Not Your Everyday Tear Jerker — Branding Expert, Leslie Zane Gets Us All Emotional About Marketing

Co-host Brad Forsythe interviews Leslie Zane, founder of The Center for Emotional Marketing, which specializes in developing brand positioning and new products that create a stronger, more emotional connection with consumers using “the most insight” than any, other brand positioning consultancy.. Leslie found that precision in the expression of ideas is critical to key to revealing new opportunities and creating successful communications with consumers: In the early 1990s, Leslie pioneered “Triggers” or motivating drivers (e.g., Emotional Triggers, Image Triggers) — the notion of formulating successful positionings by identifying the Triggers of a particular purchase decision. Zane’s Brandvertising process helps companies to identify those Triggers and then develop them into relevant, multi-dimensional concepts (Brandcepts) and advertising. Unlike other branding consultants, Leslie is involved in projects through execution to ensure that the advertising message maintains the integrity of the winning positioning. This includes helping her clients develop more precise creative briefs and identifying subtle nuances that can keep the advertising message on target. In the area of innovation, Leslie has helped numerous companies identify emerging markets and breakthrough opportunities. While product and positioning development typically occur as separate projects run by different agencies, Leslie’s clients increase new product success by bringing these disciplines together in a technique called Product-Positioning Linkage. This involves identifying Product Triggers and Package Triggers that signal key benefits earlier in the development process and building critical cues into the product and package from the beginning. The Center for Emotional Marketing’s clients include major consumer product companies such as Gillette, Kraft Foods, The Campbell Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Master Foods (formerly M&M Mars), Pepsico, Clorox and Fisher-Price. Although consumer product projects are the core of CEM’s business, Leslie also finds time to work for non-profits, which she finds especially rewarding. She has helped community officials and New York City’s parks raise their awareness and improve brand image. Leslie has also been featured as a commentator on marketing trends for CNBC, her bylined articles have been published in Brandweek, and she has been a speaker at The Advertising Research Foundation (The ARF), The Young President’s Organization (YPO) and company meetings for Kraft Foods, Pepsico, and Colgate. Leslie graduated with a B.A. from Yale University in 1982 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1986. Prior to establishing C.E.M. in 1995, Ms. Zane consulted at Bain & Company, marketed cosmetics and skin care at Procter & Gamble, developed new products at Johnson and Johnson, and practiced image marketing at Avon and Revlon. Leslie grew up in Forest Hills and now lives and works in Armonk, New York. For entertaining advice, join show hosts Ray Schilens and Brad Forsythe for a lively and informative discussion.