For a few years now, a lot has been said about all the aspects related to emotional intelligence. Specialists on the subject (especially, psychology professionals) tell us that it is through this (so human) skill that we can endow ourselves with a clear added value in front of an increasingly automated and digital environment.
But what is exactly emotional intelligence? On which aspects is it based?
Emotional intelligence is the ability that people have to recognize, understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those from the people around them.
Daniel Goleman, the "godfather" of emotional intelligence, identified a few years ago the five main aspects on which this intelligence is based:
- Self-awareness: ability to identify one's strengths and weaknesses.
- Self-regulation: ability to control impulses and emotions.
- Motivation: capacity for enthusiasm and push... no matter what the obstacles are.
- Empathy: ability to put yourself in the other’s shoes, to recognize the emotions and feelings of others.
- Social skills: ability that allows us to give adequate responses to the environment and better relate to others.
As a reflection of society, brands are also “catching up” on everything to do with emotional intelligence. But what should a brand do to obtain good emotional intelligence? Perhaps simply transfer Goleman’s model to its brand, taking care of developing the following pillars:
- BRAND SELF-AWARENESS: So that they get to know themselves better, finding out what their strengths and weaknesses are.
- BRAND SELF-REGULATION: So that they do not concentrate all their efforts on short-term tactical strategies driven by impulses or immediate reactions, but that they are also capable of generating long-term strategies, thus building brands with more essence.
- BRAND MOTIVATION: So that they have a constant motivation, a drive, an enthusiasm for achieving their goals as a brand, and so the setbacks they find are nothing more than new opportunities to reinvent themselves.
- BRAND EMPATHY: So that they have the ability to put themselves in the costumer’s shoes and being capable of transmitting emotions to them.
- BRAND SOCIAL SKILLS: So that they are flexible and adaptive in order to give adequate responses to the environment and that they are capable of creating connections with other brands.
Regarding this last point (social skills) some brands are beginning to take small steps in creating new forms of relationship between them.
A few months ago (at Christmas Holidays) I came across a Coca-Cola brand campaign that made me reflect on these new forms of relationship. In the campaign, Coca-Cola wished Merry Christmas to its main rival, PEPSI. This campaign, apart from having a great impact, had also contributed to the creation of another way of relationship between brands, laying the foundations for a bound with more emotional intelligence.
Brands have made us get used to the competition model; it is something totally established in our society, something “normal”, and something that no longer surprises us. As consumers, we are not surprised that a brand tries to fight with all its energies in order to destroy its competition.
But, if we started to create new relationships with our competition?
Perhaps by building other types of relationships between brands (relationships with more emotional intelligence) we would be helping to give them greater added value; probably we would also be contributing raising the levels of connection with consumers, and why not, also raising their levels of notoriety. But what we will undoubtedly be doing is helping to create a new, much more humane social model.
Carlos Claver
