It’s only fitting that on Inauguration Day, when much of America looks toward the future for new ideas, a man who bills himself as head of an ideas company says that not only is there room for love during a recession, there’s an “urgent” need.

I first heard of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi, watching the PBS Frontline Persuaders documentary. As someone who studies emotion, I was immediately captivated by his ideas. “This guy gets it,” I thought.

I’ve shown that video and talked about his book in every advertising class that I’ve taught since.

We’ve brought his ideas into our psychophysiology lab, and the body says he’s right.

In the book, Roberts says, “I’m looking for research that counts the beats of your heart rather than the fingers of your hand.”

We’ve counted those beats, and we’ve shown that your heart does beat differently when you’re looking at a brand that you love.

His book is, well, a personal Lovemark of mine. And I greatly appreciate Mr. Roberts taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions.

Kevin Roberts has had an illustrious career that has spanned the globe. He has fallen in love with China, walked among bazaars in the Middle East, and gunned down a Pepsi machine in Canada.

1) What is your opinion of the state of advertising today?

Kevin Roberts: It’s becoming more and more a 2 way conversation; it’s moved from directing to connecting … and it’s the most fun it’s ever been.

2) Does our propensity to emotionally attach to inanimate goods mean we’re missing something interpersonally?

Kevin Roberts: No – it’s and/and. Let emotions rip ‘n rule whatever the situation.

3) Is there room for love during a recession?

Kevin Roberts: Not only room, there’s an urgent need. What the world needs now is love sweet love!! (Oh yeah – and hope, change, and dreams.)

4) How does the social networking phenomenon affect Lovemarks?

Kevin Roberts: It creates real intimacy.

5) In Lovemarks, you tell a great story about gaining a promotion by offering to work for half the salary for 6 months. What can we do to instill this kind of hunger and drive among young people?

Kevin Roberts: Inspire them to follow their hearts and believe that their dreams can come true – if they take responsibility for their own happiness.

Links:

• Roberts’ Saatchi Web site
• Roberts’ Web log
• Official Lovemarks Web site
• Saatchi & Saatchi

Too bad being first “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

Miller Lite’s “Tastes Great, Less Filling” slogan is still a classic. Someone used it as a line to me on Twitter yesterday. So it still resonates.

Along the way, countless other light beers flooded the market. Better marketer and market share leader Anheuser-Busch offered up Bud Light. And Miller figured out that their epic slogan merely advertised the product category.

And if you dominate a product category the way that Gillette razors do, it’s OK for you to promote the product category. Ninety percent of customers will buy your brand anyway.

But it’s not OK for a relatively small market share beer, such as Miller Lite.

So their execs made the (probably) wise decision to stop advertising for all light beers. They ditched the slogan.

The problem is that sometimes a slogan is more than a slogan.

In this case, the slogan was the entire identity of Miller Lite. And bad things happen when you throw your entire identity away.

Your customers don’t know you. They sure can’t love you.

Countless movies feature the line, “I don’t even know who you are anymore,” for a reason.

In a product category such as domestic light beer — where the differences in taste are ever so slight — love is everything.

So every couple of months Advertising Age chronicles the latest woes of Miller Lite. The most recent was published Jan. 15, 2009, under the headline: “Miller Lite Posts Worst Quarter in More Than a Decade.”

MillerCoors’ flagship brand has struggled in recent years, generally posting incremental losses or tiny gains. Shipments were relatively flat during the first half of 2008, but they fell 3.6% in the third quarter, and that deficit doubled in the fourth quarter, a sign that the brand is in freefall.

Such sad news less than two weeks before former spokesman Bob Uecker’s birthday.

The beer’s still the same, but the love is not.

I see Miller Lite ads. Some of them entertain me. But then the next one is different. And so on.

None of them build the long-term images about which David Ogily spoke poetically.

Miller Lite is doomed unless it can find another big idea that resonates with beer drinkers.

And data such as these intensify my belief in Kevin Roberts’ notion of Lovemarks.

For consumer products, it must be about love.

I was lucky enough to interview Mr. Roberts this week. Tune back in Tuesday for his thoughts on love in a bad economy.

And I continue to believe in my heart and mind that long-term emotional connections beat out short-term ROI for the vast majority of consumer goods and services.

Then it’s no surprise that one of my favorite television of ads of 2009 came from Saatchi & Saatchi.

While reading the awesome Dec. 15, 2008, “Book of Tens” issue of Advertising Age, I came across 10 “Ads Garfield Loved.”

Although I don’t always agree with their rambunctious ad critic, his No. 3 choice, Miller High Life, is dead on:

The High Life delivery man is the arbiter of down-to-earth beer drinking. He’s angry, confused, joyous and charismatic all at once. In the baseball skybox, amid cheese-nibbling elites who aren’t even watching the game, he is transcendentally appalled.

In addition to being a funny commercial and a nice piece of storytelling, this ad is the brand. High Life is a lower-priced beer, and there is no benefit in shying away from it. Instead, this ad and the broader campaign embrace the everyman theme of an economical brew.

Frustrated that corporate America is pricing sporting events out of your range? So is the High Life delivery man.

The ad resonates, we make an emotional connection, and the magic of Roberts, Ogilvy, and Burnett happens.

Santa, please bring me more ads like this in 2009!