Trust in me

The World Economic Forum has released the results of its bi-annual opinion poll monitoring public trust levels, and it doesn't look good for global companies and national governments, as you can see below.

In particular, there have been sharp drops in trust in Spain, the USA and Canada since 2004. These countries have all gone from having a positive trust rating to a negative one in the space of 12 months.

In fact, NGOs, the UN and large local companies, as well as governments and global companies, have all seen declining levels of trust since last year. Commenting on the results, Ged Davis, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum said:

It is clear from these figures that to regain the trust of the general public in institutions and governments we must find new and effective ways to reconnect with citizens.

I'm not sure it's just about the method they use to connect. I think they need to understand why the public trust other things more. What are they saying and doing to make them so trusted? I think it has something to do with honesty, authenticity and transparency.

Published 19 December 2005 12:55 by Niall Cook

Filed under: Marketing Technology

Comments

• 

  Boyd Neil said:

  If you can't trust companies, governments or even NGOs who can you trust? The answer may be those with whom you connect on a regular basis where there is an expectation of "honesty, authenticity and transparency". Is it a coincidence then that the number of people blogging has increased exponentially over the past two years?
  December 19, 2005 13:28
• 

  Niall Cook said:

  Very good point, Boyd. But is blogging the cause, or the effect?
  December 19, 2005 13:29
• 

  Eric Weaver said:

  It's been my experience that trust is disappearing due to a lack of communications, rather than a proven track record of dishonesty.
  
  Marketers here in the States work to persuade management teams that authenticity and trust are paramount to acquiring customers and maintaining the relationship, but with marketing budgets decimated and a very brief shelf-life for the relatively few CMO positions out there, who has money to communicate to customers? And who will do it when the often-leaderless marketing function has been gutted? Many of the public firms I work with have obliterated their marketing departments and pulled back most customer communication initiatives, focusing strictly on sales support and a quarterly earnings target.
  
  In the absence of customer communications, it's easy for the market to lose trust.
  
  Such a happy note. Sorry. :)
  December 20, 2005 03:28