In an AI-Saturated World, Trust is the Key Brand Differentiator

Buyers today have never been more hyper-aware of the potential disruptive forces surrounding them: the increasing use of AI-generated content, the proliferation of misinformation, declining transparency from once-trusted institutions, and economic insecurities, just to name a few. Customers in both B2B and B2C are becoming more skeptical, more defensive and harder to win over. In a low-trust world, how can companies win back loyalty and build trust in their brands?

That’s the question Jean-Pierre Lacroix addresses in his book, ThinkBlink Manifesto: Creating Deep, Lasting Emotional Brand Connections in the Blink of an Eye. As president and chief strategy officer of SLD (Shikatani Lacroix Design), a global branding firm specializing in transforming customer experiences, Lacroix has spent decades working with brand leaders on transforming their brands through the power of emotional connection, a foundation that he believes is very much relevant today.

“The trust gap is growing significantly, and the reason for that involves different dynamics at play in the marketplace,” he says. “The issue of authenticity is being challenged by fake news, AI-generated content. It’s hard today to watch a video or read a blog not knowing if that content actually came from a human being or some kind of technology.”

Lacroix notes there is also a lack of transparency with large corporations, which has consumers increasingly skeptical of what is being marketed to them. SLD conducted an authenticity study released in 2021 that revealed that a growing number of consumers no longer trust or even believe company-backed claims. The increasing use of influencers and celebrity endorsements can sometimes even undermine brand marketing strategies. This leads to another point Lacroix says has been leading to the growing trust gap between brands and their customers.

“Corporations and brands have relied heavily on functional benefits that could easily be imitated by competition or are not relevant to the customer,” he says. “But how do you become authentic when what you’re saying is not relevant to the consumer, or it is not believable?”

Understanding the importance of emotional equity

Last year, Edelman released a special report declaring that “consumers are looking to brands they trust to provide stability in their lives.” The firm also wrote that trust needs to be viewed as a currency of consumer power and that it “is as much of a purchase consideration as quality and price.”  

The same applies to B2B customers, says Lacroix.

“The assumption is that B2B human beings are different from B2C human beings. They’re not. They’re the same consumers, the same people with the same human needs,” he says. “They don’t change. How you package it may be slightly different, but B2B is still based on trust.”

As in B2C, any erosion in B2B brand trust is likely to have come about from overreliance on marketing functional benefits that can be easily mimicked and often have no concrete impact on how customers feel, and from insufficient attention to how brands address customers’ emotional needs. This includes focusing too much on a laundry list of functional features and benefits that do little to sway a buyer if their mind is already made up about a brand.

“One of the tenets in ThinkBlink Manifesto is about measuring what matters,” Lacroix explains. “Measuring the emotional equities of brands. Brands need to shift from thinking functional benefits — ‘faster, quicker, better, less expensive’ — to what the emotional need is that the customer has.”

An example of how emotional equity really matters is when a company makes a misstep or misalignment that impacts its brand in the marketplace. Lawyers will tell companies not to do anything because it’ll blow over, but actually admitting mistakes can go a long way, according to Lacroix.

“What you need to do is actually admit mistakes. People will forgive you if you admit you made the mistake and have a plan in place to fix it,” he says. In any example where emotions are high and brand trust is eroding, playing the blame game can backfire.