Many entrepreneurs too typically mistake their job as stewards and amplifiers of their model. Whereas that isn’t essentially incorrect, it’s not their most vital job. Understanding and advocating for his or her viewers is.
We’re again with the newest version of our collection, @Me Subsequent Time, the place we invite Group Sprout and a few of our favourite social consultants to share how they actually really feel in regards to the newest developments and business discourse.
This time, we sat down with Patrick Timmons—Senior Supervisor of Social and Model Communications, founding father of The Model Kitchen, creator, and knowledgeable on empathy advertising—to study extra about his empathy-driven philosophy.
As Timmons described, “Conventional advertising says, ‘You see me.’ Empathy advertising says, ‘I see you,’ which is how people discuss to different people.”
Amid a flurry of AI-generated content material permeating our feeds, audiences need person-to-person connection. Per our This autumn 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, customers say human-generated content material, personalised care and surprise-and-delight moments are what they need manufacturers to prioritize most in 2026.
Empathy-driven advertising is on the coronary heart of all of those efforts. Learn on for extra insights from our interview with Timmons, and steps you possibly can take to construct a social advertising technique rooted in empathy.
What’s empathy-driven advertising?
Empathy-driven advertising is a customer-centric strategy that focuses on the feelings, wants and challenges folks face slightly than solely goal advantages.
As Timmons put it, “Empathy advertising is knowing why your prospects want your services or products. The way it makes their lives much less hectic or chaotic. It’s figuring out the second of their day when your model makes them happier or relieved. There’s a bent in advertising—particularly amongst executives—to deal with the small print of how well-designed or environment friendly a product is. However that’s not why folks purchase merchandise. They purchase merchandise as a result of their worth resonates emotionally. Every thing we purchase begins with emotion.”
Empathy advertising is much less about aesthetics and about substance, one thing Timmons admits takes time for entrepreneurs to internalize.
“Early in my profession, I believed my job was to make my model look excellent. However the campaigns that resonated weren’t the shiny ones—they have been those the place folks mentioned, ‘That’s so me.’ As Maya Angelou mentioned, ‘Folks will neglect what you mentioned, folks will neglect what you probably did, however folks will always remember the way you made them really feel.’ That’s the muse of empathy advertising—it’s about creating connection, not simply communication.”
How empathy and conventional advertising are totally different
To visualise how conventional and empathy-driven advertising differ, Timmons supplied a poignant metaphor. Think about you’re attending a convention. Conventional advertising is the keynote speaker. Addressing 1000’s of viewers members without delay, the keynote speaker proudly lists their accomplishments as they inform their rousing success story. It’s inspiring and memorable, however you don’t have a private relationship with that speaker. They don’t know you, and also you don’t actually know them.
Alternatively, empathy-driven advertising is the individual sitting subsequent to you within the crowd. This fellow attendee will get to know you and your background, and has firsthand expertise doing the identical sort of labor that you just do. You share two-way conversations that reveal comparable views and objectives, and you are feeling understood by them. Manufacturers that create the identical form of genuine reference to their prospects and prospects earn lasting belief and loyalty.
Timmons clarifies that manufacturers ought to proceed to speak about their services, however should accomplish that in a means that prioritizes schooling for the sake of assembly prospects’ emotional wants. Don’t use jargon or salesy language. “Let your model be the thought chief of your viewers’s feelings. Present them that you just see the challenges they expertise. You don’t have to actually say, ‘We make your life simpler,’ however you must convey how nicely you perceive their point-of-view. Fairly than making an attempt to be the hero archetype, be the therapist.”
Why we want empathy in advertising now greater than ever
The present social, political and financial panorama is straining customers and altering the way in which they need manufacturers to indicate up. Take the model activism renaissance as proof. Per the Q3 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, 47% of customers usually tend to purchase from firms that talk out about particular causes or subjects within the information, given the present social local weather. That rises to 63% for Gen Z.
The Pulse Survey additionally discovered that customers say their prime issues for manufacturers on social revolve round manufacturers publishing AI-generated content material with out disclosing it, mishandling private knowledge and posting content material that doesn’t align with their very own views.
In such polarizing instances, audiences wish to purchase from manufacturers they’ll belief. Empathy is vital to standing out for the appropriate causes and incomes credibility.
Timmons framed it like this, “Going into 2026, I feel we’re going to see extra divisive promoting, which already began to emerge this yr. Some manufacturers are responding to the present local weather by leaning into exclusivity. ‘That is the form of one who wears our denims’ or ‘That is the form of one who drives our vehicles.’ While you try this, you inadvertently gatekeep your model and make folks really feel like they’re being bought to. Shoppers see via that, and crave one thing extra sincere and honest. Fairly than telling your viewers what stereotype you suppose they match into, take heed to what they actually need.”
How social groups can lead with empathy-driven advertising
To guide with empathy in your advertising efforts, it’s essential to return to fundamentals. As entrepreneurs, it’s straightforward to get caught up within the totally different objectives of groups throughout your organization. However, at its core, your advertising plans ought to replicate the emotional wants of your viewers at the beginning.
Learn the room
It’s crucial to observe macro conversations and cultural moments that will influence how your viewers feels and what they’re most apprehensive about. Whether or not it’s tariffs or the rising value of residing, geopolitical conflicts and social points, or audiences rising fatigued with particular developments, there are lots of components at play.
Insights like these emerge on social, which implies your workforce is first to note new developments. Use sentiment shifts to form your objectives and content material technique. You must also share these learnings cross-functionally and along with your C-suite, reminding groups throughout your organization of the broader challenges your viewers is up towards.
Hearken to what your audiences are saying
Along with the broader context, it’s equally vital to remain on prime of every part being mentioned about your model and product, and particular shopper challenges associated to your business. As Timmons described, “It’s a must to have conversations along with your prospects. Speak to them at occasions, take heed to Gong calls, sit in on gross sales conferences. Take each alternative to soak in buyer tales that you could. They’ll encourage numerous content material concepts and assist you to construct stronger rapport along with your neighborhood.”
As your content material turns into extra resonant, you must also faucet into the remark part. There’s nothing extra affirming than when a commenter says, “That is so me.” Timmons advises entrepreneurs to ask follow-up inquiries to dig deeper into sentiment knowledge and discover out why content material resonated (and take these qualitative insights to your executives). This engagement fuels stronger content material, and permits your neighborhood to co-create your model identification with you.
Measure the appropriate issues
If empathy is your north star, which metrics matter most? For Timmons, the highest metrics are saves and shares. He describes them as “belief” metrics. “A save means your content material is sweet sufficient that somebody doesn’t need it to get washed away by the algorithm. A share means somebody is tying themselves to your model, and is prepared to cosign their identify in your content material.”
Each imply you’ve struck accord past surface-level engagement. It’s an excellent stronger indicator when individuals are saving and sharing your paid or boosted content material.
Decide to small modifications
Embracing empathy-driven advertising is an extended recreation. However Timmons believes that even small, intentional modifications to how social entrepreneurs function everyday could make an enormous distinction. These are three fast methods to observe empathy advertising, no matter your present technique or tech stack:
- Exchange “audience” with “folks I’m serving to” when having inner conversations.
- Audit your final 5 posts and ask: Who did this serve?
- Speak to 1 buyer—actually discuss—and switch that story into content material.
Manufacturers that exemplify empathy-driven advertising
Once we requested Timmons for examples of manufacturers that already exemplify empathy-driven advertising, there have been two clear stand-outs.
Spotify
“I feel Spotify Wrapped is likely one of the greatest empathy advertising campaigns ever. It’s all in regards to the finish customers. It’s about their emotional journeys all year long, and creating area for them to replicate via a product. And everybody needs to share it on social as a result of it’s so true and genuine,” mentioned Timmons.
Spotify first began working the marketing campaign 10 years in the past, and it has since turn into a beloved popular culture phenomenon. The marketing campaign is so profitable that customers proceed to lift their expectations for its knowledge high quality, and the way nicely it captures their distinctive tastes and persona. Final yr, customers have been vocal once they suspected their Wrapped knowledge was inaccurate and misrepresented them.
Timmons urges entrepreneurs to lean in and hear throughout these moments. “Your product, service or model goes to fall quick in some unspecified time in the future. Empathy advertising will assist you to navigate these moments with grace. Due to the suggestions they bought, Spotify is working to ship even higher knowledge this yr.”
Hole
Like many social customers, Timmons was an enormous fan of Hole’s collaboration with lady group Katseye. “The Hole denim industrial was so on the nostril. By partnering with Katseye, Hole celebrated particular person confidence with out minimizing different folks’s confidence. I’ve mates who’re shopping for Hole denims for the primary time as a result of they have been so impressed by the marketing campaign’s message of enjoyable and physique confidence.”
The retailer adopted their Katseye marketing campaign by partnering with Troye Sivan and Sienna Spiro, and constructing on their legacy of confidence and joy-inducing musical productions.
Lead the market by placing empathy first
Empathy advertising is a long-term technique for constructing belief with more and more skeptical customers. AI saturation and a fraught social, political and financial local weather go away folks in search of true human-to-human connection.
The manufacturers that stand out would be the ones that see and listen to their audiences most clearly. By listening deeply, responding sincerely and crafting content material that claims “we get you,” social groups can construct a bridge between their model and audiences. In 2026 and past, empathy would be the most respected forex in advertising.
For extra on unearthing insights about your viewers from social, try social media listening examples from actual manufacturers.
