“The road can be a hostile place. But also, it can be the most human. Here, everything we do counts. Every action, every decision, has consequences in our lives and in the lives of others.
If we bring out the best in ourselves, if we allow ourselves to be guided by prudence and solidarity, our attitude will become contagious. And the road will be a friendly and safe place that takes us to our destination.
On the road, as in life, we are all connected.”
This is the text that a voice-over reads in the last advertisement of the campaign that the DGT recently launched on the occasion of the exodus from the big cities that the Easter holidays cause in millions of people.
An impeccably made spot that, without needing to resort to those harsh and shocking images of accidents that we don't even dare to look at, alludes to the need to humanize a road that week after week becomes hell for thousands of Spanish families. .
An increasingly hostile place, an outlet for our frustrations, in which respect for others leaves a void that is scary to look into for fear of falling into it, and in which many of us have the word selfish written as part of our registration.
Why, despite sharing our journey with so many hundreds of thousands of people, deep down do we feel so alone? Why such a lack of empathy towards those around us?
I propose a game! Let's change the word “road” in the ad text to society. Does the text still make sense? Do we think that the society in which we live can become a hostile place? Do we believe that our attitude and the decisions we make can have consequences on the lives of others? I think so.
More than 800 million people “live” on Facebook, more than 200 billion posts are published every day, one billion tweets per week and more than 20 million accounts are opened monthly. We have never been more “accompanied” and we have never felt so alone.
We have a lot of “friends” on Facebook who we wouldn't even recognize if we passed them on the street, we are followed by a few thousand followers on Twitter that only have one profile of us (the one we want to build), we trust the opinion of the participant in a forum about which we know absolutely everything, except their opinion on the product that I am interested in buying, and we talk to the brands, with those who want us to talk to them. And all this that we call a relationship is the product of not knowing how to be alone, of not wanting to be alone.
When we smile we move 46 muscles. Children laugh more than 400 times a day and adults laugh less than 40. It is a good reflection of the ability we are losing to be impressed and to impress. But why does this happen. Why do we let it happen?
Charles Colton said that the greatest friend of truth is time. In my opinion, one of the biggest enemies of our society is precisely the absence of it, I don't know if it's because we don't want to look for it or because we don't know how to find it.
In a society like the one we are building, in which credit cards, weddings, divorces and even kidnappings are quick, in which time has become the most scarce resource, let us not deceive ourselves, we do not have the Sufficient patience to maintain commitments and build relationships with others. And although Ruskin expressed it differently, we cannot forget that impatience is the shortest way to kill hope and end happiness.
In a reality like the one we are living in, in which outtakes from comedy programs are more successful than their actual recording, what we lack is the time for criticism, for sincerity and for courage. to be able to begin to see and express things from another perspective.
Continue playing!! Let's now put the word “brand” instead of road and society. Again, does the text still make sense? Do we believe that brands are a reflection of society? Do we think that they can connect with us and become part of our lives?
Partly due to the crisis but also as a result of their own identity traits, many brands fall into the trap of satisfying the “impatience” of the member of that society to which I previously alluded, now incarnated as a consumer.
The search for satisfaction in such a volatile and short-term market serves as an alibi for some brands to not listen to their client, to not generate a long-term commitment with them, thus justifying their lack of time for humility and their absence of humanity to put yourself in their shoes.
Deep down, fear of the future blocks them, makes them selfish, unsupportive and, ultimately, apathetic, which prevents them from connecting with their clients and, therefore, growing and evolving. Only through responsibility, sincerity, honesty, listening and respect for the customer can these brands be part of our lives.
Therefore, if we take into account that apathy is a learned role, which is not in the biological basis of human beings, nor do we want it to be present in those brands with which we want to relate and with which we want to be related, The time has come for them to “unlearn” and recover empathy as a fundamental ingredient of their DNA.
Let's play one more time!!! I propose that you now change the word road, society, brand to “company”. Do you think the initial text still makes sense? Do you think that companies can be a hostile place? Do you think that their attitude towards their employees and collaborators influences their own brands, the perception we have of them? Absolutely yes.
The process of creating and building an empathetic brand begins in the Human Resources department. Marketing prepares it and serves it, the rest of the departments follow the formula, but Human Resources is the one that has to propose the ingredients so that the consumer experience of your brand does not present cracks throughout the process. .
The question is not whether brands that already lack empathy towards their market show symptoms of apathy towards their employees, since it is evident that this is the case since it is difficult to give what you do not have. The question is whether those companies that allocate large economic resources to creating the best consumer experience for their brands, but forget to understand the point of view of their employees and collaborators, to listen to their ideas and to share their thoughts and feelings, They will be able to face the challenges that the consumer and the humanization of consumption are proposing to us.
Relationships are what rule the world. The lack of patience and therefore empathy between the members of our society, of companies with their employees and of brands with their consumers, to create a solid relationship based on belief in the other, on respect, on Transparency and, consequently, in the generation of mutual trust, will prevent us from evolving and maintaining control of our future. Impatience and apathy will only lead us to frustration.
As I said at the beginning, “The road (society, the company) can be a hostile place. But also, it can be the most human. Here, everything we do counts. Every action, every decision, has consequences in our lives and in the lives of others.” It only depends on us, on all of us.
!!!let's play together for the last time!!! Let us infect the world with solidarity, patience and empathy, and we will win.
Sebastian Fernandez de Lara
