NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2017
/PRNewswire/ -- One of the leading drivers of corporate
reputation among consumers is how good or healthy a company's
products/services are for them, and how happy they make them feel,
according to a new survey released today by global communications
and engagement firm Weber Shandwick.
The degree to which products and services make individuals feel
good or healthy surpasses their interest in specific corporate
responsibility initiatives, sometimes by wide margins. "Our study
highlights a heightened demand for more personalized corporate
narratives," according to Andy
Polansky, Weber Shandwick CEO. "Such narratives today are
most relevant when they relate directly to individual consumers'
well-being in addition to a company's commitment to tackling broad
societal issues. Communications, marketing and R&D need to be
more integrated than ever to achieve this new reputation
paradigm."
The Weber Shandwick report, "The Company behind the Brand II:
In Goodness We Trust" was conducted with KRC Research among
consumers and senior executives in 21 global markets. It follows an
earlier report, "The Company behind the Brand: In Reputation We
Trust," that identified the interdependence of corporate brand
and product brand.
With 47 percent of consumers frequently discussing how healthy
or good specific company products or services are, and 46 percent
increasingly buying from companies that make them feel good, Weber
Shandwick concludes that the personal, individual benefits of a
product are a prime consideration to drive purchasing decisions.
This overshadows the impact that companies have on a number of
social impact factors among consumers (see chart below).
Corporate Issues
on the Minds of Global Consumers
|
|
|
"Good For
Me"
|
"Good for
All"
|
Frequent/regular
topics
of conversation
|
How healthy or good
company
products/services are (47%)
|
What companies do to
protect/positively
impact the environment (34%)
|
How you feel
about
products/services you buy (47%)
|
The impact companies
have on
important societal issues (34%)
|
How you feel about
companies as
a whole (41%)
|
How companies treat
employees (33%)
|
What companies do to
support good
causes/charities (31%)
|
What companies do to
contribute to
communities where they operate (28%)
|
Whether companies
hire people from
diverse backgrounds (26%)
|
Increasingly doing
more
now than in the past
|
Buying from companies
or brands
that make you feel happy and good (46%)
|
Buying from companies
that have a social
purpose or strive to make a positive
contribution to the world (30%)
|
Buying from companies
that care about
your health and well-being (43%)
|
Millennial consumers (those born between 1981 and 1997) respond
in larger numbers to both "good for me" and "good for all" issues,
but like the total sample, they tip the scale in favor of "good for
me."
Even executives recognize that providing and communicating "good
for me" is an emerging hallmark of a strong company reputation.
Senior executives at companies with highly esteemed reputations are
much more likely than those at less reputable organizations to say
their companies promote how healthy or good their products and/or
services are (70 percent vs. 55 percent, respectively).
While there is a difference between companies on the basis of
reputation when it comes to goodness, there is no significant
difference between companies that market to consumers directly
(B2Cs) and those that sell to other companies (B2Bs) – 64 percent
vs. 61 percent, respectively.
Company Behavior Matters
Consumers are closely
watching companies' actions. They form opinions about companies
through not just what customers say about them (88 percent), but
also how companies react in times of crisis (85 percent).
The finding that company responsiveness is so important is a
critical shift in reputation-building that should be addressed by
all companies, large or small.
With more than one-third of global consumers (36 percent) saying
that they have discussions with others or share information about
corporate scandals or wrongdoings, how a company responds to an
issue or crisis today clearly impacts its integrity, credibility
and trustworthiness. In fact, responsiveness to issues and crises
is more important in driving perceptions of a company than what the
media says (76 percent), what employees say (76 percent) and what
the company says about itself – whether that is on its website (68
percent), what its leaders say (61 percent) or what exists in its
advertising (61 percent).
"Proactive reputation risk management has never been more
critical than it is today. Preparedness is a must, with a plan that
ensures agility in mitigating and addressing issues and crises,"
said Micho Spring, Weber Shandwick's
global corporate practice chair. "Weber Shandwick's newest study on
corporate reputation shows that the drivers of reputation are
tilting, and that those companies that recognize and respond to
this new hierarchy will win consumers' hearts and
minds."
The Challenge of Globalizing Reputation
The majority
of executives in our study (69 percent) find it challenging to
communicate about their own company's reputation across different
countries, languages and cultures. Executives who find it least
challenging to communicate their own company's reputation across
the globe are most likely to work for companies that focus equally
on parent and product reputation. This shows that, especially for
global companies, parent and product brand reputations are
interdependent.
Reputation Begins at Home
The reputation of the parent
company is often the make-or-break factor in purchase decisions.
Nearly four in 10 consumers (38 percent) say that the reputation of
a parent company has altered their preference for which products
and/or services they buy.
On the executive front, nearly nine in 10 global executives (86
percent) report that a strong corporate, or parent, brand is just
as important as – or even more important than – strong product
brands. A full 83 percent believe that product brands need to be
transparent about their lineage, and 73 percent believe that
consumers care about parent companies. These beliefs are common to
B2C executives and B2B executives alike. Executives recognize that
consumers today are not just purchasing products or services for
their functionality, but are also shopping by the reputation of the
company.
Implications for Companies
The Company behind the
Brand II: In Goodness We Trust shows a world in the midst of a
consumer revolution. Consumers are empowered by their influence on
companies and know how to operationalize their empowerment through
their words and deeds. Today's successful communicators and
marketers must be aware that the corporate imperative based on this
dynamic is two-fold:
- At the product level, what products and services need to
deliver is shifting from functional utility and basic quality to
fulfillment of customer well-being - whether that is in the form of
health, safety or simply being "good for you." Marketers should be
aware of the rise of personal and purpose communications and the
emerging trend that their companies' reputations are now influenced
by the wellness and peace of mind that their goods deliver.
- At the corporate level, responsiveness is now a reputational
mandate. As boards are hyper-focused on reputation risk, no
corporate brand can afford to be without a crisis response plan or
insights into predicting troubles ahead. On a more micro-level,
brands need to respond to and engage with their stakeholders on a
continual and agile basis.
Companies that do not yet have their fingers on the pulse of
these changing dynamics and are appropriately tapping into consumer
priorities and addressing risk issues need to rapidly catch up and
seize these opportunities in order to stay competitive and outpace
their peers. "The research has identified the importance for
companies to integrate overall well-being and 'good-for-me' into
their marketing and communications. Increasingly, consumers are
asking themselves 'what's in this for me?'" said Weber Shandwick's
chief reputation strategist Leslie
Gaines-Ross. "Companies that care about their corporate
reputation are working overtime to answer that very question."
Click here to view the full report and infographic.
About the Research
The Company behind the Brand II:
In Goodness We Trust was commissioned by Weber Shandwick and
conducted by KRC Research in June
2016. An online survey was administered to 2,100 consumers
and 1,050 senior executives across 21 markets worldwide. The
consumers sampled represent the adult general population of their
respective countries. Executives are in mid- to high-level
occupations at companies with at least $250
million in annual revenue, with comparable levels in other
developed countries and lower thresholds in emerging markets. These
executives represent a variety of industries.
About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading
global communications and engagement firm in 79 cities across 34
countries, with a network extending to 127 cities in 81 countries.
The firm's diverse team of strategists, analysts, producers,
designers, developers and campaign activators has won the most
prestigious awards in the world for innovative, creative approaches
and impactful work. Weber Shandwick was the only public relations
agency included on the Ad Age Agency A-list in 2014 and 2015
and the only PR firm designated an A-List Agency Standout in 2017.
Weber Shandwick was honored as PRWeek's Global Agency of the
Year in 2015 and 2016, The Holmes Report's Global Agency of
the Year in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 and The Holmes
Report's Global Digital Agency of the Year in 2016. The firm
deploys deep expertise across sectors and specialty areas,
including consumer marketing, corporate reputation, healthcare,
technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate social
responsibility, financial communications and crisis management,
using proprietary social, digital and analytics methodologies.
Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For
more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.
About KRC Research
KRC Research is a global
full-service nonpartisan opinion research and strategy firm. A unit
of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), KRC Research
offers the quality and custom service of a small firm with the
reach of a global organization. For over 30 years, KRC Research has
worked on behalf of corporations, governments, not-for-profits and
the communications firms that represent them. Staffed with
multidisciplinary research professionals, KRC combines
sophisticated research tools with real-world communications
experience. For more information, visit www.krcresearch.com
Contact:
|
Kim Dixon
|
Company:
|
Weber
Shandwick
|
Phone:
|
212.546.7876
|
Email:
|
kdixon@webershandwick.com
|
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SOURCE Weber Shandwick