| Emotional marketing uses storytelling and emotional appeal to connect with audiences on a deeper level and inspire action. These 20 emotional marketing examples and ads with emotional appeal show how brands use emotion-driven messaging to build trust, spark loyalty, and create unforgettable campaigns that resonate long after they’re seen. |
Emotional marketing examples prove that people don’t always buy based on logic; they buy based on how a brand makes them feel. Emotional appeal ads and examples of emotional appeal commercials show that storytelling in marketing can trigger joy, nostalgia, empathy, and even sadness to spark deeper brand loyalty. When brands tap into human emotions, they create unforgettable experiences that stay in the minds of consumers long after the campaign ends.
These emotional marketing examples demonstrate that the most successful advertising is often rooted in emotions rather than information, which is why global brands consistently lean on storytelling to connect with their audiences.
Emotional video marketing works because people instinctively respond to feelings before logic. Emotional appeal ads activate the brain’s limbic system, the center responsible for memories and emotions, making audiences more receptive and connected to a brand. When emotions like joy, nostalgia, empathy, or excitement are triggered, people relate their own experiences to the brand, which strengthens trust, engagement, and loyalty. This is why emotional advertising consistently outperforms rational advertisements in long-term recall and customer bonding.
They work because:
Below are the top emotional marketing examples that used emotional appeal ads, emotional branding examples, and emotional advertisements to create lasting impact.
Video Type and Focus
The video is an animated brand testimonial designed to attract new clients and retain existing ones. It focuses on the personal and effective legal services provided by the firm, specifically in the area of injury cases.
The Client's Problem
The video explains that people like the animated character "Sarah" often seek an attorney after an injury but become frustrated when they feel passed around or neglected by other law offices.
The Key Difference
The firm highlights that Adam J. Roa personally handles his clients' cases, ensuring they always communicate directly with him. This personal care is described as a major difference from other firms.
The Positive Outcome
The testimonial claims that the firm handled Sarah's case quickly and settled it for more money than she had anticipated.
Call to Action
The video concludes by encouraging viewers to contact the Law Offices of Adam J. Roa for a free consultation, displaying the firm's contact information.
Video Type and Focus
It is an animated corporate case study and employee testimonial video. Its focus is on building brand trust and showcasing the company as an ideal employer by highlighting employee success, fulfillment, and work-life balance.
The Client's Problem
The implied industry problem is the challenge of recruiting and retaining skilled talent in construction, and overcoming the perception of the industry lacking flexibility or personal fulfillment.
The Key Difference
Shapiro & Duncan provides a "family atmosphere" and actively supports work-life balance, training, and education, allowing employees to achieve both their career goals and their personal dreams (like purchasing a home, pursuing music, or enjoying hobbies).
The Positive Outcome
Employees are able to achieve major life goals, such as purchasing their first home, raising a family, and acquiring long-dreamed-of items like a Corvette Stingray z51.
Call to Action
While not a direct phone number call, the implied action is to consider Shapiro & Duncan as a trustworthy company and a place to build a successful, balanced career, reinforcing their brand strength to both potential employees and clients.
Video Type and Focus
This is an emotional brand commercial focused on human connection, reconciliation, and healing, using the Berlin Wall as a metaphor. It aims to promote the idea that with Airbnb, travelers can feel a profound sense of belonging anywhere.
The Client's Problem
The problem is the lasting psychological barrier a former Berlin Wall guard carries, preventing connection with others. He feels like a stranger in the world, burdened by the past. Airbnb offers a path to overcome this emotional separation.
The Key Difference
Airbnb facilitates a personal, transformative encounter by hosting the former guard with the man who patrolled the opposite side of the wall. The service turns strangers into friends, going far beyond typical transactional lodging.
The Positive Outcome
The unexpected encounter with the former adversary leads to reconciliation and emotional healing for the father. The trip helps him finally let go of the past's heavy psychological weight, leading to the statement, "things were better for my father".
Call to Action
The action is implicit: viewers are urged to choose Airbnb for meaningful travel that fosters deep connections. The final, emotional slogan, "Airbnb belongs anywhere", acts as the core brand affirmation and the ultimate call to choose the platform.
Video Type and Focus
An emotional animated short for Lyft highlighting community, loneliness, and rediscovering connection. It follows a widow who begins sharing rides, showing how shared journeys can heal isolation and create meaningful human bonds.
The Client's Problem
Lyft seeks to address social isolation and the growing disconnect in urban life. People often travel alone despite craving connection, and the brand needs to communicate the emotional value of shared rides.
The Key Difference
Lyft stands out by framing ride-sharing as a human experience, not transportation. The animation amplifies empathy, showing Lyft as a bridge between isolated individuals through kindness, shared stories, and unexpected companionship.
The Positive Outcome
The widow finds renewed purpose and connection, illustrating Lyft’s impact on real lives. The film elevates ride-sharing into something emotionally fulfilling, positioning Lyft as a facilitator of meaningful everyday human interactions.
Call to Action
Viewers are encouraged to see Lyft as more than a ride, choosing it for community and companionship. The emotional narrative subtly nudges audiences to engage with Lyft’s platform and embrace shared humanity.
Video Type and Focus
An animated short film highlighting a woman’s emotional journey battling a rare cancer. It transforms personal struggle into universal resilience, using heartfelt narration and expressive visuals to portray strength, vulnerability, and hope.
The Client's Problem
The challenge is representing cancer survivors authentically while raising awareness compassionately. Traditional medical messaging can feel clinical, so the film humanizes the experience through emotion-driven storytelling rather than statistics or fear-based communication.
The Key Difference
The film uses Judy’s real words and experiences to convey honesty and depth. Vibrant animation transforms hardship into visual poetry, making the narrative relatable, gentle, and powerful without being overwhelming or exploitative.
The Positive Outcome
Audiences gain empathy for cancer survivors and see the emotional strength behind their journeys. The film reframes illness as courage, leaving viewers inspired and more aware of the human experience behind medical battles.
Call to Action
The story encourages viewers to support cancer awareness efforts, listen compassionately, and appreciate survivor voices. It promotes understanding and emotional solidarity, inviting audiences to connect with and uplift those facing similar challenges.
Video Type and Focus
A humorous yet touching animated short about a father discovering his child’s Google voice searches. It explores innocence, curiosity, and unexpected emotional revelations through simple line-art animation and gentle storytelling.
The Client's Problem
The video highlights how technology captures personal moments unnoticed. The challenge is showing the emotional side of voice-search data while maintaining warmth and relatability, avoiding fear or negativity around digital privacy.
The Key Difference
The narrative turns a tech feature into a heartfelt family story. Instead of showcasing product capabilities, it reveals connection, portraying Google technology as quietly observing and reflecting meaningful everyday moments. This makes it one of the best animated product video examples that exist out there.
The Positive Outcome
The father realizes his child’s searches reveal love, curiosity, and growing identity. This creates an emotional twist that reframes technology as a supportive presence in family life rather than something cold or distant.
Call to Action
The film invites viewers to appreciate how small digital interactions shape memories. It subtly strengthens positive perception of Google products by showing their role in documenting heartfelt, authentic human experiences.
Video Type and Focus
A brand story video for Petory, a Hong Kong jewelry label. It highlights youthfulness, affordability, and emotional connection, focusing on jewelry that reflects everyday life, individuality, and bonds between humans and pets.
The Client's Problem
Petory needed a strong brand identity in a crowded youth jewelry market. The challenge was differentiating from generic products by presenting emotional value instead of purely aesthetic or material qualities.
The Key Difference
Petory blends lifestyle storytelling with pet-inspired meaning. The brand celebrates daily moments and relationships, using narrative emotion to elevate simple jewelry into symbolic pieces representing personality, love, and youthful spirit.
The Positive Outcome
The brand gains relatability and emotional depth, helping young consumers feel personally connected. The story strengthens brand identity, positioning Petory as meaningful, expressive, and heartfelt rather than just another accessory company.
Call to Action
Viewers are encouraged to embrace Petory jewelry as symbols of their unique everyday stories. The film subtly invites purchase by amplifying sentiment, connection, and the emotional bond between people and their pets.
Video Type and Focus
A 2D animated campaign highlighting hope and progress for people living with diabetes. It uses handcrafted visuals and emotional storytelling to communicate supportive healthcare innovation through relatable characters and uplifting thematic tone.
The Client's Problem
Dexcom must communicate complex medical technology in an approachable, human way. Many patients feel overwhelmed, so the brand needs empathetic storytelling to build trust and emotional clarity around diabetes management.
The Key Difference
The film uses warm illustration and cinematic pacing to make medical advancement feel personal. Instead of focusing on features, it showcases emotional transformation, emphasizing hope, empowerment, and improved future possibilities.
The Positive Outcome
The animation reassures viewers that better health is achievable. It strengthens Dexcom’s image as compassionate and patient-centered, highlighting how supportive tools can create stability, confidence, and renewed optimism.
Call to Action
The video encourages viewers to explore Dexcom’s solutions and envision better health journeys. By inspiring trust and emotional connection, it nudges audiences toward adopting the technology for a more hopeful future.
Video Type and Focus
An emotionally driven animated short focused on family, illness, and togetherness. It uses expressive character animation and sensitive storytelling to convey hope, warmth, and community support during a difficult health journey.
The Client's Problem
The client needed a branding-free, universally shareable video that communicated compassion and resilience. They required an emotionally engaging story to highlight a character’s struggle and inspire connection without showing any brand presence.
The Key Difference
The animation emphasizes subtle emotional expression, gentle pacing, and intimate storytelling. By removing branding, the piece becomes more personal and relatable, focusing completely on human emotion and shared experience.
The Positive Outcome
The video delivers a heartfelt message that encourages empathy and unity. It successfully transforms a private health challenge into a story about support, love, and the importance of being there for others.
Call to Action
Viewers are encouraged to embrace hope and share love within their communities. The message invites reflection on caring for one another and spreading positivity into the new year.
Video Type and Focus
A bilingual animated commercial emphasizing adoption, family, and emotional belonging. It tells the story of a young girl moving from instability to love, highlighting the imperfect but genuine nature of adoptive parenthood.
The Client's Problem
AdoptUSKids needed a warm, relatable story to inspire adoption and challenge misconceptions. They required a message showing that imperfect families can still provide unconditional love and stability for children in foster care.
The Key Difference
The ad blends emotional storytelling with illustrative animation, avoiding clichés. It highlights real-life messiness and love, showing parents as authentic, flawed, and deeply caring, making the narrative feel grounded and human.
The Positive Outcome
The video creates empathy for children in foster care and normalizes imperfect family life. It helps viewers understand that love, not perfection, creates a meaningful home environment.
Call to Action
Audiences are encouraged to consider adoption and support children in need of stable families. The story motivates viewers to embrace compassion, openness, and meaningful commitment.
Video Type and Focus
A gentle, poetic animated video addressing grief, loss, and suicide prevention. It avoids commercial aesthetics, using soft visuals to communicate empathy, emotional support, and mental-health awareness.
The Client's Problem
The nonprofit needed a non-triggering, compassionate communication tool to support people experiencing grief or suicidal thoughts. They required a sensitive visual approach suitable for a vulnerable audience.
The Key Difference
The video takes a delicate artistic direction, intentionally avoiding cartoonish or sales-like elements. This makes it respectful, soothing, and emotionally appropriate for the heaviness of the subject matter.
The Positive Outcome
The piece effectively supports awareness by fostering emotional connection and understanding. It creates a safe, reflective environment where viewers feel seen, supported, and encouraged to seek help.
Call to Action
Viewers are invited to reflect on mental health, support loved ones, and engage with resources promoting emotional well-being and suicide prevention.
Video Type and Focus
A clear, empathetic explainer animation for a digital health platform supporting caregivers. It highlights how technology simplifies caregiving and helps seniors and disabled individuals receive dignified, informed home care.
The Client's Problem
CareLen needed to communicate a complex caregiving process in a simple, human-centred way. They sought to show how their platform reduces risks and supports families with clarity and emotional resonance.
The Key Difference
The animation balances compassionate storytelling with structured explanation. It transforms a data-driven health service into an accessible, relatable narrative centred on real caregiving experiences.
The Positive Outcome
The video helps families understand how CareLen empowers proactive, safer home care. It builds trust by showing empathy, improved processes, and technology working together for better outcomes.
Call to Action
Viewers are encouraged to explore CareLen’s platform, adopt digital tools for caregiving, and support dignified aging through informed, modern home-care solutions.
Video Type and Focus
A B2B animation explaining Salesforce-related services for Emark. It simplifies business concepts through clean visuals and professional motion design aimed at corporate clients.
The Client's Problem
Emark needed a clear, appealing way to communicate their Salesforce solutions to businesses. They required an animation that made technical services understandable and visually engaging.
The Key Difference
The video uses minimalistic 2D design and structured storytelling to translate complex business strategy into simple, digestible visuals tailored for professional audiences.
The Positive Outcome
It strengthens Emark’s communication by presenting their capabilities clearly. The animation builds credibility and helps decision-makers grasp the value of Emark’s business solutions.
Call to Action
Businesses are encouraged to engage with Emark’s Salesforce services and consider how their strategic tools can enhance efficiency, marketing, and customer management.
Video Type and Focus
This animated visual piece uses abstract color transitions to highlight Adobe’s creative identity. It focuses on mood, movement, and artistic expression, presenting color as a storytelling tool rather than a product demonstration.
Client’s Problem
Adobe needed a visually compelling way to reinforce its brand’s association with creativity. They required an artistic animation that communicates inspiration, energy, and design freedom without relying on software walkthroughs or technical explanations.
Key Difference
This animation stands out by using pure color, motion, and rhythm instead of characters or narration. It expresses Adobe’s creative spirit through mood-driven abstraction, offering a premium, artistic brand experience that feels emotionally rich.
Positive Outcome
The film strengthens Adobe’s creative identity, making audiences associate the brand with imagination and visual artistry. Its minimal yet expressive design helps leave a memorable emotional impression while reinforcing Adobe’s premium creative positioning.
Call to Action
If you want visually expressive brand films like this, we help companies craft artistic animations that elevate their identity. Reach out to create design-driven visuals that communicate your story through color, motion, and mood.
Video Type and Focus
This conceptual animation serves as the opening sequence for Oracle Live. It introduces Steve Miranda’s session with stylized visuals designed to grab attention and set a smart, unexpected, and engaging tone for the conference.
Client’s Problem
Oracle needed an engaging digital opener for their conference, especially since it was their first fully virtual event. They required animation that captures attention quickly and ensures attendees stay interested right from the introduction.
Key Difference
The video blends storytelling with conceptual motion design, transitioning directly into the speaker’s entrance. It elevates a typical event introduction by adding artistic visuals that feel informative, entertaining, and innovative, matching Oracle’s digital-first direction.
Positive Outcome
The animation helped Oracle establish a strong first impression for their virtual conference. It kept attendees engaged from the start, making the session feel polished, thoughtful, and professionally curated despite the digital format.
Call to Action
If your event needs a powerful animated opener like this, we create concept-driven visuals that captivate audiences instantly. Contact us to craft digital-first animations that make your presentations more engaging and memorable.
Video Type and Focus
This is an emotional holiday brand commercial from Kroger. It uses a narrative about a family's magical cookbook to focus on the power of food and shared recipes to connect generations and preserve the warm memory of a deceased grandmother.
The Client's Problem
The central problem is the grief and loss felt by a family after the death of their grandmother, specifically how to keep her spirit and memories alive during the holidays. The focus is on the emotional void she left behind in the kitchen.
The Key Difference
Kroger positions itself as the partner that provides the ingredients for memory and connection. By featuring the "magical" nature of the shared, personalized cookbook, Kroger connects its products directly to the emotional act of preserving family legacy through food.
The Positive Outcome
The family successfully bakes the grandmother's cookies, and the cookbook, glowing with her memory, affirms that she is present in the tradition. The act of cooking together restores joy and ensures her cherished recipes will live on for future generations.
Call to Action
The call to action is implicit, encouraging viewers to shop at Kroger for their holiday groceries and ingredients. The goal is to drive sales by creating an emotional association between Kroger and treasured family moments and traditions during the festive season [01:05].
Video Type and Focus
This is an animated emotional Christmas brand advertisement from Erste Group, a banking company. Its focus is not on finance but on celebrating the universal theme of love and overcoming barriers to connection, centered on a lonely hedgehog seeking acceptance.
The Client's Problem
The central problem is loneliness and exclusion, symbolized by the little hedgehog whose protective quills prevent him from getting close to anyone. He is isolated and unable to share in the joy and physical closeness of his classmates.
The Key Difference
Erste Group subtly links its brand to the ability to see beyond surface differences and invest in others. A little squirrel, through care and effort, crafts protective tubes for the quills, enabling the hedgehog to finally hug and connect with others.
The Positive Outcome
The positive outcome is the breakdown of physical and emotional barriers, allowing the hedgehog to receive a hug and belong. This demonstrates that with a little love, creativity, and willingness to help, anyone can find connection and acceptance.
Call to Action
The call to action is implicit, encouraging viewers to reflect on the value of love and community, especially during Christmas. The final message, "What would Christmas be without love?", connects these values to the Erste Group brand philosophy.
Video Type and Focus
This is a powerful Public Service Announcement (PSA) aimed at suicide prevention, specifically for young people. It uses the visual metaphor of a person submerging in water to convey the feeling of being overwhelmed and the importance of reaching out for help.
The Client's Problem
The problem addressed is the intense, overwhelming feeling of darkness and isolation that leads to thoughts of suicide. The person is struggling internally, feeling "so small" in a world where they have lost sight of hope and connection.
The Key Difference
The campaign offers a direct lifeline through HOPELINEUK, stating that help is available. The video provides a message of hope, assuring the individual that their "true colors" are shining through and they should not be afraid to let them show.
The Positive Outcome
The positive outcome is the message of visibility and acceptance. The individual is seen and their feelings acknowledged, providing the courage to "take courage" in a difficult world. It reinforces that support exists and can pull them out of their sinking feeling.
Call to Action
The call to action is explicit and urgent. The video provides the number for HOPELINEUK and encourages viewers to call if they are thinking about suicide or worried about someone else. The final instruction is to "Contact Us".
Video Type and Focus
This is a powerful Charity and Awareness Campaign Advertisement from WaterAid. It contrasts the global fascination with finding water on Mars with the stark reality that millions lack clean water on Earth. The focus is making clean water on Earth a priority.
The Client's Problem
The problem is the lack of safe, clean water for communities on Earth, forcing a young girl to walk long distances daily instead of pursuing her dreams of being an astronaut. The world prioritizes space exploration over this immediate, life-threatening crisis.
The Key Difference
WaterAid's difference is that its mission is "here" on Earth. While others look to Mars for water, WaterAid provides practical solutions like local wells and pumps, transforming a child's life from fetching water to focusing on education and future goals.
The Positive Outcome
The positive outcome is the shift in global perspective. The video reframes the search for water as a deeply personal, urgent mission on our own planet. It shows that providing water is an act of empowerment, allowing children to achieve their full potential.
Call to Action
The call to action is explicit and emotionally resonant. WaterAid declares its mission is "here" and "personal," urging viewers to support their work to provide clean water on Earth, implying that their donations directly help real people.
Video Type and Focus
This is a corporate history and brand manifesto video for the clothing company GANT. It details the journey of founder Bernard Gantmacher from a young Ukrainian immigrant to a master shirtmaker in New York. The focus is on perfection and innovation in shirt design.
The Client's Problem
The initial problem was the need for high-quality, perfectly tailored shirts for the post-war American market. Bernard Gantmacher recognized a gap: mass-produced shirts lacked the detailed craftsmanship and quality standards demanded by discerning consumers.
The Key Difference
GANT's difference is its uncompromising obsession with the perfect shirt. Innovations like the locker loop, the box pleat, and the button on the back of the collar defined the "Ivy League Look," turning a simple item into a style statement.
The Positive Outcome
The brand became a pillar of the American sportswear look and the Ivy League style. GANT’s commitment to quality made them successful, proving that continuous reinvention and design innovation could transform a family business into a respected global brand.
Call to Action
The call to action is implicit, encouraging viewers to buy into the GANT lifestyle, defined by "never stop learning." By sharing its rich heritage and constant drive for improvement, the video compels the audience to choose GANT for its authentic, quality legacy.
Storytelling in marketing video production strengthens emotional connections by engaging imagination, empathy, and memory. Instead of showcasing product features, brands use characters, conflict, and emotion to create narratives that feel personal and relatable. This makes emotional messaging more persuasive than direct promotion, especially when the storytelling is visually expressive and crafted with animation.
Key Points
A strong emotional marketing strategy requires intention, creativity, and a deep understanding of the target audience. The first step is identifying the specific emotion you want to trigger, whether it’s joy, trust, nostalgia, or inspiration. From there, brands must craft emotional appeal ads using relatable characters, expressive visuals, and immersive video storytelling. Elements like music, color, pacing, and tone further strengthen the emotional experience.
To maximize impact, emotional advertising campaigns should be integrated consistently across social media, video platforms, landing pages, and brand stories, ensuring that the emotional message feels unified and authentic everywhere.
Measuring emotional marketing involves evaluating both qualitative and quantitative performance indicators. Brands track emotional advertising campaigns using metrics like engagement rate, sentiment analysis, social shares, brand recall, and time spent on media. Emotional branding examples also show improved customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
Real-world results from emotional advertising campaigns include increased sales for Coca-Cola, higher loyalty for Apple, and global recognition for Nike. These outcomes prove that emotional marketing is not just creative, it is profitable.
Emotional marketing examples reveal that emotional appeal ads have shaped some of the world’s most powerful campaigns. Explainer Videos that have emotional advertising continue to dominate because it connects with people at a deeper psychological level. Brands that use emotional marketing examples wisely can build stronger trust, higher engagement, and long-lasting customer loyalty. Emotional advertising is more than a trend, it is the future of meaningful brand communication.
Campaigns like Google’s “Year in Search,” Coca-Cola’s festive stories, and brand films that follow heartfelt character journeys show how narrative-driven visuals can spark emotion, build connection, and leave viewers with a lasting, relatable message.
Emotion-focused visuals immerse viewers in relatable moments, making them feel joy, empathy, or inspiration. This emotional pull boosts trust, strengthens recall, and encourages loyalty because people remember how a story made them feel more than what a product claimed.
A strong strategy uses clear storytelling, relatable characters, expressive visual moments, and consistent emotional themes across touchpoints. When viewers repeatedly experience the same emotional tone, it builds credibility, deepens connection, and makes the brand message more memorable.