How a Rock Concert Highlighted the Value of Trust

Giving your 'trust tree' stronger roots

Ian McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen is one of my favorite singers. I got a rare chance to see him and the band in Chicago recently. I bought my ticket months in advance and got to the venue early, ready for a great show. But as the band began to play, it was clear Ian was suffering from a raw throat. He struggled during the early numbers, then left the stage after 45 minutes. 

Not knowing if he was coming back and thinking of all the time, expense and anticipation I’d invested in the show, I started feeling disappointed. But then he suddenly came back onstage and broke into another song. He was soldiering on, driving the audience wild, and giving us all he had! His voice weakened toward the end of the show, but rather than getting irritated, the crowd hit the high notes for him. In the end, it was a glorious and memorable night.

This musical experience reminded me of something that is easy to forget—the value of trust. The positives seem obvious enough since it’s easier to buy into trusted brands. 

But a reservoir of goodwill can also help see a brand through stormy weather, be it a PR crisis, social media mishap or product recall. Here’s how:

1. Customers come to your defense: Trust can give brands the space they need to recover.
2. Media is more sympathetic: Trust can lead to a more positive framing of the bad news.
3. The investment community stays confident: Trust can help keep things less volatile by lowering the odds that investors will “sell the news.”

Earning Trust with Consistency

Building trust is an investment. Brands like Hermes, renowned for their dedication to the finest details of design, and FedEx, innovators of overnight delivery, earned it with smart choices over many years. In pharmaceutical marketing, with shorter competitive windows, time is not on our side. However, the road to trust can be found via a simple and insightful rubric from Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton: Set an expectation, meet or exceed it, do that consistently. 

Show Sincerity

Our work in the oncology sector highlights the power of building trust as a strategic and operational imperative. A client with a reputation as a generic products manufacturer with competitive pricing was looking for growth in the face of a far more prominent and respected competitor. The cancer community was increasingly demanding more from their providers. To elevate the client’s position, we launched a branding campaign aligned with their vision to transform cancer care, focusing on the message that every patient is seen as a person first. This approach provided a more intimate, personal portrayal, a stark contrast to the anthemic and company-centric approach of the category leader.

To make this expectation a tangible reality, the client took proactive steps to enhance their operations, including improving patient and healthcare provider support programs. These efforts, along with other marketing and internal initiatives, resulted in a 25 percent increase in oncology sales and a noticeable improvement in the client’s reputation. When it comes to earning trustworthiness, it all comes down to what you say AND what you do. 

Small Gestures Pay Off

With all that scientists and marketers need to address, the idea of building trust can sometimes seem like a luxury we cannot afford. As with most things in life, however, even small gestures can pay big dividends down the road. So always look for opportunities to give your “trust tree” stronger roots. Like Echo & the Bunnymen, you just might build a loyal fan base that gives you the benefit of the doubt when things don’t go as planned.