TRUST = CURRENCY
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
At the core of the sustainability movement is TRUST. Build it and you can thrive. Ignore it and you’re screwed.
So how does one build trust?
One path is to begin with transparency and traceability. There is a growing wave of consumers who want to know more. Open the onion of your brand to those your serve. Let them see the good, bad and ugly. No one is perfect and you will significantly enhance the resonance for your missive when you are open and honest. Of course it will greatly enhance your storytelling and resonance if you can also share a vision for the future and what could be.
A sense of humility is paramount. At Seventh Generation we were far from perfect but we spoke candidly and openly to the Seventh Generation Nation about our plans and when we fell short. Most recently Seventh Generation launched an initiative called Show the World What’s Inside that allows those they serve to see full transparency of ingredients. Patagonia created a brilliant vehicle for transparency and traceability with their Footprint Chronicles initiative. And the folks at Icebreaker have done a great job of showing their chain of custody with their BAACODE. You see folks do not expect perfection. They expect honesty. As my good friend Michael Jager likes to say, a brand is a promise.
Uphold the promise and you’ll be just fine.
