There are a lot of ways to evoke strong emotions during a commercial. Go for the laugh. Aim for collective pride. Or a sense of loss. Fear. Surprise. Joy. Executed well, the brand will soar like my hometown Eagles. But there is huge risk if one fumbles. So what should have Dodge Ram done when they evoked the serious emotional lever of a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of its delivery? Well, off the top of my head, they should have focused on attaching that emotion to the brand, not the product. As one example, highlighting how the employees and the brand support the Day of Service through volunteerism and donations (here you can safely introduce the product – maybe showing Ram pickups delivering supplies to AmeriCorp volunteers?). Essentially, it was missing any effort to connect the emotion to brand and its core culture. That is assuming their core culture is something less superficial than how many trucks can they sell today.
