This economic crisis is above all a crisis of trust because consumers have realized that their dreams of property ownership and prosperity are no longer achievable. Their belief in their own purchasing power has disappeared with the failure of the financial system and they can see that the rich have become richer by leading their companies, employees and clients to ruin. They don’t understand how they can put their trust in institutions that can’t even trust each other.

This attitude, justified or not, is the new reality for consumers. Mistrust replaces trust and complex messaging that is not understood becomes a risk.

This mistrust, combined with consumers’ low purchasing power, becomes a key issue for the brands that justify their existence – and their price premium – by the dreams that they inspire. Scepticism towards advertising, evident among the new generation of consumers before the crisis, will now accelerate and spread.

Confidence is reducing in parallel with a new ease of accessibility to other consumers’ opinions, which is now considered to be more credible than brand communication. In many markets, the Internet has become the principal tool for information and pre-purchase decision-making. Consumers collect, compare and sort from many different sources, including other consumers, and initial studies show that the crisis will increase this phenomenon.

The first concrete implication for brands is a need to create products with real added value and not unnecessary and superficial innovations. Then, they need to change the way they communicate and interact with their customers. There is a real need to return to plain, simple messaging and more factual, complete and transparent information. Gone are the days of pompous and meaningless slogans: studies show that a brand website is more credible than a 30-second TVC and competes favourably with opinions expressed by other consumers. Finally, brands must live up to their word and deliver on their promises.

Brands must build platforms for honest communication, integrating all the sources of information that consumers access and trust, giving plenty of space for dialogue and direct interaction. Priority should be given to convincing the most influential consumers in their market by giving them the necessary tools to speak personally and positively to their real or virtual network. It is the only way to give coherence, pertinence and credibility to what a consumer sees and hears in relation to a brand.

The brands that will win in this crisis are the brands that keep or win-back the trust of the consumer. Rather than trying to be a ‘Lovemark’, brands should simply strive to be a ‘Truemark’ – authentic and transparent.

Frédéric Colas - CEO SixandCo Europe
Frédéric Colas spent 8 years at Procter & Gamble, where he was European director of Interactive Marketing, a department he created both in the USA and in Europe. As such, he was one of FullSIX’s first clients. He joined the agency in 2001 as a Partner and, starting in 2002, he developed the Hyper-marketing approach, which made FullSIX the first French agency in Integrated Marketing. In 2004 he was appointed General Manager of FullSIX UK and in 2005 he became CEO of SixandCo, an international network with offices in France, England, Germany and Portugal and over 120 employees. Over the years Frédéric has acquired a unique experience in integrated online and offline marketing. Acknowledged as a true innovator in marketing in the last 16 years, he has been listed amongst the top 12 “world media innovators "by Advertising Age magazine in 1999.


Main photo: © Jarr Geerligs