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Good Work Comes From Skill, Great Work Comes From Empathy
January 15, 2019
Empathy has long been a tactic used to enhance marketing. Jet Blue, for example, has used empathy-based marketing to grow and resonate by focusing on the experiences of flying - from the moving moments to the moments that suck. Jet Blue's "How Not To: " flight etiquette campaign is a great example of relatability; reminding us we are not alone. And while most memorable empathy-based campaigns are driven by large budgets and big teams - the beauty of empathy is that it does not need mass resources to deploy. It simply needs one thing - your care
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Empathy: The capacity to share and recognize the emotions felt by another being.
Empathy has long been a tactic used to enhance marketing.
Jet Blue, for example, has used empathy-based marketing to grow and resonate by focusing on the experiences of flying - from the moving moments to the moments that suck.
Jet Blue's "How Not To: " flight etiquette campaign is a great example of relatability; reminding us we are not alone.
And while most memorable empathy-based campaigns are driven by large budgets and big teams - the beauty of empathy is that it does not need mass resources to deploy.
It simply needs one thing - your care.
While everyone was piling on Chicago Bears Kicker, Cody Parkey, for botching a 43-yard field goal, leading to the Bears devastating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the opening round of the NFL playoffs, Chicago-based Goose Island Brewery went with a more light-hearted approach, which no doubt was led by empathy:
Prove you can do better than Parkey, and win a pair of tickets to any 2019 regular season Bears game (plus other notable prizes).
Of the 100 participants - not one made the 43-yard kick, but the outcome is pretty funny.
You have to believe if anything came from this campaign, there are at least 100 people who now have a little empathy for Parkey (and the brewery itself earns a favorable image boost plus an increase in beer sales).
The good news regarding empathy is it's something we can (and should) learn, especially now that we are operating in such an open and connected social space.
Beyond campaigns and promotions - consider empathy with your next reaction you share on social, next thought - come at content from the audience point of view.
Does it make people feel included, confident or relatable?
Operating from a space of inclusion and relatability - enables us to:
- Create a more meaningful identity
- Drive (positive) behavior change
- Resonate in a very distracted market place
Piling on Parkey was easy - but in a battle for consumer bandwidth - Goose Island Brewery showed us how empathy can create purposeful (and amusing) interaction with one another.
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