Commentary

Microscopes, Empathy and Hula Hoops

Also onstage at the Trust Forum was a microscope. Really. Babcock had brought that up to demonstrate the idea of a "trust lens", to demonstrate -- I have to confess here that I'm not entirely sure what a trust lens is. But I think I forgot to mention in the earlier post why it was she also had a hula hoop onstage. That's another interesting story, but the upshot is that it is sort of a metaphor for a trust lens. I want one. And if I'd been sitting in the right seat I would have gotten one, too, because under some of the seats the Unit 7 folks (evidently, Unit 7 is full of these hula hoops, which they use to stay in shape or something, kind of like the Google Razor Scooters) were letters announcing that the person sitting on that seat gets a hula hoop. This is where it gets weird. Babcock mentioned the Edelman Trust Barometer, then talked about how marketers have to walk in the shoes of their customers to really get where they are. "In in behavior psychology it takes 14 weeks to establish some empathy. Neuroscience experts say adults learning centers have become so small we have to find ways to open the back up." She said that her agency, Unit 7, created something called identification research, where team members undergo a 14 weeks Navy SEALS type immersion in their constituents lives. I can't remember the example she gave, but the hula hoop had something to do with that.
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