There aren’t many Buddy McNutty types in healthcare PR and healthcare IT marketing. Likewise, few business-to-business advertisers would choose to infuse a tradition of German engineering with bizarre-oriented street cred. There’s nothing wrong with VW’s “Unpimp Mein Auto” parody or using Buddy to make America’s PB&Js safe again. But b-to-b messaging must focus more on credibility than warm-fuzzies-by-association or loads of adrenaline-inducing hipsteria.
Going back to basics — to 350 B.C., in fact — Aristotle defined the three modes of persuasion: “the first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words…” These are also known by their Greek-derived roots:
- Ethos, the appeal based on the authority, goodwill or integrity of the source
- Pathos, the appeal to the audience’s emotion
- Logos, the appeal based on intellect, reason and logic