The new trust imperative

In 2009, IPG saw a need to help their clients get a better understanding of exactly how consumers around the world were dealing with the many new channels providing product information. No longer was it a matter of a consumer learning about a product from just a print ad or a television commercial. In a very short period of time, the consumer was also confronted with product information served to them via websites, blogs, numerous social sites, price and comparison sites, mobile platforms, and from their friends down the street. IPG wanted to know and share with their clients how consumers were coping with all this new information. Was the additional volume of product information overwhelming and leading to frustration? How did it affect their confidence in the product? Was all this information consumed enjoyable and rewarding? Was the consumer inclined to share what they were learning? With these questions in hand, IPG began their New Realities programme — a research programme, now with its fourth wave of data — that covers several key countries: US, China, Brazil, India, Russia and England. In the most recent survey, IPG also uncovered the emergence of a very powerful requirement for that information — the demand for total trust. This paper will review how today’s consumers are changing in their consumption of information, and compare that against their pressing need for information that is highly trusted. As part of that, we will review our research that dissects what goes into a trust evaluation by a consumer — exactly what is considered when a consumer goes about making a decision to trust or not trust. Importantly, we will show how this ‘trust measure’ needs to be influenced by communications tools and the right consumer information. In total, we see this information as critically valuable in learning about the ever-changing needs of today’s consumer, and in designing marketing and marketing communications programmes that respond to this new reality.