CHAPTER 3
The High-Emotion Index: Stock Market Gains from Emotion

Product emotions are valued, so products that deliver them should generate additional revenue. The previous chapter concluded that the costs of providing product emotions can be quite low, implying that product emotions can be profitable. In practice, what do we find? Are firms that successfully provide product emotions more profitable than those that do not?

In this chapter we look at the macro level of the firm. In particular we want to find out if those companies that are the best at creating emotion are also the most profitable. The goal is to measure the profitability of emotion, to determine a metric that verifies that emotion pays off for companies that invest in high-emotion strategies.

To do so, we conducted a large-scale research project that studies companies’ stock performance over time. We found that emotion pays off not just in times of prosperity, but also during economic downturns!