The Gartner Brand Strategy and Innovation Survey 2019 reveals that most brands are only partially aligned with their values — meaning their brand actions and messaging are somewhat consistent with their values, but not fully aligned. “This gap between brand values and brand action is exactly where consumer trust can be broken and where brands risk falling into the chasm of consumer skepticism,” added Mr. Ross.
To overcome this challenge, Gartner recommends marketing leaders take the following actions:
- Gain clarity on the current state of alignment between brand values and actions. To do this, marketing leaders will need to pull in numerous data sources or establish new channels of insight. However, an intimate understanding of the current state of alignment is vital to inform how to shape and prioritize initiatives to address the issues.
- Ensure brand values accurately reflect the desires and culture of the organization. This may mean eliminating values that no longer serve the organization or do not reflect the realities or aspirations of the company. Prioritize the remaining values, utilizing them as a touchstone for future brand activities. Marketing leaders should have a keen understanding of the most important customer values and use those to create shared values between the brand and the customer.
Additional details on the survey findings and further recommendations are available to Gartner for Marketers clients in the report “Brand Survey 2019: Marketers Believe in the Power of Brand but Struggle to Respond to Disruption.”
*For Editors:
The Gartner Brand Strategy and Innovation Survey 2019 was conducted from May 2019 through July 2019 among 393 respondents in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Respondents were required to have involvement in decisions pertaining to setting or influencing marketing strategy and planning. All respondents were from companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue. The respondents came from a variety of industries: financial services, high tech, manufacturing, consumer products, media, retail, healthcare providers, and travel and hospitality.
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