REALLY, WHAT IS BRAND TRUST?

Featuring
Tim Ellis, CMO & VP, NFL
Bram Westenbrink, Global Head Heineken® Brand
Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman 

Truth Bomb
On stage at the Palais at Cannes Lions Festival, Kimmi Chex, a skilled on-air NFL host, fielded a question (tweet) from the audience that I was dying to ask:

“How will the NFL ensure personal expression is handled properly in light of the Colin Kaepernick situation?”

Tim Ellis, Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of the NFL, addressed this question with the confidence of a seasoned veteran, speaking to an audience of agencies and brands that will undoubtedly hold the NFL accountable. This moment marked a significant renewal of the business covenant between brands, agencies, employees, and customers: a commitment to honesty.

Brands are not mere entities; they are composed of people with hearts and minds who navigate a complex array of ideas, decisions, and challenges while striving to maintain an unwavering commitment to their products, employees, and customers. Companies that consistently live their internal values externally build a high degree of trust—whether it's positively (as seen with Patagonia) or negatively (as observed with Tesla).

There are three types of trust: absolute trust, situational trust, and forced trust.

Absolute trust is reserved for select friends and family who support you despite your flaws because you share core values. Situational trust applies to friends who may not share much with you but are reliable in specific contexts, like going out dancing. Forced trust is what you have for your dentist when you need treatment for an abscess.

Brands aiming to be at the heart of culture—and every brand does—must cultivate absolute trust with their customers and employees. If they lack this, the best use of their marketing resources is to understand and address the reasons behind this deficit. For the NFL, their journey to redemption started with rebuilding player trust, making players central to their strategy, and allowing them to grow and connect with their audiences while representing the NFL.

For Heineken, brand trust extends beyond flashy campaigns that align with their Green Triangle (category, generation, zeitgeist) like "The Closer." They earn trust through tangible actions that positively impact the communities they serve. Heineken lives up to their "Brew a Better World" promise in places like Brazil, where they produce beer using green thermal energy and promote this innovation by highlighting a new ingredient: green energy.

Building brand trust means connecting to the core values of your customers and employees. People are drawn to brands that align with human values such as environmental sustainability, career growth, enjoyment, romance, personal development, affordability, health, and relationships with friends and family. Why isn't it enough to simply make a good product and deliver excellent service? Why do we need to care about what our customers and employees care about?

Because, according to Edelman’s brand trust barometer, business is more trusted than government in 18 out of 27 countries, and 80 percent of the public wants brands to not only solve personal problems but also address societal issues.1

Social media has made it increasingly difficult for brands to maintain a facade. For instance, Popular Info—a news site for people who are deeply engaged—recently reported that Match Group, the owner of Tinder, Match, OkCupid, and Hinge, donated to the Republican Attorneys General Association, which supports anti-abortion politicians, while simultaneously marketing their apps as tools for fighting for abortion rights.

Amidst constant and uncontrollable external forces such as racial inequity and human rights issues, and internal brand silos that cause inefficiency and groupthink, the challenge of building brand trust can seem overwhelming. However, as T. Powell says, “Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose."

*********************
Follow Far From Timid

*********************
Cannes Lions 2022 Award-Winning Brand Trust Work
Undercover Avatar by Havas Sports & Entertainment (France) for L’Enfant Bleu

Introducing Piñatex | Dole Sunshine Company + Ananas Anam Partnership by L&C, New York

The Unwasted Beer by Publicis for Heineken

Panels sourced
Panel Title: Bold and Undeterred - The NFL is Transforming its Brand
Moderated by: Kimmi Chex On-air Host NFL Network and NFL Media
Panelists: Tim Ellis, CMO and EVP, National Football League; Kelvin Beachum NFL Athlete, Board Member, Advisor, Philanthropist, Arizona Cardinals - National Football League; Cam Jordan NFL Athlete New Orleans Saints - National Football League; Russell Wilson NFL Athlete Denver Broncos - National Football League

Panel Title: Brand Trust and Gen Z | Cannes Lions 2022– Quicktake: Now
Sponsored by: Bloomberg Media
Featuring: Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman PR

Panel Title: Heineken® – 150 Years Young: a session worth grabbing a beer for!
Panelists: Bram Westenbrink, Global Head Heineken® Brand; Bruno Bertelli, Global CCO Publicis Worldwide. 

*Bram Westenbrink quote sourced from Euronews Next News