Week 7

After our meeting with the client this week, our group as well as the other groups received feedback that we were not making enough of an emotional connection to our target market. We were also told that we needed to push our creative ideas to be more risky and outside of the box. I am hoping that making more emotional connections will help my team do this. 

The first article I decided to look at again was "23 Types of Advertising Appeals Most Commonly Used by Brands". As I was reading through the article, I began to pick out appeals that could possibly be used in our campaign. Based on the list I have created, I will talk to me team and determine which appeals have the greatest potential to make an actual emotional connection to the target market. The article is split into two categories of appeals; emotional and rational. "An emotional appeal depends more on feelings and perceptions than logic or reason to provoke action"(Middleton). For this reason, emotional appeals will be the most likely to aid in the emotional connection that we are trying to make and I focused on these kinds of appeals. 

Emotional Appeals

• Social Appeal: A social appeal appeals to consumers need to a part of something or to be included. We can use trends within the consumer market such as eating fresh, healthy food or wanting food fast due to busy lifestyles within our messaging to make consumers want to fit in with what others are doing.

• Humor Appeal: I think that a humor appeal is very applicable in the case of Hot Table. Especially because they describe their own brand personality as dad humor. It is always important to be careful when using humor to ensure that your jokes do not upset others. However, if the humor is playful, silly, and dad like, I do not think Hot Table will have any issues. 

• Endorsement Appeal: Endorsements of public figures or celebrities are well known to help sell products and services across industries. Unfortunately, Hot Table most likely does not have the budget for some big name celebrity. However, finding a well known local public figure within the Shrewsbury location may be both affordable and actually more effective since the influencer will have a personal connection to that region. 

• Adventure Appeal: This one may be a bit of stretch, but I think it has the potential to give an idea the "cowbells" that Six Point Creative is looking for. I think the idea that ads using this appeal "encourage people to join in as a part of the brand club to experience something new and exciting" (Middleton) has potential to work for our campaign. 

• Music Appeal: The right music can add to the emotion of the ad and set the tone and mood of the advertisement. 

• Potential Appeal: "This type of advertising appeal communicates a sense of empowerment to turn dreams into a reality" (Middleton). I think that this appeal has particular potential for the Weight Reformers psychographic segment. Their dream is to lead a healthier lifestyle and Hot Table can help make that dream a reality. 

More feedback that the class received overall from professor Spotts is that we should get a better understand of our target market to better understand how we can connect with them emotionally. For this reason, I decided to look at the health and well-being segments as well as the food and lifestyle segments and pick out ways that we can make emotional connections to the groups that are most likely to be targeted by fast casual restaurants. 

Health and Well- Being Segmentation

• Weight Reformers: These consumers struggle with healthy food choices and want to improve their diets and health. For this segment, our connection would be to show them how to break their unhealthy habits using Hot Table food. 
• 27.1% visit Chipotle
• 30.3% visit Panera
• 18% visit QDOBA

• Image Shapers: These consumers are already healthy, but they look for brands that can offer them convenience in their healthy choices. The emotional connection to this group would revolve around service and quality that keeps up with their busy lifestyle and lets them take their food on the go. This is a particularly good market to capture since these type of consumer tend to be brand loyal.  
• 26.7% visit Chipotle
• 20.8% visit Panera
• 39.3% visit QDOBA

Food and Lifestyle Segmentation

• Reformed Traditional: These consumers want to make healthier choices in food and do not want to let convenience be a guiding force in their choices. For these consumers, we should stress that you don't need to trade convenience for health or visa versa with Hot Table. At Hot Table, you get both. 
• 22.4% visit Chipotle
• 25.2% visit Panera
• 23% visit QDOBA
• Variety on a Budget: These consumers are very busy and frequently eat on the run. They are interested in gourmet food as long as it fits with their budget. For these consumers, we should focus on affordable, fresh meals that consumers can take on the go. 
• 30.8% visit Chipotle
• 27.4% visit Panera
• 36.7% visit QDOBA
• True Foodies: These consumers prefer fresh and organic ingredients and variety is the spice of their life. For these consumers, we should stress the fresh ingredients and the ability for consumers to create their own or modify food options at Hot Table. 
• 23.1% visit Chipotle
• 25.5% visit Panera
• 19.2% visit QDOBA