WEBVTT - Consumers Exorcising Brand Democracy

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Check out the

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<v Speaker 1>definition of trust. You'll find firm belief in the reliability,

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<v Speaker 1>truth ability, or strength of someone or something. And when

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<v Speaker 1>it comes to consumers, trust has become key when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to how they look at brands. Let's get into this.

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<v Speaker 1>Someone who keeps an eye on trust for the company's

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<v Speaker 1>Trust Barometer is the founder and CE of the Global

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<v Speaker 1>Communications from Edelman, Richard Edelman. He's back with us once

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<v Speaker 1>again on the phone in New York City. How are you, Carol,

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<v Speaker 1>happy summer? It feels good right, but hey, yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a little human that's for sure. Um. Talk to us

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<v Speaker 1>about your latest findings about brand trust and the importance

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<v Speaker 1>of being able to trust a brand versus just being

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<v Speaker 1>in love with a brand. So, I think that the

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<v Speaker 1>impact of the pandemic over the last year has been

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<v Speaker 1>long lasting, and the people's values have change from about

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<v Speaker 1>being about me to being more about we and things like,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, meeting societal needs as opposed to just representing

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<v Speaker 1>my lifestyle. And people are now doing what I call

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<v Speaker 1>belief driven buying or they're exercising brand democracy in a

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<v Speaker 1>certain way. That's the relationship that you can best control. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>immediately you go to the store, you know, order what

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<v Speaker 1>you want and Carol. The most incredible thing is that

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<v Speaker 1>it's always been that brands can change culture. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>you and I grew up in a time of you know,

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<v Speaker 1>me and Joe Green and Coca Cola and all that

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<v Speaker 1>that was changing culture. But people actually now believe that

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<v Speaker 1>they can change brands. That in fact, two thirds of

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<v Speaker 1>people say they can force a brand to change them

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<v Speaker 1>with anything about itself. That's stunning, but they can, right,

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<v Speaker 1>especially if they're if they're voting with their dollars in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of where they choose to spend money. I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's right, that that that people have intuited that in

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<v Speaker 1>this moment um, the brands they are going to buy

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<v Speaker 1>or the brands are going to stand up and speak

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<v Speaker 1>up for the better, and that they're going to speak up.

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<v Speaker 1>Six percent of people told us one way or another,

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<v Speaker 1>I want my brands to speak up about societal issues.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's a huge change. So, you know, if you

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<v Speaker 1>think about Dove and campaign for Real Beauty that started

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<v Speaker 1>more than ten years ago, and you know, they were

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<v Speaker 1>talking about how women should be comfortable with their body

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<v Speaker 1>shapes and all this other. But but now Dove has

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<v Speaker 1>morphed itself into talking about, you know, the necessity of

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<v Speaker 1>looking at African men differently African American men is that

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<v Speaker 1>that that they are um every bit, not just athletes,

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<v Speaker 1>but also artists and politicians and all the rest of this.

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<v Speaker 1>And they did that for Father's Day. And that's the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of difference in brand marketing. You know. It's interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>I recently did a panel for the Milk and Health

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<v Speaker 1>UH program, talking with the CEO of Kellogg, the president

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<v Speaker 1>of Chobani, the CEO of Albertson's UH, and also a

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<v Speaker 1>president of Union Lever, one of their global UH divisions,

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<v Speaker 1>And it's interesting. We talked about really the evolving food system.

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<v Speaker 1>But one of the things is how consumers are driving

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<v Speaker 1>change within the food system and how they are increasingly

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<v Speaker 1>they want local, they want transparency, and that is forcing

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of companies within the food space to produce

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<v Speaker 1>either locally and make sure that they are being you know,

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<v Speaker 1>true about what's in their product or where it's made,

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<v Speaker 1>where it's produced, because consumers they want to know, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's how they're buying it just in what you're saying.

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<v Speaker 1>Brand and cover reputation have completely merged, and things that

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<v Speaker 1>were in the remit of the corporation like supply chain sustainability,

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<v Speaker 1>diversity and inclusion, systemic racism were now being seen as

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<v Speaker 1>within the power of the brand to change. And you

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<v Speaker 1>have the people in our study said, look at the

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<v Speaker 1>corporation is evil. I'm not going to buy the brand. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>But by the same token, um, you have to have

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<v Speaker 1>brands leading on sustainable packaging or on changing their sourcing

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<v Speaker 1>such that the workers make a decent wage. Here this

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<v Speaker 1>is amazing. The most important thing for brand to earn

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<v Speaker 1>trust is paying a worker a fair wage and giving

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<v Speaker 1>that person good working conditions. And I know you had

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<v Speaker 1>begmanquins on last week for Manpower, and we were talking

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<v Speaker 1>last week at lunch a about you, but also about

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<v Speaker 1>the reality that it's not enough just to pay people.

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<v Speaker 1>They want to have flexibility, They want to know that

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<v Speaker 1>the company they work for is a decent company. So again,

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<v Speaker 1>all of this is really coming together because business is

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<v Speaker 1>now the most trust and institution, and brand is sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the tip of the sphere, the thing that people

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<v Speaker 1>can control. These a THESA corporations. What's interesting that you

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<v Speaker 1>bring it up, and Becky and I talked about this

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<v Speaker 1>and we're gonna talk at another Bloomberg um event tomorrow. Actually,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we're trying to get our hands around what

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<v Speaker 1>does that mean? You talk about workers being paid, but

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<v Speaker 1>workers want flexibility. You know, we're still trying to grasp

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<v Speaker 1>what coming back to work is like after the pandemic.

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<v Speaker 1>Secrety Financial they've got three different scenarios. You can work

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<v Speaker 1>at home permanently. You can kind of um say you're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna come in and I need a seat, you know

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<v Speaker 1>for a little bit. I think hotelling is what they

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<v Speaker 1>call it. Or you can decide that you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>have a hybrid approach and so you'll have a permanent

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<v Speaker 1>seat at works so that you have flexibility. But but

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<v Speaker 1>we're hearing a lot of different scenarios. What are you

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<v Speaker 1>hearing about that? Well, I think the financial services industry

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<v Speaker 1>has taken the hardest line saying comes to the office

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<v Speaker 1>period um our agency last week announcement, we're you know,

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<v Speaker 1>three days in and two days out of office. And

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<v Speaker 1>the hybrid is the invest approach UM and we're encouraging

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<v Speaker 1>people to have vaccines, but those who don't, they're going

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<v Speaker 1>to have to wear a mask. And you know that's

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<v Speaker 1>a real kind of issue because it's you know, is

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<v Speaker 1>that a scarlet letter? And you know, do I want

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<v Speaker 1>to be in the elevator with the math person and

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I do think the big point is employees

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<v Speaker 1>are now activists and that they think that they can

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<v Speaker 1>change company policy just the same way that consumers do. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's it's a you know, if you think about

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<v Speaker 1>the power elite that's sitting at the top saying we

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<v Speaker 1>have the decision making authority, not really, because you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the people at the bottom are are now talking on

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<v Speaker 1>social media and they're also acting and pushing corporations and brands. Right. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Social media is given every individual consumer a soapbox and

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<v Speaker 1>one that can be heard pretty loudly. But even if

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<v Speaker 1>you have a celebrity, right Christiano Ronaldo pushing you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the soda ware last week, want water? Yeah? Right, And

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<v Speaker 1>that just says so much. Um, we ran out of time.

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<v Speaker 1>I know we'll talk with you again soon because you

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<v Speaker 1>always bring us some really smart inside about what's going on,

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<v Speaker 1>especially when it comes to consumers. Richard, thank you so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Richard Edelman, CEO AT Edelman, joining us on the phone

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<v Speaker 1>in New York,