“Empathy” is now an essential element of branding | DIGIDAY[Japan version]

In the age of empathy

I became a creative director with a career in Public Relations. Until the 90’s, creative directors were perceived as positions for people with advertising skills, such as copywriters, art directors, and commercial planners. However, around 2000, people with various backgrounds such as activation and digital became creative directors. I also became a creative director from the world of PR, struggling to spread the idea of ​​communication design and integrated marketing to the advertising industry. Before becoming a CD, I acquired various skills in the area of ​​public relations, but the one I am grateful for having acquired is “empathy power”. Now, I think empathy is an indispensable element for branding.

From those who can tell the difference to those who can tell the same

I often feel that marketing is in an era where people who can talk about “the same” are more popular than people who can talk about “differences.” I think it is a phenomenon that is synchronized with the change from the time when brands talk about differentiating points in the market to the time when they talk about their role in society. It was more important to appeal the “difference” in the era of comparing specifications with competitors such as the fuel efficiency of automobiles and the size of the luggage compartment, but in the era of talking about how brands contribute to society, through mobility. The vision of what kind of society we will create becomes more important (the spec appeal is not worthless). Creating new services is often difficult with the power of a single company. Therefore, brands will collaborate and co-create with players from different industries who share the same aspirations. It is important to share the “same” vision with players who have different backgrounds such as technologies in other industries.

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Empathy is technology, not sensation

There is also a word similar to empathy called sympathy. Both are translated as “empathy,” but sympathy is more of an emotional “empathy,” and empathy is an ability of “empathy.” In other words, sympathy seems to be a good person, and empathy seems to be able to find points that can be agreed with people who have different cultural backgrounds. In that sense, what a brand needs now is “empathy.”

Public Relations is a consensus-building job. PR technology is to spread the idea different from the conventional concept to the world. Often, when I talk to students, I tell them that PR is a public relations and that it’s important to have an S in the plural. The main mission of marketing is to build relationships with consumers, but in PR, we must consider the relationships between consumers, employees, local residents, government, academia, NPOs, and all stakeholders. Must be. It’s just Relations. This includes building relationships with players who are not positive about the brand. The empathy power is utilized here.

The new concept causes friction with the existing mechanism

Startups want to popularize services that use new technologies. However, new technologies always cause friction with existing mechanisms. Ride-sharing services that utilize IT are restricted by laws and regulations related to the transportation industry, and are regarded as a threat by existing businesses. There are both private lodging services and legal regulations, and it can be regarded as an unfamiliar service where strangers suddenly come to stay in the area. However, minpaku may be a new regional revitalization measure or a solution to the vacant house problem. The PR person who supports our business is to help us move forward toward the realization of services, such as finding a way to work with such local governments and local organizations from that perspective, creating special zones and conducting demonstration experiments. It’s the role of. This is a job to find a place where you can grasp the “same” place with stakeholders who think from a different point of view from the business operator, and empathy power is what it is. In a sense, a diplomatic sense is required to exert empathy. It’s like holding a hand in the same part while admitting the difference.

Not only for start-ups, but also for existing companies that are trying to transform their businesses, the sense of finding “same” values ​​with various stakeholders will become an important skill in order to instill new services and businesses in the world. Let’s do it. Brands with empathy are strong!

* DIGIDAY[Japan version]isADVERTISING WEEK ASIA2022Media partner. In addition, Koichiro Shima, the author of this article, wrote about the AWA session “Food and creative possibilitiesWill be on stage.

Written by Koichiro Shima
Image courtesy of ADVERTISING WEEK ASIA2022