Marketing emotion of the year: empathy

In the most dramatic and unexpected ways possible, 2020 was a crazy year, and marketers were no exception. After enjoying nearly a decade of annual economic growth, many marketers implemented very little change in overall strategy during the uptick. When 2020 blew up all the trends, strategies and consumer insights we had come to expect, a dramatic shift in thinking was necessary. Each new idea saw continued need for change over the course of the year in order to respond to lockdowns, protests, social movements, politics, the economy and the 24-hour news cycle.

Each new event meant that consumers were trudging through changing emotional cycles, too. Messaging needed to be more effective than ever. While many remain hopeful for more stability and economic growth in 2021, the strategies we use to communicate with consumers must change yet again, but with one point of stability likely to endure. To be the most effective, the emotion that marketers need to show in 2021 is empathy.