Looking for the trust

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If you had to pick one thing, what has had the most impact on the post-truth state society is now grappling with?

Having a US president who lies, unashamedly, on a continual basis and who sees a free and independent media as the enemy. And having a series of Silicon Valley tech giants who appear to view social responsibility as an irritant doesn’t help. In the UK, Damian Collins of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, appears to be our version of American attorney Robert Mueller; so let’s give him the legal power to take them on. 

You talk about the dark side of social media and how that has countered so much of the good aspects people hoped for when it first developed. With the benefit of hindsight, what could have been done differently?

Of all the myriad issues relating to a weaponised social media, the biggest issue to me is the disinformation so badly impacting our democracy. As our current system wasn’t built with the advent of a digitised social media in mind, we clearly need powerful legal regulatory oversight on the behaviour of the staggeringly powerful platform gatekeepers. 

Their legal status needs to be changed, stopping them from hiding behind their ‘merely a tech company’ argument to a newer hybrid that sits between the neutral tech-enabler v media-publisher models. And any newly empowered institutional body needs powers – including swiftly being able to enforce far greater transparency of political advertising, something that has run rings round our electoral laws, with disastrous consequences. 

If politics is dividing people more profoundly than ever, what does this mean for brands understanding their consumers?

The overt hostility in society, illustrated by the rise of populism on an international basis, means our understanding of the macro issues impacting communities and the ramifications on an individual and household basis, has to be illuminated and clarified from a business-relevance perspective. 

A stark example is the relevance, from a brand safety angle, of how political information is accessed – what that information is saying and how it is portrayed alongside other supposedly relevant brand content. With social media such a key news source, we’ve all become aware of divisive and extreme viewpoints being promoted on both an overt and covert basis, where brands are often not keeping the company they wish to keep. 

There’s a common belief that younger people have a more relaxed attitude to privacy – do you agree?

That may have been true historically, but it’s changing, particularly as we see the tech giants so frequently portrayed as the ‘enemy within’. Young people can see how future employers are referencing their social media behaviour to judge employment suitability. Meanwhile, understanding that personal data has financial worth, and is therefore a tradeable asset, is only in the early stages – that is, from a ‘privacy for rent’ perspective. 

In a post Facebook/Cambridge Analytica era, what does it mean for marketers using data to micro-target?

There’s obviously nothing wrong with the entirely practical commercial strategy of deciding to aim specific, tactical messages at a relevant audience. But, those commercial messages need to be done with empathy and respect in mind – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. 

Will the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) help brands regain consumer trust?

It’s early days about exactly what mainstream consumers’ understanding of GDPR will be from a trust perspective, but the overall concept seems a hugely positive move. If the reality of GDPR does indeed live up to the hype – albeit a hype that was communicated in a way that generally lacked any semblance of clarity – then, hopefully, it will prove to be one of the positive foundations for the rebuilding of trust that we’ll see in Europe.

We hear a lot about purpose and how brands need to be meaningful, but surely with many purchases, consumers don’t think about anything beyond the immediate price and availability? When does, and doesn’t, conscious consumerism come into play?

I completely agree that while ‘brand purpose’ has been stressed for years, it’s often been little more than corporate whitewashing. But while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with brand purpose – when appropriate – what does concern a great many people is that marketers appear to have forgotten the equally vital ‘what’ and ‘how’ of businesses from a brand-authenticity perspective. 

We’re told consumers now have control, and the importance of ‘consumer-centricity’ is trotted out by marketers. But the tech giants seem in total control – beyond even government intervention. So, who do you think has control?

When it comes to controlling the ‘monsters’ of Silicon Valley, there’s a lot of talk of this having to be done at a UN level to have any real global effect – as opposed to actions taken on a country-by-country or even brand-owner basis, which appear puny by comparison. It is, of course, a great irony that one of the key fault lines in the consumer-power argument is that, almost uniquely, it’s in the world of social media where individual consumers appear to be effectively powerless to take their custom elsewhere. And this is down to a situation where there’s effectively no direct competitor to Facebook. 

What do you think is the biggest impact of post-truth business on those working in market research and insight?

Understanding the lack of trust consumers have with the world around them, ranging from institutions to brands. A great deal of the accepted thinking within brand teams is received wisdom, and I believe the issues surrounding that most basic of points – brand authenticity – often needs to be reviewed and refreshed to rebuild that most vital of links. 

What are the key elements of your post-truth manifesto for brands?

Be authentic and transparent. Respect privacy, show empathy and be trustworthy.

The Post-Truth Business: How to Rebuild Brand Authenticity in a Distrusting World, is published by Kogan Page