Kudos once again to our friend John Gerzema and his team at BrandAsset® Valuator for another compelling report on the key trends related to trust, brands, and the rise of the what they deem “The Citizen Marketplace”.
The headlines from their analysis and research demonstrate two inter-related factors as it relates to trust and brands:
That trust is the true, new brand differentiator.
- 25% of people surveyed trusted brands in 2009, down from 49% at the beginning of the decade.
- 45% cite trust as key to future potential or brand strength, up from 29% in 2001.
Other key findings in the research is the rise in social media as social contract with trust of social media outlets outpacing that of traditional media (and Twitter leading the trust game among social media outlets).
John and his BAV team conclude the following branding imperatives in the era of the Citizen Marketplace.
- Trust is the new differentiator
- There are numerous pathways to trust for companies and brands to pursue based on category requirements and their purpose and values
- As communications evolve into conversations, social media is moving past social currency to social contract
- Companies must not think social media, but ‘social as business model’.
Download a BAV presentation on the research here.
Thanks again BAV team for sharing this insightful work.
Eric Block On Responsible Branding 
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