Posts Tagged ‘environmental responsibility’

One of the trends that we see for marketing communications in the coming year is the expectation that businesses must regain trust.

“In the past year, 91% of 25-to-64-year-olds around the world indicated they bought a product or service from a company they trusted, and 77% refused to buy a product or service from a distrusted company.”

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust has been lost around the globe and no where has it been lost as much as in the United States. The Edelman Barometer further demonstrates that increasing government regulation of businesses is favored by publics were trust in businesses has eroded.

The Edleman Trust Barometer findings show trust down around the globe.

How will corporations and businesses rebuild trust?

Many will do so through activities designed to demonstrate corporate environmental and social responsibility.

Edelman states in their executive summary,

among those who trust business to do what’s right, companies that are seen as responsible are significantly more likely to be supported in their efforts to sell their goods and services, pursue changes in local laws, seek preferential treatment, or have foreign investors assume a controlling stake in the business.”

The Subaru Share the Love event is an example of a way to demonstrate a corporations’ caring. Subaru is making a donation of $250 to a non-profit (whom Edelman says are more trusted than any other type of organization) for each vehicle they sell between now and January 4, 2010. According to Edelman, in 2009, banking and automotive companies lost more trust than any other industry sectors. Clearly, Subaru is hoping to gain trust through this promotion.

Subaru which has strong allegiance among millenials is hoping for transference of trust to their products by making these donations. However, this type of activity only works if it is genuine. Any hint of falseness and gains in trust will be lost. Transparency is the foundation of trust.

Great amounts of research have been done to understand what works and doesn’t. An article on ThomasNet.com “Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility,” By David R. Butcher does an excellent job of laying out the research and the article’s summation draws it all together:

With companies facing increasing pressure from investors, governments, prospective employees and consumers to make their operations, products and services more socially responsible, it’s no surprise that Grant Thornton asserts that corporate social responsibility is “now a necessity rather than a choice.”

Businesses who fail to understand these important shifts in the public’s mind will not grow and loose share.