Your Marketing Is Missing This (And It Shows)

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“Empathy”

When was the last time your marketing reflected it?

If you’ve been following along these past two weeks, we’ve talked about data and creativity. How easy it is to lose the human spark in the chase for performance, and how to bring that balance back.

This week, we’re closing the loop with the final piece that ties it all together: empathy.

Here’s what’s inside today:

• Empathy in Practice — Why it’s harder than it sounds, and why it pays off.

• The Playbook — Simple ways to build empathy into your briefs, scripts, and reviews.

• Brand Spotlights — How Topicals, Dove, Kinship, Ceremonia, and Saie use empathy as a strategy.

• Growth Memo — A reminder that performance tells you what worked, empathy tells you why.

• From Me to You — A tool that keeps your marketing grounded in real people.

• Acronym Therapy — MER gets a new meaning.

Let’s dive in!

INTRO

The Empathy Edge 💬 

Empathy sounds soft.

But it’s one of the hardest skills to build and the sharpest competitive edge a marketer can have.

It’s what turns research into relevance.

It’s what helps you write a line that sounds like something they would say, not something you want to sell.

A while back, we started asking a simple question before creating any ad:

“Where is our customer emotionally when they see this?”

That one shift changed the work.
We stopped building around trends and started building around real moments and real headspace.

The copy softened.
The visuals slowed down.
The tone felt less like “look at us” and more like “we get you.”

And the results followed not because the ads were louder, but because people felt understood.
Recognition built trust. Trust built response.

PLAYBOOK

How to build empathy into your marketing

✨ Start your creative briefs with feelings, not goals.
Instead of “increase conversions,” ask, “What do we want people to feel before they act?”

✨ Rewatch your ads like a first-time viewer.
Does it sound like a person talking to another person? Would you believe it if you didn’t know the brand?

✨ Talk to real users.
Not in a survey, but in a conversation. Ask what made them hesitate, what made them stay, what made them share.

✨ Treat empathy as a skill, not a trait.
It gets sharper with practice. The more you listen, the better you write.

THE WHY

Why Empathy Scales Better Than Tactics?

Algorithms change.
Trends shift.
Benchmarks move every month.

But empathy never loses value.

When you know how your audience feels, you’ll always know how to reach them no matter the channel or format.

That’s why the best creative teams spend as much time listening as they do creating.

They read the comments.
They watch people use the product.
They pay attention to what goes unsaid.

They build systems that measure, but never replace, human insight.

BRAND SPOTLIGHT

Topicals

Topicals focuses on skin conditions that are often ignored, dismissed, or hidden.

Instead of treating concerns like hyperpigmentation, eczema, or flare-ups as something to fix quickly, the brand treats them as part of real life.

Their communication reflects that choice. The language is steady and reassuring, and the visuals show texture and nuance rather than perfected transformations.

The brand grew because people recognized themselves in the storytelling.

Topicals builds its identity around honesty, care, and the emotional reality of problem skin. The tone is supportive instead of corrective, which sets it apart from the typical results-driven skincare message. Customers trust it because it acknowledges feelings that other brands gloss over.

Dove

Dove’s Real Beauty platform is one of the most consistent examples of empathy in modern brand building.

Instead of centering on flaw-fixing or perfection, the brand has built years of messaging around self-worth and emotional confidence.

Real Beauty Sketches showed how women often judge themselves more harshly than others do, and the film became a cultural moment because it tapped into something honest.

The brand extends this approach through its Self-Esteem Project, which focuses on young people and the pressures created by appearance standards.

Dove’s marketing rarely leans on trends or quick hooks. It leans on recognition, vulnerability, and shared human experience. That consistency has allowed it to stay relevant across generations.

Kinship

Kinship approaches skincare with a focus on reassurance and simplicity.

Many beauty brands emphasize complexity and step-heavy results, but Kinship takes the opposite path.

Their communication is friendly, gentle, and easy to understand. The brand uses soft color palettes and approachable language that helps the routine feel manageable.

The emotional core of Kinship is connection. The products emphasize comfort, and the stories center on self-care rather than perfection.

The brand’s community often describes Kinship as safe and welcoming, which reflects how the marketing is built. Instead of pushing urgency or optimization, Kinship encourages consistency, patience, and kindness toward one’s own skin.

Ceremonia

Ceremonia is built around cultural pride, softness, and personal storytelling.

The founder created the brand to honor Latinx hair traditions and family rituals, which gives the entire identity a sense of origin and purpose.

The products emphasize nourishment over transformation, and the visuals show real texture, real routines, and real people.

Their communication reflects warmth, heritage, and belonging.

Ceremonia doesn’t position itself as a challenger trying to out-optimize the category.

It positions itself as a home for people who want care rooted in culture. This emotional grounding helps the brand form a community that feels invested, not just interested.

Saie Beauty

Saie focuses on ease and natural texture.

Its visual language is calm and unforced, showing skin as it actually looks.

The brand talks about clean formulas, simplicity, and comfort without leaning into fear-based messaging or dramatic transformation.

Saie’s communication feels like advice from someone who enjoys products but doesn’t want beauty to feel high-stakes. That tone has become a core part of the brand.

Customers trust it because the message stays consistent across content, packaging, and product design. Saie isn’t trying to overwhelm, it’s trying to make beauty feel manageable.

🪞Growth Memo

From Me to You 🎧

If you’re looking for an easier way to run TV campaigns, Roku’s Ads Manager is a solid place to start. It cuts out a lot of the usual headaches and brings the focus back to clear planning and real audience understanding.

And it fits perfectly with this week’s theme: empathy.

In a space crowded with complicated tools and endless targeting options, it’s a good reminder that straightforward, human-centered advertising still gets the job done.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Peak streaming time continues after Black Friday on Roku, with the weekend after Thanksgiving and the weeks leading up to Christmas seeing record hours of viewing. Roku Ads Manager makes it simple to launch last-minute campaigns targeting viewers who are ready to shop during the holidays. Use first-party audience insights, segment by demographics, and advertise next to the premium ad-supported content your customers are streaming this holiday season.

Read the guide to get your CTV campaign live in time for the holiday rush.

Learn more.

MEMORABLE THINGS

The Memo-ry 

Empathy is not a tactic.
It’s the foundation that makes every strategy work better.

If you understand people, you’ll never fall behind an algorithm.

Acronym Therapy 🧩

MER
Marketing Efficiency Ratio.

Also: Make Emotions Resonate.
Because efficiency is great, but connection is what actually compounds.

NEXT WEEK

The Creative Reset 🌿

A lighter one, how to reset your creative mind after burnout, metrics fatigue, or too many “urgent” briefs, and start making work that feels alive again.

Can’t wait to share more next week!
 
Creative Strategist
The Marketer’s Memo