Winning trust in uncertain times: The case for consumer clarity

Earlier this month, Hall & Partners, in partnership with C-Space and Escalent, hosted our Fight for Clarity event.

The event featured a panel moderated by Managing Partner at Hall & Partners, Branka Orosnjak, that highlighted insights experts Jenny Fernandez (Head of Research & Insights at TikTok), Joel Renkema (Head of Insights at IKEA), and Kelly Tate (Consumer Insights Lead at Vodafone).

Our panellists discussed how brands can strengthen consumer connections to drive long-term growth by fostering a sense of clarity for consumers during times of uncertainty, i.e., economic instability, shifting consumer behaviours, and global crises.

The event also included an ‘immersive safari’ led by the team at C-Space, which brought to life many of the themes discussed during the panel. C-Space led our attendees through the iconic Borough Market in Central London, stopping at various businesses (e.g., Ace & Tate, Bread Ahead, Change Coffee, Sknfed) to see what lessons we could learn (as customers, rather than as brand experts) from a range of brands on how to drive clarity for consumers.

So, what did we learn from the event, and, specifically, from our panellists?

First off, we established that uncertainty is inevitable. The ‘fight for clarity’ is less about avoiding uncertainty altogether, and more about how we can instead help to build clarity every day for our consumers.

There are multiple building blocks to clarity. For one, Jenny from TikTok talked about the use of ‘empathetic marketing’ to drive clarity, i.e., not just communicating brand benefits, but using marcomms to actually connect with your audience.

Consumers today, especially younger cohorts, are savvier than ever, and have a lower tolerance for the fluff and filler that don’t speak directly to them and their needs. In order to cultivate authentic relationships with your audience, it is therefore essential to, as Joel from IKEA put it, ‘make brands more human,’ in the ways of tone of voice and personality. The more connected your consumers feel to your brand, the more likely they are to consider and advocate for you.

Kelly from Vodafone expanded on this idea of connection, reminding us that we often focus so many resources on how we can influence consumers, that we may forget about how we can nurture the relationships with our own employees and stakeholders.

While marcomms convey your brand promise, consumers look to the stewards of your brand (i.e., your employees) to reinforce that promise, and to ensure the experience aligns with the proposition. If there is internal volatility, e.g., a disjointed brand identity, consumers will feel it externally. The disjointedness will impact their degree of clarity on what you stand for as a brand and, therefore, their consideration of and advocacy for your brand.

Still along the lines of building authenticity, Branka then asked the panel to comment on our duty as brands to fill gaps in areas like sustainability while government spend has been redirected.

Kelly emphatically described sustainability as ‘hygiene,’ for any brand, despite it not being the number one purchase driver. Consumers are demanding that sustainability be part of the brand promise more than ever, and brands need to evolve to align to their audience’s shared values. At the same time, though, brands need to be realistic about how.

Like many initiatives, sustainability is subject to a behavioural science phenomenon called the ‘intention-to- action gap’ (for more detail, see our post entitled ‘Panel Discussion: The Role of Behavioural Science in Consumer Decision-Making’). Oftentimes consumers espouse values like sustainability, but when asked to make a behaviour change in support, they struggle to follow through, especially if it requires added effort, cost, or a disruption to their normal routines.

It is therefore our job as brands to ‘bake sustainability into the value chain,’ under the assumption that consumers will pay a premium for sustainably-focused brands.

This idea triggered some discussion on the role of transparency in driving connection (and therefore clarity) for consumers. In times of uncertainty, consumers tend to seek out straightforward and transparent products and experiences. Transparency’s ability to equip consumers with all possible information empowers them to make confident purchase decisions. An empowered consumer is more likely to feel valued and understood, which again, makes them feel connected to the brand.

The importance of using connection to build clarity then raises a logical question: how can brands maintain a sense of authenticity with the rise of AI?

The prevalence of AI means consumers have now come to expect AI as part of the user journey, but not at the expense of a positive brand experience. Consumers want things to be fast and friction-free, but they also want to feel unique and understood.

So, how can brands leverage AI in a way that still feels somewhat human to the consumer?

Firstly, Joel again discussed the importance of transparency. A brand should acknowledge the power of AI, but without making it seem ‘superhuman.’ In other words, present it for what is: a tool, an enabler, rather than passing it off as a human being, which sets certain expectations that will, inevitably, not deliver.

Kelly and Jenny then talked about the necessity of equipping AI with an authentic tone of voice, consistent with your brand personality. Whilst it is important to deploy AI in order to stay relevant in the market, the way AI is represented must still align to your brand purpose. This is especially important as consumers become more and more bombarded with messaging. AI can help drive exposure to your brand, but the quality of that exposure is predicated on your ability to stand out as distinctively your brand.

In a similar vein, our panellists then dove into conversation around the role of CX and how it can serve to provide clarity for consumers.

As Kelly so accurately described, ‘the brand sets the expectation, and CX delivers on that promise.’ Brand, comms, CX and DX are inextricably linked and all work together to deliver on the brand promise. While in most cases these areas are siloed as their own departments within the business, consumers think of and experience your brand holistically, rather than in fragments. This echoes back to the need for the internal brand to espouse the values it wants the external brand to reflect, in order to foster a sense of clarity for consumers.

Finally, Branka asked our panellists to wrap up by telling us what they thought were the most crucial things brands should be doing differently in order to build clarity and, ultimately, grow.

Joel reiterated that, in times of uncertainty, brands show us who they really are and what they care about. He posited that we often ‘obsess over consumers being loyal to us, rather than us being loyal to them.’ We as brands can demonstrate that loyalty by ‘holding a mirror up to ourselves’ and taking stock of what we offer consumers in terms of what they need for clarity, i.e., authenticity, simplicity, and transparency.

Kelly touched on innovation, reminding us that all innovation doesn’t have to be costly and disruptive, it can be incremental and in-service of addressing consumer needs to drive clarity, like a simple CX.

Jenny discussed the role of agility, and the importance of evolving with your audience (especially crucial at TikTok) but without compromising the foundation of your brand purpose.

A Nod to Insights

In addition to unpacking the ‘fight for clarity,’ the panel talked at length about the role of Insights and how it is our job to represent the voice of the consumer across the organisation. As Kelly said, nowadays, there is ‘no excuse not to bring the consumer voice into the boardroom.’

It is crucial to socialise consumer insights in a way that lands with your stakeholders and, sometimes, a simple data point doesn’t cut it. The organisation needs to understand the story and the commercial implications of that story.

At Hall & Partners, we offer brands the tools to understand and shape consumer perceptions, grow engagement and, of course, inspire action. We believe in a story-led approach while also democratising data to help clients make decisions quickly and efficiently. Our award-winning brand intelligence platform, Enlyta, ensures insights are easily available to stakeholders to inform strategic decision-making and enable commercial storytelling that travels across the business.

Hall & Partners power the world’s most successful brands. We work with various clients across industries to understand the brand and market landscape, monitor brand reputation and perceptions, assess comms performance, and determine whether messages are landing as intended to support brand positioning. Because we work across the brand planning cycle, we partner with our clients across different stages of development to build an insights roadmap for growth.