LONDON — Tin Man has launched a new measurement and evaluation tool, the Heart Score, to demonstrate the value of “emotional connections” between brands and consumers.

The tool, developed in partnership with data and insights firm Delineate, tracks areas such as brand consideration, preference and advocacy to inform communications strategies and measure their results.

To help brands navigate the Covid-19 crisis, the Heart Score also uses Delineate’s Covid-19 Impact Tracker to measure the impact of the global public health crisis on consumer attitudes towards brands, their communications and advertising, shifts in demand and buying behaviours. The Heart Score can also be applied to B2B audiences as well as employee engagement programmes.

In its first round of coronavirus research using the Heart Score, Tin Man found that 83% of UK adults still want to hear from brands during the crisis, not just in the food, beverage and cleaning sectors but also from brands in the toiletries and cosmetics, medicines and treatments, clothing and footwear, technology and financial services industries.

Travel, hospitality and automotive brands are less popular, but consumers do still want to hear from these brands in anticipation of life after lockdown.

The research found that 65% of consumers would like the style and tone of communications to be helpful and practical, while 46% would like to receive funny, lighthearted or entertaining content from brands. More than three quarters (78%) say they “just want to get on with things” in a crisis.

Unsurprisingly, 78% of UK consumers are watching a huge amount of news coverage during lockdown, 51% have increased their Tv consumption and 35% have taken out a new streaming subscription such as Netflix or Disney+.

Tin Man founder Mandy Sharp said: “Never has our ‘Communications with Heart’ ethos been more relevant. Brands that stay emotionally connected to their audiences, both internally and externally, will win during this Covid-19 nightmare. Our partnership with Delineate allows us to lean into consumer mindsets and navigate this time by creating truly tailored strategies. We’re already using it with clients to ensure our comms are not only useful to audiences but strategically and tonally on point.”

Delineate chief customer officer Ben Leet added: “It’s clear that the pandemic is uncovering new and tough challenges for brands and organisations. Brands must be nimble and pivot their strategies to win in consumers’ hearts and minds.”