Keys to Gaining Brand Empathy: Analysis Comparing Bridgestone/Michelin etc. and Toyota/Tesla

Four factors that derive empathy, revealed by the data of "Experience Value"

The "Experience Value (*See reference at the bottom of this article.)" was used to visualize the value of the brand's experience. By factor analysis, four factors that link to empathy were extracted: (1) happiness, (2) innovation, (3) high quality, and (4) customer service.

Table 1. Four factors deriving empathy (Brand Strategy Survey 2022)

Case Study 1: Bridgestone — "Innovation" and "high quality" deriving empathy

The tire industry has each company a different structure of empathy factors (Figure 1). Most notably, Bridgestone outshines with the highest in "innovation" and "high quality."

Figure 1. Structure of empathy factors in the tire industry

Bridgestone had many positive responses referring to quality, such as "safe and reliable quality," "recognize the quality of product/service," and "ease of use." The company also outperforms other companies in "environmental friendliness," where their recent expansion of the retread tires (reusable tires that replace worn rubber on the surface) seems to be well accepted.
At the same time, "innovation" was also rated high, with respondents expressing "feel the company's policies and messages" and "feel the cutting-edge advancements and latest trends," creating a strong empathy with Bridgestone in these two areas.

Looking at others, Michelin Japan had a significantly high rating on "happiness." They were well perceived emotionally as "fun" and "luxury."
Michelin Japan and Goodyear Japan did excellent in "customer service." These two companies have a higher rating in "respect for customers" than others, which seems to contribute to cultivating empathy.

Case Study 2: Toyota/Tesla — Toyota bests by "innovation" and "high quality," Tesla is better in "customer service"

We compared Toyota and Tesla (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Toyota vs Tesla: Empathy structure

Although the evaluation is based on general Japanese consumers, Toyota's "high quality" strongly generates empathy. We think the Toyota users' experience regarding the quality has impacted this result. It also leads to "innovation", which, along with high quality, is the strength of Toyota.

On the other hand, Tesla's "customer service," outperforming Toyota, seems interesting. To investigate the cause of this result, we took a deep dive into those who responded that they have empathy toward each of the two companies (Figure 3).

Figure 3. "Experience Value" of people with empathy (Toyota vs Tesla)

The overall rate of empathy is 17.9% for Tesla. This is only one-third of the level of Toyota (46.8%). However, the evaluation by each of those empathized segments would be important.

The "customer service" category shown in Table 1, in addition to "feel the enthusiasm of employees/store staffs" and "treated and valued as a customer," "feel luxurious" is also a strong influential element. Tesla's "luxury" score was more than 5 points higher than Toyota's, which increased the "customer service" factor.
The experience of being "treated and valued as a customer" is a value that users perceive. While the rate of empathized of Toyota (61%) greatly exceeds Tesla (17%), the score for "treated and valued as a customer" was about the same.
Although the number of Tesla users is still small, the results indicate that when the brand's value of customer experience is spread, Tesla's rate of empathy may increase to the same level as that of Toyota.

Moreover, Tesla had nearly 10 points higher in the differentiation element, "feel the difference from other companies." Tesla also outperforms Toyota in the following areas: "feel the newness and latest trends," "get an extraordinary inspiration," "purchase/use is an influential topic," and "hot topic when talking with families and friends." It can be said as communication mediated by Tesla is generating empathy.

Even though Tesla's rate of empathy is still behind Toyota, Tesla has a structure where its uniqueness generates empathy.

How empathy is generated varies from company to company. A brand is something that exists only in the minds of consumers and stakeholders. How a company shapes its brand gives them a competitive advantage. This is where each company's secret sauce comes into play.

*Experience Value: It is the value of the experience that consumers perceive when they use the company's products/services. We measure not only the evaluation of a company's activities, as a brand image in people's minds, but also the experience it provides to its customers (including potential customers). The Brand Strategy Survey has been measuring these values since 2008. The 19 items are categorized into "inspiration," "happiness," "differentiation," "message," "communication," "quality," and "care," as shown in the table below.