Masso Group

What's love got to do with it? Apparently a lot, when it comes to branding campaigns. Love is everywhere these days, and it is likely to be a promotional keyword in 2010. Love is "a sentiment enthralling Madison Avenue in spite of -- or perhaps as an antidote to -- a downturn and two wars," writes Andrew Adam Newman in The New York Times. He cites at least four current ad campaigns -- for Blackberry, LensCrafters, Payless Shoes, and Subaru -- that use "love" as a theme. Indeed, they are only the newest additions to the love craze, as evidenced by McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" campaign, introduced in 2003 and still running today.

Interestingly, the use of the love theme is so prevalent that it could easily cause a lack of differentiation in a brand category. Subaru's theme is "Love. It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru." Just months ago, Honda launched a campaign with the slogan "Everybody knows somebody who loves a Honda." Nissan's newest campaign carries the slogan "Quality you can love."

This over-abundance of love has ad legend Jerry Della Femina wondering if it's just too much. "I wouldn't have the nerve to walk into a client's [office] and say, 'Here's the campaign: everybody loves your product,'" he says.

(Source: Brand channel)