The weekly FIR Zoom Chat is making a change.

Rather than a chat about anything (or nothing), we’ll focus on a topic. For the first theme-based FIR Zoom Chat, we’ll talk about the move toward empathy and emotion in marketing and its applicability to other communications (corporate, internal, investor, community, etc.). Here’s some pre-reading on the topic, if you are so inclined:

• Empathy and emotion must be front and center now
• In An Era Of COVID-19 Disruption, Brands Must Rethink Marketing As Empathetic Customer Experiences
• ‘We’re in their world’: How Covid-19 is creating more empathetic marketing leaders
• Consumers Want Ads During Covid-19 to Be Hopeful and Supportive, Says PepsiCo Beverages’ CMO
• Why Marketing in the Current Climate Requires Empathy and Deep Content Analysis
• PepsiCo finds empathy is new imperative for marketers amid pandemic uncertainty

If you’d like to participate in this open conversation, use the same credentials you have used for previous FIR Zoom Chats. If you haven’t participated in the past, send an email to fircomments@gmail.com and request credentials.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio