Empathy key to successful advertising, research suggests

In a report, called The empathy gap and how to bridge it, the two companies said that empathy often did not get the airtime it deserves when developing advertising.

The most effective marketing, according to the report, is a mixture of ‘creative experiences and ideas’ and ‘empathy and fitting in’, with the findings based on Ipsos testing data and Effie case data and showing that campaigns which combine both are more likely to be effective and perform 20% better on short-term sales lift.

The research also suggested that 73% of people globally want to slow down the pace of life and desire simplicity and meaning – a trend that in the UK has grown 48% over the last 10 years, according to the research.

Ipsos’ brand tracking database also showed that ‘empathy and fitting in’ matters to market share growth, and the perceptions that a brand understands and helps its customers are consistently observed as drivers of choice.

The results were based on Ipsos analysis of thousands of adverts to understand their impact and what the key components for effective campaigns are.

Samira Brophy, senior director, creative excellence at Ipsos, said: “Knowing exactly who your brand is and arriving at a simple idea to help tell your story is one of the hardest things to crack in advertising.

“It takes laser focus from brands and high-quality strategic planning from their agency partners to create those anchor points for creativity to flourish.”

Juliet Haygarth, managing director at Effie UK, said: “Taking the time to truly understand your audience is one of the building blocks of effectiveness. Humans want to feel seen and understood and they spend time with those that make them feel that way.”