My latest at Adfreak looks at the emotional journey the trailers for some recent and upcoming movies have taken audiences on:

We’re supposed to feel the journey of that older woman struggling with arthritis when all she wants is to go outside and play wiffle ball with her grandson. We’re supposed to invest deeply in the story of the man who struggles to find just the right kind of paint with which to complete his weekend renovation. We’re supposed to cry at the dog that delivers the letter from the wounded soldier to his pregnant wife just in time for Christmas Day. Those emotional connections are supposed to make the audience more likely to feel positively toward the brand doing the advertising, and therefore more likely to select it the next time an opportunity comes up.

The same is true of movie trailers. Whether it’s making us laugh, making us tense up with anticipation, or feel a tingle at the heroic adventures depicted, we’re meant to get charged up. Those teasers are designed to use the 90 to 150 seconds available to them to sell us the premise, introduce the characters and outline the story, all in a way that hits some emotional chord. And that is meant to motivate the audience to go to the theater, make a purchase on iTunes/Amazon or subscribe to Netflix.

Source: All the Feels: How the Trailers for This Summer’s Movies Break Down Emotionally – Adweek