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Emotional Branding in Multimodal Personal Loan TV Advertisements: Analysing Voices and Engagement

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Multimodal Communication

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Abstract

By analysing multimodal TV advertisements for personal loan services, this chapter aims to show how Bakhtin’s (Rabelais and his world. Translated by Helene Iswolsky. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1968; Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Translated by Caryl Emerson. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984) notion of voices is exploited in advertising discourse to enhance emotional branding (Travis , Emotional branding: how successful brands gain the irrational edge. Roseville, CA: Prima Venture, 2000). The chapter illustrates the multimodal construction of character and discursive voices and demonstrates that these intertextual voices contribute to emotional branding through multimodal engagement strategies. Four representative examples of personal loans TV commercials are examined and the first two of them are proved to be more successful in terms of their deployment of visual semiotic resources to emotionally engage with viewers and thus more effective in emotional branding. It is hoped that the study sheds light on the understanding of the engaging nature of emotional branding, the intersection between intertextual voices and corporate identity and the multimodal construction of voices and engagement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the record, the twelve dimensions are (1) product scope, (2) product attributes, (3) quality value, (4) uses, (5) users, (6) country of origin, (7) organisation attributes (e.g. innovation, consumer concern, trustworthiness), (8) local vs. global, (9) personality (e.g. genuine, energetic, rugged), (10) brand-customer relationships (e.g. friend, mentor), (11) visual imagery and metaphors, and (12) brand heritage.

  2. 2.

    Brands that are successfully built around strong emotions in their brand essence include Campbell (soup), Apple (electronic gadgets), Harley-Davidson (motorcycles), Zippo (cigarette lighters), Jack Daniel’s (whiskey), Chrysler (vehicles), Guinness (stout beer), and Coca-Cola (soft drinks); see Gregory (2004: 76–90); Haig (2011: 168–183); Holt (2004: 22–27) for a comprehensive description of these brands.

  3. 3.

    Available at: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201305/29/P201305290473.htm (accessed 10 September 2016).

  4. 4.

    Due to copyright reasons, the images of the television advertisements are not reproduced here but appear as illustrations only.

  5. 5.

    As stated in its Wikipedia entry, Stand by me is a song originally performed by Ben E. King in 1961. Since then it has been covered by other singers the world over. The sound track used in the advert is a cover version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of English, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong

    May Wong

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  1. May Wong
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Wong, M. (2019). Emotional Branding in Multimodal Personal Loan TV Advertisements: Analysing Voices and Engagement. In: Multimodal Communication. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15428-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15428-8_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15427-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15428-8

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