While an empathic response can, by itself, be curative, it is the sometimes subtle and sometimes overt efforts of the empathic person to reinforce positive associations that can have the most lasting effect. Just as a therapist or mediator uses empathy to help their clients feel better, create win/win solutions to difficult problems, and put broken relationships back together, a brand with an empathic expression: tells the customer: "You are important" and heightens self-esteem reduces stress and tension gains trust elicits openness and cooperation encourages specific behavior builds loyalty Empathic brands give customers lots of good reasons to respond and remain loyal. Data gathered during empathic inquiry earmark the emotional "debts" and "assets" associated with the brand. This information is then used to communicate with customers in ways that allay fears and concerns (diffusing emotional "debts"), while stimulating positive moods, feelings and emotions (building emotional "assets"). These positive feeling-states include: happiness affection sense of belonging hope comfort enthusiasm relief self-confidence excitement pleasure sense of nostalgia security Empathic brands also constantly engage their customers in conversations. They want to hear their customer's voice and regularly assess their mood so they can be ready to respond in ways that demonstrate concern for the customer's emotional needs and interests. Sometimes this means creatively using the brand's existing "facial features" to heighten emotional appeal and response. At other times a brand may need to be given an "extreme make-over" to ensure that it accurately reflects the mood or sentiment of the customer base.