BRAND EMPATHY
by Yasushi Kusume
'Empathy plays a fundamental role in our social lives. It allows us to share emotions, experiences, needs, and goals. Not surprisingly, there is much empirical evidence suggesting a strong link between mirror neurons (or some general forms of neural mirroring) and empathy.’
Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others, Marco Iacoboni, Picador
For humans to survive, it's important for them to collaborate. Joining a social community with similar goals tends to make them feel more secure. One of the reasons Homo sapiens evolved the way it did was due to its ability to collaborate with others. And a key element in this collaboration was triggered by mirror neurons.
Mirror neurons
Mirror neurons are stimulated by action, and by observing that same action carried out by a third party. They were discovered in the 1980s and 1990s, by Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team of researchers at the University of Parma. Studying a macaque monkey, they observed what happened when the monkey saw someone pick up food, and when it picked up its own food. In both cases the same neurons in its brain were activated.
Responding to advertising
Marco Iacoboni is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. In his book, Mirroring People, he describes the results he gathered from his research into the relationship between advertising and mirror neurons.
Working with an advertisement shown during the US Super Bowl and using an fMRI - a Magnetic Resonance Imaging process that enabled him to observe areas in the brain where neurons are firing - he focussed special attention on four key neural systems: the mirror neuron system; the reward system; the brain centres for executive control; and the emotional brain centres.
He observed no effect on any of these systems except for those containing mirror neurons. This, for him, was proof that the participants in his research had responded to what they saw the characters in the advertising doing.
At which point, I’m almost certain you’ll be asking: What does all this mean for my brand?
Is your brand empathising?
Empathy is built into us. Whether it’s how we feel when confronted by other people’s emotions, or whether it’s our ability to understand those emotions, empathy is deeply embedded in our brains and our bodies. It is one of our species’ defining characteristics.
A successful brand understands this. A successful brand has its own values and personality. It is, in effect, an individual. And, as an individual, it has mirror neurons capable of responding to others. To its customers.
So my question to you is: Is your brand is empathising with your customers’ experience? Because if it isn’t, then you won’t be able to fulfil their expectations and your business will lag behind a brand that can.