Shared values – the message in a bottle for 2014

I went to a seminar on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) a few weeks ago that reinforced my growing belief that the sharing economy needs to extend deep into corporate life.

Corporate messages are being transmitted with increasing frequency but not all are being received. The well-planned brand message can easily be overridden by social media trashing.

The world of consumer advocacy is becoming a key metric with its link to trust. A big driver of trust is perceptions of the brand being a force for good in the community. Giving staff the opportunity to get out and engage in their communities is a win-win situation in most cases. Businesses become agents for change and for improving community well-being. The Marketing Society’s ‘Marketing for Good causes’ is an example of sharing values.

For companies read the Coalition government. While the idea of a Big Society has faded away, there is a growing sense of all pulling together since last summer. Optimism about the economy has surged on the back of low unemployment expectations and falling inflation expectations.  

The February 2014 GfK UK consumer confidence barometer highlights the remarkable shift in sentiment over the past year with many consumer segments’ confidence back to or above pre-recession/credit crunch (February 2007) levels.

Some groups have benefited more than others in the economic recovery, especially the better off, more likely to have received bigger pay rises and seen the value of investments and property increase with confidence at a record high.

The older, relative to younger age-groups, and men relative to women have seen bigger year-on-year gains in confidence. With a general election in May 2015 all political parties will try and understand how the mood of the consumer shifted so swiftly in the golden summer of 2013. Rising confidence is set to continue, given no major external shocks in the coming year, with GDP forecasts of around 3% growth. Sharing the benefits of the recovery will be an ongoing theme.

One such shock to shared national values may come in September. Team GB, which cemented a coming together of the country in 2012 and most recently in the Winter Olympics, may be a victim of a yes vote in the Scottish referendum.  

Regional differences in confidence as a proxy for the economic recovery show London and the South East as the main beneficiaries. Much weaker confidence in the North East and Scotland points to less benefit from economic recovery as elsewhere in the UK. For Scots the coming months will be uncertain ones with The Commonwealth Games likely to boost Brand Scotland.

For marketers, a whole new consumer environment is taking shape, brought on partly by shift to an inter-connected world but also by a new awareness of social responsibility and the need to regain consumers’ trust.

Financial services businesses, especially banks, have among the biggest impact on their customers' lives but are struggling to win back trust lost post-recession, and the advocacy that trust gives.

The major high street banks continue to dominate the main banking relationship space, with the top ten brands having a 85% market share in the latest JGFR Banking Barometer; but along with many other financial advisers they no longer cater for some 5 million people who are now relying on friends/family or online sources to obtain financial advice, having switched from professional advice in the past 2 years. This advice gap comes at a time when consumer demand for savings/investment products is at a 4-year high.

Such a shift in consumer behaviour will also reflect the growth in regulatory control that can bring about outcomes that have a negative social impact.

While the financial services industry struggles with changing culture and meeting regulatory demand, the trust baton needs to be passed to powerful online brands to show that they too can share a physical impact in communities; in the way they get their customers to share their digital lives with them.

John Gilbert is chief executive of financial and business research consultancy JGFR and chairman of charity Cricket for Change.

Read more from John in our Clubhouse.