It’s Time to Talk, Not Just Target

Ekaterina Fomicheva, an expert in emotional marketing and founder of the Los Angeles agency Real Moon, shares how brands can rebuild trust by combining empathy with data and why emotional intelligence is becoming the future of marketing

Pushy ads, loud slogans, and empty promises are wearing people out — and the numbers back it up. According tothe Edelman Trust Barometer 2025, more than half of U.S. consumers say they stop trusting brands when the messaging feels fake or formula-driven. At the same time, 61% believe companies have a duty to earn trust through honest and empathetic communication. It’s a clear sign that the old playbook no longer works. To really reach people, brands need to move past pure targeting and automation and start paying attention to what their audiences actually feel, says emotional marketing expert Ekaterina Fomicheva.

Ekaterina Fomicheva is an expert in strategic marketing and digital communications, founder of the Los Angeles agency Real Moon. Her methods, combining emotional intelligence and data, are used in projects in real estate, tourism, beauty brands, and tech startups. She is the author of a book on a human-centered approach to marketing with artificial intelligence, the winner of the American Business Carnaval “Breakthrough of the Year” competition in the category Influencer Marketing. Her projects help companies build long-term relationships with clients — based on trust, closeness, and honest dialogue.

In this interview, we discuss how brands can adapt to changing consumer attitudes, how to build transparent communication in the age of algorithms, and why the future of marketing begins with understanding emotions.

Ekaterina, consumers today increasingly expect honest dialogue. Why, in your view, have companies faced such a crisis of trust at this moment?

Because for too long, marketing spoke to people in the language of pressure rather than attention. We lived in the logic of “buy now,” “look here,” “be the first,” and forgot that behind the screen is not a “lead” but a person with context, worries, needs, and their own worldview. The tools multiplied, but genuine connection diminished. When a brand uses templated communication, people sense it — and shut down. Today’s consumer has become more attentive and demanding. They want to be heard and understood. And trust is built not on volume but on shared values.

In such conditions, classical approaches to marketing — funnels, aggressive offers, and triggers — are gradually losing their power. What, in your opinion, can work in the new reality?

I call this “empathy marketing.” Today, the brand that succeeds is the one that knows how to be attentive: not just reacting, but anticipating moods; not just talking about the product, but speaking appropriately and in a human way. Sometimes it is a story, sometimes calm visuals, sometimes a simple format of communication. Technology is important, but it should help, not replace real contact. Sincerity and precision — that is what is valued today. We have seen this in practice. In one of the projects where we changed the approach to communication, the effect turned out to be stronger than any discount.

In that project, where you were responsible for a full rebranding and digital transformation of a real estate company, your approach led to a growth in incoming leads and a reduction in acquisition costs by almost one-third. How did you build this system, and how did you overcome audience distrust in a market tired of clichés and templates?

We started by honestly acknowledging that buying real estate is not about “benefit,” but about anxiety and a major internal dilemma. In the classical presentation, there is a lot of pressure: deadlines, discounts, “last apartments”… We removed all that background noise and switched to a normal human conversation. We focused on calmness, safety, long-term value. We showed not square meters but life scenarios. In addition, we implemented end-to-end analytics and an automated interaction system so that the client received exactly the information they were ready to perceive — and at the moment when it was comfortable for them. Technology was a helper, but the key was precisely the change in attitude: from seller to partner.

Today it is often said that “ecology sells,” but more often it is just beautiful words — and the audience senses that. Your campaign for an eco-tourism brand helped increase bookings by a quarter. What did you do to avoid banal “green” marketing?

Something simple, at first glance. We did not “sell nature.” We invited people to cooperate. Before launching, we conducted an audit: what the company was actually doing, where the weak points were, what steps were already being taken. We did not try to embellish. On the contrary — we emphasized transparency: how much waste was recycled, which routes were developed together with ecologists, how this impacted local communities. The content was built on respect and facts, without pressure. We added visual stories with real guides, local residents, tourists who came back and rethought something for themselves. And this turned out to be much stronger than any bright slogan. People can feel when they are being spoken to honestly.

I assume this understanding allowed you to found your own marketing company, Real Moon Agency, in a new market and a foreign country — without connections, but with a clear focus on emotional AI and a values-based approach. How did you not only enter but also establish in such a competitive environment?

It all started with an idea: to create a space where brands could speak to people not from the need to sell but from the desire to be heard. I understood that the U.S. is a market where technology works at maximum, but at the same time many sectors lack the emotional component — especially in highly competitive fields like beauty, real estate, and tourism. From the start, we chose a clear focus: deep customization, minimal formalism, maximum empathy. The first client came by recommendation. Then the second. Today, our agency is also successfully developing its expertise in audits and strategy. It took time, but the same principle worked that we tell clients: if you speak honestly and get to the essence, the market opens up on its own.

You summarized your practical experience in the bookArtificial Intelligence with a Human Face, which has already been called one of the first to structure the concept of emotional AI in marketing. What led you to write it, and with what thought did you want the reader to close the last page?

This book did not appear because I wanted to “write a book,” but because there was a need to stop and bring together the accumulated experience into a single system. For many years I worked with brands that sincerely wanted to speak with people, but did not know how. And I saw that marketing often starts with numbers and tools, not with the question — who is in front of us? What does a person feel when making a decision? How not to pressure them, but to be heard? I did not write a textbook and did not collect instructions. It is more an attempt to show that technology is not an enemy of humans, but a tool that can be used with empathy. We do not have to choose between a cold algorithm and a warm brand. They can be connected — if you understand why. If, after reading, a person feels that now they see marketing as dialogue and not manipulation, then I did everything right.

In your opinion, what is the main difference of progressive marketing, and what role does emotional intelligence play in it?

I am convinced that the future of marketing lies in returning to the human. Algorithms and technologies will strengthen, but along with them the demand for honesty, attention, and empathy will grow. People already know how to sense falseness and distinguish templated communication from a real one. Emotional intelligence is not about softness, but about accuracy and relevance. It is the ability to speak to an audience in a way that makes them want to listen. That is the key to trust. And I believe this will become the new norm: not just speaking loudly, but speaking meaningfully and humanly.