The Case for Character: Why Trusted Brands are more Lucrative, Loved and Long Lasting

By Michael McQueen

In this age of transparency, consumers are demanding ever-greater trustworthiness and values-alignment from the brands and businesses they engage with.
Looking at the latest consumer research and case studies of best practice from around the world, this new book from business strategist Michael McQueen explores:
• Why the marketplace today is more skeptical and discerning - and how this creates an enormous opportunity for those that are prepared
• How purpose-driven brands have proven to be more lucrative, loved and longer lasting than their competitors
• A game plan for building or rebuilding trust through credibility, consistency, clarity and congruence
This practical and research-rich book will give you a blueprint for becoming an individual, brand or organisation that stands for something - and reaps the rewards of doing so.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543981780

Book preview

The Case for Character

Why Trusted Brands are More Lucrative, Loved and Long-Lasting

Copyright © Michael McQueen 2019. Published by The Nexgen Group Pty Ltd

www.michaelmcqueen.net

ISBN: 9781543981780

Cover Design by Jennifer El-Chah of Loved, Locked, Loaded

Typesetting and layout by Julie Karen Hodgins

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced to a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Endorsements

Contents

Introduction

Part A – Nowhere to Hide

Chapter 1: The Age of Skepticism

Chapter 2: The Age of Transparency

Chapter 3: The Age of Empowerment

Part B: The Business Case for Trust

Chapter 4: Trusted Brands are More Lucrative

Chapter 5: Trusted Brands are More Loved

Chapter 6: Trusted Brands are More Long-Lasting

Part C: The 4 C’s of Character

Chapter 7: Credibility

Chapter 8: Consistency

Chapter 9: Clarity

Chapter 10: Congruence

Conclusion

References

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael McQueen understands what it takes to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.

Widely recognized for having his finger on the pulse of business and culture, he has helped some of the world’s most iconic organisations and brands navigate change and maintain relevance.

As a leading specialist in organizational transformation, demographic change and consumer trends, Michael features regularly as a commentator on television and radio and is a best-selling author of eight books.

Michael is a familiar face on the international conference circuit, having shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates, Dr John C. Maxwell and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people across five continents since 2004 and is known for his high-impact, research-rich and entertaining conference presentations.

Michael was recently named Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year and was inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.

He and his family live in Sydney, Australia.

www.michaelmcqueen.net

Introduction

On February 21st, 2019, I took my seat in the front row of the International Advertisers Association conference in the Indian city of Kochi. Although I wasn’t scheduled to speak until after lunch, I was curious to sit in on the morning presentations to listen to what the other main stage speakers shared.

In honesty, I expected to hear presentations full of consumer spending forecasts and campaign case studies showcasing the latest and greatest from some of the world’s most creative agencies.

Within a few minutes of the program kicking off, it was clear that this was going to be anything but a conventional advertising conference.

Paul Polman was the opening speaker. I knew of Paul as a legendary figure who had only recently stepped down from running the worldwide consumer goods giant Unilever. From the very outset, Paul was not what I expected. There was a warmth, approachability and modesty about him that doesn’t often accompany someone with a resume as spectacular as his. However, it was the content of Paul’s message that was perhaps most surprising.

While he began talking about the pride he felt as he looked back on his long career at Unilever and thanked the many creative agencies in the room that had played a role in the brand’s success, his focus quickly shifted and his tone became more urgent.

He spoke with passion and conviction about the need for big businesses to start asking themselves some hard questions. He urged those present to recognize their role in crafting brand messages that genuinely enhanced the lives of customers.

Then things got really serious. Paul began calling into question the very morality of businesses that turn extraordinary profits but have little regard for the impact their operations are having on the people in their supply chains or the planet more broadly. He argued that a company couldn’t exist to only preserve the wealth of a few but had to work hastily and diligently towards closing the growing gap of wealth and inequality around the world.

But it was Polman’s closing remarks that impacted me the most. He spoke of the necessity for brands to work harder than ever to earn the trust of their customers lest they lose their very social license to operate.

For most of Paul’s presentation, I had been wondering how the 3,000 delegates sitting in the rows behind me were taking this fairly pointed critique of the capitalist system that had richly rewarded so many of them. I needn’t have wondered. The thunderous applause at the end of this opening presentation seemed to go on forever. Polman had struck a chord that seemed to resonate with everyone present.

Part of me wondered whether what we had just witnessed was the philosophizing of someone who had the luxury of questioning the rules of the game now that he was no longer on the field. As a former CEO, Polman was in something of a position of ‘all care and no responsibility.’

But speaker after speaker that morning shared the same sentiment. From the regional heads of Google and Alibaba to a global executive from advertising giant WPP, the one word that came up time and time again was the word trust.

Coming from an Australian context, this was a word that had dominated the business press for much of the previous 6 months. In the wake of a damning enquiry into corruption in the financial services sector, banks and insurers across the board had been caught with their pants down and their fingers in the till. Revelations of insurance policies being sold to deceased customers and downright corruption in financial product sales incentives had left the public shocked and incensed. The result was a mad scramble for financial giants to show contrition and promise that things were going to change. Rebuilding trust was repeatedly described as priority number one.

I had mistakenly assumed this trust-building fervor was isolated to the Australian banking sector and would likely subside relatively quickly.

And yet here I was, half a world away, listening to some of the world’s most powerful and influential business leaders expressing the same sentiments I was hearing back home.

Flying back to Australia that evening, I started wondering whether what I had witnessed sitting in the audience that day hinted at a tectonic shift in business thinking around the world. Had there been a change in mood, a realignment of priorities and a waking-up of sorts?

I firmly believe that this is the case.

Nothing new under sun

What’s interesting to me is that the importance of putting purpose before profits, becoming ruthlessly customer centric and recognizing the critical role of trust shouldn’t be a new revelation to business leaders. Back in 2011, I embarked on a 3-year global study tracking 500 brands to determine the factors that separated enduringly relevant brands from those that had lost their way or disappeared – research that culminated in a book called Winning the Battle for Relevance.

One of the core findings of this research and key themes of the book was that clear values and a driving sense of purpose were essential ingredients in any business or brand that lasted the distance. But no-one was especially interested in hearing this message. My clients were far more captivated by the future-proofing and innovation strategies that enduring brands were using and so that’s where my focus turned.

By the time I landed back into Sydney from India, I resolved to return to the research findings I had uncovered all those years ago and examine them in light of the current business climate. I wanted to explore what, if anything, had changed in the preceding 8 years and examine the latest thinking into what it takes to win the battle for hearts and minds – a research process that has resulted in the book you now hold.

This book is broken into 3 broad areas of focus:

In