Persuasion skills

“A brand is worthless if it doesn’t CONNECT with the right audience in a relevant way.”

The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, argued that there were three main ways to persuade audience: ethos, pathos, and logos.

The short explanation for the three are:

Ethos: an appeal to ethics, the trustworthiness of the speaker. (服之以德)

Pathos: an appeal to emotion, often associated with feelings. (動之以情)

Logos: an appeal to logic, a way to persuade people by reasons. (說之以理)

When companies make ads, they basically follow these rules to persuade the audience. However, it’s not necessarily to use the all three to be persuasive. Sometimes one or two being used is enough.

Let’s take two commercials for example.

Miller 64

Ethos: If you are an athlete, drink this!

Pathos: Miller 64 is a great drink to have with friends and brings you happiness.

Logos: Miller 64 is a low-calory drink, so it’s worth drinking for people who want to keep their shapes

Bud Light

Pathos: A clever dog with a special name and reacts cute

As you can see, the story of the commercial doesn’t need have be associated with the product to be successful. Take the Bud Light ad for instance. Though there was nothing to do between puppies and alcohols, the commercial still made more than 10,000 hits. As long as the commercial is interesting enough and makes audience react, it’s successful.