April MarketingMasters Luncheon Seminar

The president and CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations agency, first presented the results of the 2008 survey on trust and credibility in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. As he discusses the findings at this month’s luncheon, he’ll address how b-to-b marketers need to rethink how they view marketing, the media and the new social order of communications.

Edelman will be introduced at the luncheon by Rance Crain, editor-in-chief of Advertising Age, which named Edelman its 2008 Agency Executive of the Year. He was also named “The Most Powerful PR Professional” by PR Week last October.

In his talk, Edelman will discuss how communicators are being challenged to think and act differently in a new age of communications where the audience “is on the field and ready to play in the game.” No longer can brands just focus on talking to their stakeholders; now they must engage in a participatory dialogue with them.

For the first time, the 2008 Trust Barometer included young people (ages 25 to 34). Historically cynical toward business, the young “info-entials” who participated in the survey indicated they trusted business more than their older counterparts. Edelman said that finding revealed a great opportunity for business to communicate its story to this demographic, for whom sharing information is an everyday activity.

Trust in media as an institution is at a high point in the study’s history “because the definition of media has broadened to encompass social media,” Edelman said. There were marked increases for trust in media over past-year standings in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Japan, South Korea and India. Mainstream media—newspapers, television news and business magazines—are the most widely used sources of information about companies.

While business magazines are the most trusted source globally (57% of respondents), social media is on the rise, particularly in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). As expected, it is also more highly used and trusted by young opinion elites. Wikipedia ranks as the No. 2 source of credible information among 25- to 34-year-old opinion elites in the United States.

Across the globe, all age groups rely on credentialed experts and people like themselves for information they trust, the survey showed. Meanwhile, trust in CEOs continues to lag at about 20% in the United States, versus 43% for an average employee.

“Companies need to be engaged at the intersection of the top-down and peer-to-peer models of communication,” Edelman said, “relying on both experts and empowered employees to supplement statements by the CEO.” 

Among the other key findings of the 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer:

• Technology remains the most trusted sector in 17 of 18 countries surveyed, followed by the biotech and life sciences, and automotive industries.
• 85% of respondents will pass along good information about a company or will discuss negative experiences.
• Only 20% of respondents trust corporate or product advertising.
• Going online for news tops shopping as a person’s main motivation.

To register for the luncheon, go here, email Marla Schrager or call her at 312-943-8040.