I think digital empathy maps can unlock the abilities of high level sales people and scale them down. Sales is very difficult to train and select for. Often times it’s hard to teach someone to notice these “nuances” or “unasked questions” as you write. Sales training has a “system” but still is largely a black box. Although you are speaking of these nuances in the context of brands, it’s a helpful lens for other areas of business as well. Thanks for the article.
Hey Cole, thanks for this great insight! You've nailed something important here about the connection between sales talent and brand intelligence.
The idea of using digital empathy maps to decode and scale what top salespeople do intuitively/naturally is fascinating. It's that ability to pick up on unspoken needs and emotional cues that makes top salespeople exceptional—and it's exactly what intelligent brands need to master too.
You're talking about "empathetic intelligence" in action. Whether in sales or branding, figuring out how to systematize emotional understanding presents a huge opportunity.
What is exciting is that today's AI tools are becoming increasingly capable of emotional understanding (ChatGPT, SoulChat). The most recent language models can detect subtle emotional signals in text, recognize unspoken concerns, and respond with appropriate empathy—skills previously thought to be uniquely human. They can increasingly tell when a customer is frustrated, confused, or excited, even if those emotions are not explicitly stated.
Emotional intelligence is now written down in a way that can be used across all brand touchpoints. This makes every interaction more human-centered without needing a person to be involved at every step. Here's a link to a study that proved these ideas if you want to learn more: https://www.jmir.org/2024/1/e52597
I would love to hear about any digital tools for empathy that you think work well in sales. Companies could learn a lot from these examples about how to build similar features without using enterprise-level resources.
So many interesting perspectives here Adrian. I wasn’t aware of some of those examples, and there are some both seductive and repulsive aspects of this future.
But a very timely piece as I tinker with my own thoughts on trust, translation and human truths.
Outstanding and thought provoking piece Adrian. While fools rush to have AI simply respond to guest or customer messages saving time, headcount and money - the intelligent brands are growing their differentiation, their value and the esteem in which they are held.
Adrian, thank you. I’ve been sitting with this one—especially the way you reframe the brand steward as a curator of intelligence. But what I kept circling was this: what if the future of brand isn’t just perceptive—it’s hospitable?
To me, great brands should function like great hosts. Not just sensing what we want, but making space for us to want it. That means designing not just for recognition, but for rhythm: the waiter who refills your glass before you’ve realized it’s empty, or a friend who slows their pace to let you catch up—for pause, surprise, agency, relief. It’s less about "I see you," and more about "I’ve been with you this whole time"—or even "I was expecting you before you knew you’d arrive."
What I’m trying to get at is this difference: recognition is reactive—it’s about noticing a need once it’s visible. Rhythm is attuned—it’s about pacing, timing, and moving with someone, not just responding to them.
You identified the intelligent brand as a co-pilot. I’d pull up a seat beside that—and offer a companion: the host. Co-pilots assist, but hosts hold. They set the emotional temperature. They read the room. They know how to serve presence with grace, and when to step back so others can step in.
IKEA gets this. It’s hospitality expressed through spatial and systems design—choreographing movement and interaction with ease. You’re oriented, supported, and free to explore. That’s behavioral hospitality at scale.
This is the architecture I care about in strategy work. Not just what a brand does, but how it makes people feel possible inside it—through design that’s quietly generous, deeply intentional, and built for belonging, not just optimization.
Appreciate you setting the table with this one. I’ll be carrying it with me.
Love the deep dive into how intelligent brands evolve from storytellers to real-time collaborators. But here’s the thing—while AI can enhance customer experiences, the most iconic brands don’t just react to needs, they shape cultural conversations. Imagine AI-driven insights fueling micro-movements on campus or co-creating brand rituals with consumers in real life.
Right now, a lot of "intelligent" brand plays still feel like polished guesswork. The next leap? Moving from responsive to participatory, where brands not only anticipate desires but invite audiences to shape what comes next.
Thanks for reading and reaching out. I entirely agree with your comment, which is why I'm in the process of publishing (stacking?) a new four-part series about something I'm calling Quantum Brands precisely to address your point. Hope you enjoy Part 1. A
Lots of usable insights and strategies here. I am struggling to identify how our small business will be able to capitalize on this without the big $ resources of agencies and brands. We are a unique artist-driven brick and mortar specializing in exceptionally curated one of a kind and limited edition art, home goods and jewelry. We need to continue to amplify our hyper local strategies to get more people in-store and grow our e-commerce channel. We are owner staffed and the two of us are always hungry for innovation… I’m curious how we can access this kind of data and human analysis at an accessible-to-us cost?
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and particularly your question. You've actually pushed my thinking in a new direction about what "intelligent brand" really means.
I admit that while writing this piece, I was probably overly focused on how AI and data are transforming big brand owners' capabilities, but your question brings up an important point: brand intelligence is about more than just computational power or resources; it's about relevance, intimacy, and meaningful connections.
Your business probably possesses a type of "artisanal intelligence" that many big businesses would struggle to match. While they use algorithms to approximate personalization at scale, you have direct relationships with each customer and a more authentic and intimate understanding of their lives.
"Artisanal Intelligence" might actually be a great idea for a new article but, in the meantime, here are some practical approaches you might consider:
—Take advantage of your "small data" advantage: use a simple spreadsheet system (or a simple, CRM) to keep track of your customers' preferences, comments about specific pieces, and follow-up conversations. I suspect there may be a lot more signal-to-noise in your customer data than in corporate datasets.
- Be smart about how you use AI tools that are easy to access. For example, you could use an LLM such as ChatGPT or Claude.ai to craft personalized follow-ups to customers who show interest in certain artists or pieces.
- Create a "community intelligence network" by teaming up with nearby businesses that offer complementary services to your customers, and share information with these businesses about traffic patterns, customer preferences and new growth opportunities based on the people who shop in your area.
• Use micro-personalization by noticing small things. For example, remembering that a highly valued customer mentioned a life milestone is a form of intelligence that feels more authentic to them than a big brand algorithm prompting them about what they should buy next.
After I thought about your question, I can now see that the future of intelligent brands won't be a single path, but a mix of different kinds of intelligence: algorithmic intelligence for scale and artisanal intelligence for depth and meaning.
It's not that your business is late to the game; you actually are playing a completely different game, one where being quick and personal creates a level of intelligence that big brands might truly envy.
I'd love to hear how these ideas resonate and what other approaches you've found effective to customer value.
I love the new phrasing of "artisanal intelligence" to convey the personal and meaningful approach we use... and given our business model of small batch artists. Wordsmith!! Perhaps we can contribute to that article once you give it life!
We do a few of the things you mentioned in more organic ways and IRL in our shop. I really need to log our discoveries with our customers faster and in a more accessible way than Shopify's notes. They're not searchable as I've come to find out. And I need an efficient way to follow up via email more in the moment, too--I'll have to dig in to Claude to see if that might be a great tool for us (me).
I think digital empathy maps can unlock the abilities of high level sales people and scale them down. Sales is very difficult to train and select for. Often times it’s hard to teach someone to notice these “nuances” or “unasked questions” as you write. Sales training has a “system” but still is largely a black box. Although you are speaking of these nuances in the context of brands, it’s a helpful lens for other areas of business as well. Thanks for the article.
Hey Cole, thanks for this great insight! You've nailed something important here about the connection between sales talent and brand intelligence.
The idea of using digital empathy maps to decode and scale what top salespeople do intuitively/naturally is fascinating. It's that ability to pick up on unspoken needs and emotional cues that makes top salespeople exceptional—and it's exactly what intelligent brands need to master too.
You're talking about "empathetic intelligence" in action. Whether in sales or branding, figuring out how to systematize emotional understanding presents a huge opportunity.
What is exciting is that today's AI tools are becoming increasingly capable of emotional understanding (ChatGPT, SoulChat). The most recent language models can detect subtle emotional signals in text, recognize unspoken concerns, and respond with appropriate empathy—skills previously thought to be uniquely human. They can increasingly tell when a customer is frustrated, confused, or excited, even if those emotions are not explicitly stated.
Emotional intelligence is now written down in a way that can be used across all brand touchpoints. This makes every interaction more human-centered without needing a person to be involved at every step. Here's a link to a study that proved these ideas if you want to learn more: https://www.jmir.org/2024/1/e52597
I would love to hear about any digital tools for empathy that you think work well in sales. Companies could learn a lot from these examples about how to build similar features without using enterprise-level resources.
Thanks for giving me more to think about on this!
So many interesting perspectives here Adrian. I wasn’t aware of some of those examples, and there are some both seductive and repulsive aspects of this future.
But a very timely piece as I tinker with my own thoughts on trust, translation and human truths.
Outstanding and thought provoking piece Adrian. While fools rush to have AI simply respond to guest or customer messages saving time, headcount and money - the intelligent brands are growing their differentiation, their value and the esteem in which they are held.
Adrian, thank you. I’ve been sitting with this one—especially the way you reframe the brand steward as a curator of intelligence. But what I kept circling was this: what if the future of brand isn’t just perceptive—it’s hospitable?
To me, great brands should function like great hosts. Not just sensing what we want, but making space for us to want it. That means designing not just for recognition, but for rhythm: the waiter who refills your glass before you’ve realized it’s empty, or a friend who slows their pace to let you catch up—for pause, surprise, agency, relief. It’s less about "I see you," and more about "I’ve been with you this whole time"—or even "I was expecting you before you knew you’d arrive."
What I’m trying to get at is this difference: recognition is reactive—it’s about noticing a need once it’s visible. Rhythm is attuned—it’s about pacing, timing, and moving with someone, not just responding to them.
You identified the intelligent brand as a co-pilot. I’d pull up a seat beside that—and offer a companion: the host. Co-pilots assist, but hosts hold. They set the emotional temperature. They read the room. They know how to serve presence with grace, and when to step back so others can step in.
IKEA gets this. It’s hospitality expressed through spatial and systems design—choreographing movement and interaction with ease. You’re oriented, supported, and free to explore. That’s behavioral hospitality at scale.
This is the architecture I care about in strategy work. Not just what a brand does, but how it makes people feel possible inside it—through design that’s quietly generous, deeply intentional, and built for belonging, not just optimization.
Appreciate you setting the table with this one. I’ll be carrying it with me.
Love the deep dive into how intelligent brands evolve from storytellers to real-time collaborators. But here’s the thing—while AI can enhance customer experiences, the most iconic brands don’t just react to needs, they shape cultural conversations. Imagine AI-driven insights fueling micro-movements on campus or co-creating brand rituals with consumers in real life.
Right now, a lot of "intelligent" brand plays still feel like polished guesswork. The next leap? Moving from responsive to participatory, where brands not only anticipate desires but invite audiences to shape what comes next.
Thanks for reading and reaching out. I entirely agree with your comment, which is why I'm in the process of publishing (stacking?) a new four-part series about something I'm calling Quantum Brands precisely to address your point. Hope you enjoy Part 1. A
Lots of usable insights and strategies here. I am struggling to identify how our small business will be able to capitalize on this without the big $ resources of agencies and brands. We are a unique artist-driven brick and mortar specializing in exceptionally curated one of a kind and limited edition art, home goods and jewelry. We need to continue to amplify our hyper local strategies to get more people in-store and grow our e-commerce channel. We are owner staffed and the two of us are always hungry for innovation… I’m curious how we can access this kind of data and human analysis at an accessible-to-us cost?
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and particularly your question. You've actually pushed my thinking in a new direction about what "intelligent brand" really means.
I admit that while writing this piece, I was probably overly focused on how AI and data are transforming big brand owners' capabilities, but your question brings up an important point: brand intelligence is about more than just computational power or resources; it's about relevance, intimacy, and meaningful connections.
Your business probably possesses a type of "artisanal intelligence" that many big businesses would struggle to match. While they use algorithms to approximate personalization at scale, you have direct relationships with each customer and a more authentic and intimate understanding of their lives.
"Artisanal Intelligence" might actually be a great idea for a new article but, in the meantime, here are some practical approaches you might consider:
—Take advantage of your "small data" advantage: use a simple spreadsheet system (or a simple, CRM) to keep track of your customers' preferences, comments about specific pieces, and follow-up conversations. I suspect there may be a lot more signal-to-noise in your customer data than in corporate datasets.
- Be smart about how you use AI tools that are easy to access. For example, you could use an LLM such as ChatGPT or Claude.ai to craft personalized follow-ups to customers who show interest in certain artists or pieces.
- Create a "community intelligence network" by teaming up with nearby businesses that offer complementary services to your customers, and share information with these businesses about traffic patterns, customer preferences and new growth opportunities based on the people who shop in your area.
• Use micro-personalization by noticing small things. For example, remembering that a highly valued customer mentioned a life milestone is a form of intelligence that feels more authentic to them than a big brand algorithm prompting them about what they should buy next.
After I thought about your question, I can now see that the future of intelligent brands won't be a single path, but a mix of different kinds of intelligence: algorithmic intelligence for scale and artisanal intelligence for depth and meaning.
It's not that your business is late to the game; you actually are playing a completely different game, one where being quick and personal creates a level of intelligence that big brands might truly envy.
I'd love to hear how these ideas resonate and what other approaches you've found effective to customer value.
I love the new phrasing of "artisanal intelligence" to convey the personal and meaningful approach we use... and given our business model of small batch artists. Wordsmith!! Perhaps we can contribute to that article once you give it life!
We do a few of the things you mentioned in more organic ways and IRL in our shop. I really need to log our discoveries with our customers faster and in a more accessible way than Shopify's notes. They're not searchable as I've come to find out. And I need an efficient way to follow up via email more in the moment, too--I'll have to dig in to Claude to see if that might be a great tool for us (me).
Thank you, Adrian. Love the considered response!