You could be mistaken for thinking this is a feminist article about the tribes and tribulations of emotional labour, but don’t worry, I’m neither upset nor angry, and quite honestly, I’m just not that person.

This is neither a blog about emotional intelligence, our relationships, nor their lack of, with our peers and our colleagues.

Instead, this article shines a light on the importance of conveying emotion when it comes to communicating who we are and what our brands stand for.

When we create an emotional connection with our audiences, we make our messages relevant, we communicate on a deeper level, and that connection sustains relationships.

I often say to clients, “Show me, don’t tell me” the reason for this is I want to convey in the communications an experience that the consumer can relate to, a brand they can believe in.

I don’t just want to tell the reader to join a gym, a club, to attend an event or sign up for a course; I want to show them on an emotional level, what the experience will be, how this will benefit them, and how my client’s offer fulfils their needs.

For this reason, I find that my meetings don’t take place in offices; they take place in plant rooms, poolside, or even on boats, as I firmly believe that only when we experience what a brand delivers can we truly understand it.

Last month, I presented at a national conference, where I presented to delegates the importance of storytelling to their marketing activities. I tasked delegates with explaining their organisation’s story to me.

Many would rattle off their mission statement or vision, I knew who they are and what they wanted to achieve, but I still didn’t know how they impacted others.

Or actually, I did, as I had made it my mission to visit them and to see first-hand the difference these volunteer organisations make to people’s lives, and I could already visualise the individual courage and endless possibilities they needed to share in order to engage.

Gone are the days when customers purchase a product based on the product alone. We are now in the realm where buyer behaviour is based on brand affinity, authenticity, and a great deal to do with a brand’s ability to share its own story.

So how do we learn to be emotional about our every day. How can we convey that same enthusiasm for our brands that we had on day 1?

For a brand with 90% of clients in the sports industry, it’s perhaps not surprising I have read the Nike Story aka ‘Shoe Dog’. An inspirational tale of a brand’s determination to differentiate to meet the needs and expectations of its customers.

Nike is a story beyond shoes, it’s a story of our everyday heroes.

Much like the story of its founder, Nike’s story connects with its customers’ inner sense of strength, determination, and achievement, and it does this through compelling storytelling.

When you watch a Nike advert, you don’t see the product; you see the people.

Another brilliant example of brand communications is the award-winning “Made to Move You” campaign by 164-year-old elevator company OTIS.

How often have you thought about an elevator as more than a means to travel from A to B? We don’t, but this brand did; it humanised a relatively uninspiring product with stories of friendships, connections, and love, and in so doing, it created relationships with people worldwide.

If you’ve not seen this ad, check it out: Made to Move You 🤯

The message here is simple…we need to look beyond our products; we need to uncover the stories within each of us that inspire, excite, and influence.

So, when it came to creating my brand, I wanted to expose personality from the outset. I wanted to stand out from the crowd of self-named consultancies; I wanted a brand that inspires my clients to similarly stand out, and be noticed.

However, my brand is more than my logo, and the name ‘Cock-a-doodle-doo’, even if the word itself brings a smile to many a sombre board room. What makes ‘Cock-a-doodle-doo’ work is its energy and how that translates in our communications.