore. Let’s use a few Danish examples: Shox shoes or Canada Goose jackets. Is it just changing fashion? Or something deeper?
Canada Goose jackets were once bestsellers for years. Then, suddenly, they lost popularity overnight.
The joy of owning one vanished, and there was no longer any pain in not owning it—so demand plummeted.
We all remember Jensens Bøfhus. Or was it a fish restaurant? Whatever your opinion, a large group of people chose to boycott Jensens—and the effect was clearly visible in their annual financial report.
How long will it take for brands like Jensens to regain public trust? If they had crafted a proper emotional strategy beforehand, the escalation might have been avoided altogether.
Combine joy and functionality
If you can combine joy and functionality, you can change the world. – Micky Weis
Without sounding dramatic—it’s absolutely true.
If you want to start a new company today, I’d recommend looking into companies that have mastered this.
How have they created brands that people associate with joy, while also providing practical everyday value?
If you can do the same for your business or product, you’re most likely onto something big.
Many businesses offer strong functionality—but that alone is not a guarantee for success.
You can create a car with great functionality, but if it doesn’t feel good to drive—or is too expensive—it may cause more pain than the functionality can justify.
For me, this is exactly what has happened to B&O.
A company now in real trouble, while new competitors emerge daily. Their products are too expensive (pain), the brand isn’t strong enough for the mass market (no active joy), and the charm that once came with owning a B&O product has faded.
Once that joy is lost, it’s extremely hard to regain—often requiring a complete brand overhaul because the original target segment has vanished.
A product that sparks joy can sacrifice some functionality
Think about Facebook. In its early days, it didn’t have sharp functionality. But the pain of being excluded from your college group was so great that people overlooked the flaws. The joy of being included was strong enough to compensate.
One of the earliest screenshots of Facebook
Remember: the best products or services often emerge from problems—or existing products that don’t work as intended.
If taxis were so smart, cheap, and innovative—would Uber have ever existed?
Probably not. But people associated taxis with being expensive, outdated, and providing poor service. So a group of young people saw a need—and created Uber.
We could mention countless examples like this. You could create the next one.
Start small and scale later
It can seem overwhelming—where should you start?
But it’s really not that complicated.
It all comes down to meeting a need. If you can fulfill a need for your customer—you create joy.
This applies to everyone. If you have a blog, dive deep into topics like finding love, or how to make the fastest pancakes. The more helpful you are, the stronger your blog becomes.
The worst kind of websites are those that don’t offer real content or solve a problem. They exist just to get clicks, earn ad revenue, or lure people into shady subscriptions. In my opinion, these concepts are ruining the internet.
The biggest challenge is that it often takes a lot to move people emotionally. It’s easier to go for a quick win or build something short-term that turns a profit.
But why not create something remarkable—something that can inspire future generations?
What products do you feel emotionally connected to? Which brands do you think are doing a great job of using emotion in their marketing?
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