We recently watched a webinar entitled Top PR Trends to Watch in 2019 and were not surprised to learn high buck influencers may be slipping off their pedestals a bit. But micro influencers will have more, well, influence. New tools to prove the ROI on marketing. Hallelujah. And finally, more individualized pitching in place of “Spray and Pray”. Something we’ve already identified at Garden Media.

Yet throughout the webinar, they kept referring to an Edelman Report about Belief Driven Buyers. This report outlines the fundamentals of how brands need to shift their mindset in order to fully capture the right audience to purchase their products or services.

Read on to learn more about the Edelman Report and webinar.

Belief-Driven Buyers

1 on 2 people are belief driven buyers. They choose, switch, avoid or boycott a brand based on its stand on societal issues. 67% bought brand for first time because of a brands position on a controversial subject. 65% will not buy from a brand because it stayed silent on an issue it had an obligation to address. 

Consider Colin Kaepernick’s Nike Ad. Controversial indeed but Nike’s stock rose to an all-time high afterward. Most people are belief-driven buyers even if they don’t realize it.

Every time a customer picks out a salad dressing at the grocery store, they are voting as a belief driven buyer. They’re even looking for clues about a products stand at point of sale. Once brands realize consumers are doing this, they will feel a change in buying patterns. It is part of a bigger shift.

The amount of consumers that shop this way was surprising. A whopping 64% of buyers are belief driven in every market surveyed. More than half. Who knew? Remarkably these numbers have gone up 13 points since 2017.

And, this is a global movement. Proving that all the people in the world are much more alike than different. It also spans generations and income levels. It also points to the fact that people are becoming disillusioned by what they see as the government’s inability to deal with controversial issues. The statistics clearly indicate that we are now looking to brands to solve political and social issues.

Welcome to Brand Democracy

It’s no longer possible for brands not to take a stand. Buyer’s beliefs in a brands as a force for social good is an opportunity and an obligation. 

Consumers believe brands can be a powerful force for change. They expect brands to represent them and solve societal problems. 46% of people believe brands have better ideas for solving countries problems than governments. 53% believe brands can do more to solve social ills than governments.

If brands use their dollars and yen to attract and hold new consumers while at the same time addressing difficult societal issues we may be at the brink of a very beautiful era, where brands actually help people to live their best lives.

Here are a few more interesting statistics taken from the report:

• Buyers trust in social media is down in every market except China, where it is up 4% since 2017. In the US 30% of people trust social media, down 11% from 2017. Not surprising in the wake of massive data breaches.
• Belief-Driven buying is now mainstream around the world. The 8 market average was up 13 % since 2017. Japan had the most gains, up 21%, the US was up by 12%.
• Belief driven mindset spans generations. From 2017 to 2018, the 18-34 age group was up 9%, 35 to 54 up 14%, 55+ up 18%.
• Belief driven mindset now spans income levels. From 2017 to 2018 the bottom 25% by income, grew by 11%. The middle group 50%, was up by 16% and the top 25% by income, was up by 11%.
• 60% of consumers believe brands should make it easier to see their values and positions on important issues. That number is 55% in the US.
• 56% of consumers think marketers spend too much time looking for ways to force them to pay attention to their messages and not enough time thinking of ways to make me want to pay attention. That number is 63% in the US.

For more information and a discussion on the brand stand spectrum read the Edelman Report here.

And for more information on trends, download the 2019 Garden Trends report