The use of Emotional Marketing: Google Earth's powerful advertisement.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Maps-Helps-Man-Reunited-with-Family-in-Emotional-Ad-391615.shtml

     I came across this beautiful piece of advertising on my Yahoo home page the other day. Anything that is related to feelings and emotions, family or children, you can bet I will take a look. 

     This is the story of a little boy who was separated by his family on a train, adopted to another country and manages find his childhood home and ultimately his mother and family, with the help of Google Earth and Google Maps, over two decades later. The advertisement starts out with music meant to make you feel empathy and when Saroo Brierley starts speaking, his voice is like butter and you want more. For those of you that have seen Life of Pi, This commercial instantly takes me back to that movie and the way the movie made me feel; emotionally attatched. He tells his story and you see a picture the young boy looking so alone. You see his adopted mother and you can tell she nurtured and supported this boy to become the amazing man he is today. He tells of his childhood memories and how, with the development of technology; Google Earth and Maps, he was able to track down the very train station he boarded with his family so many years ago. He manages to find his childhood home and low and behold, he turns a corner to see his mother. Still waiting outside for her lost little boy to come home. A family reunites and you see this mother hanging on to her son with a look in her eye that is loss and hope at the same time. He vows to take care of her and you see again his adopted mother and know that he has the capacity to love both of them the way only a child can love his mom.

     He describes his idea as a "Needle in a Haystack." Finding his long lost family after being adopted to a country he didn't know, with only childhood memories to guide him. I feel this advertisement was aimed directly at me and those older than I. Perhaps to parents of any age, but the saying "needle in a haystack" takes me back to my childhood days but something I don't hear much of anymore. My generation has the understanding of technology perhaps a little more than those a bit older and most of us are parents so the lost child hits close to home. Some of us have lost parents, or have parents who might start needing us more than we had ever thought and the idea being able to ease their pain hits a certain emotional spot. This ad is very well done. I didn't cry near as much the second and third time I watched as I did the first time, but the emotion is very real and I found my self thinking about the ad at various times for no reason in particular.

     The bottom line is this advertisement teaches what hope, determination and perseverance can do when you have the right technology to go with it. Lifetime dreams can be accomplished with only some thought, and the right program. Google Earth closes this ad with their slogan; HELLO WORLD! Google, you had me at "Hello."