How The Trust Crisis Impacts CEOs, Creators, and Marketers

In a year defined by geopolitical strain, this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer paints a stark picture of a society becoming more suspicious, fragmented and inward‑looking. People increasingly struggle to know which sources to trust, retreating into insularity — a shift Richard Edelman describes as a “major crisis”.

The data is sobering. Many people are hesitant to trust anyone with different values, backgrounds or information sources, including institutional leaders. Employees fear trade policies and tariffs will harm their employer, while many low‑ and middle‑income respondents worry they will be left behind by generative AI.

The research identifies four forces driving this mindset: economic anxiety, a collapse in optimism, eroding institutional trust, and an escalating information crisis. Together, they are reshaping how people see the world — and how willing they are to engage with those who think differently.

As trust in institutions falters, people are turning instead to “those closest to us” — their employer, their CEO, fellow citizens, and neighbours. Yet the need to rebuild trust across society has never been greater — and currently looks far from assured.

Discussing some of their insights from this year’s findings, and why they matter to marketers, are Edelman’s global president and COO Mainardo de Nardis and chief strategy officer Anna Voght.

Creative Salon: What was the biggest surprise from the research? 

Anna: That trust is more tied to growth than ever. I think that was a big outcome for us. 

Mainardo: Trust and relevance together have a multiplier effect. So, just trust or just relevance, you achieve certain objectives. The two together are a multiplier. 

It also claimed that relevance is multifaceted. In what way? How do you define that? 

Anna: So, it could be anything from pop culture, which is how people might have defaulted to defining relevance in the past, to the types of communities that you're in, to your identity reflection. So, there are lots of different things that can make something relevant to you, and I think what we're seeing is a shift from pop culture and things that are quite transient to things that are much more deep-seated and meaningful, and have more impact on the longer-term behaviour.  

Does that mean then that trust changes as trends go and culture society changes, so trust must change and it must move with almost like fashion?

Mainardo: No, trust is one of those leading indicators that either you have it or you don't have it. It certainly can change, it can evolve up or down, but it's not that immediate, and it is not linked to fashion. It's a long-term thing to build. 

If you look at how people process information today, we've moved from 10 years of content shortage, where we didn't have enough, to content abundance, where we have too much and with low quality. Now, in an AI-generated era, the problem becomes relevance, because if you're not relevant to culture, relevant to the context in which you're communicating, to the platform and the community, relevant to that specific moment, your message disappears. You become totally invisible. So, relevance today is much more significant than it was in the past if you wanted to get out of the sea of sameness, not to mention the potential damage that lack of relevance can generate. 

Obviously, all marketers want their brands to be trusted. What from the research would you say they should be thinking about most often in this respect? 

Anna: Consumers, more than ever before, are more likely to trust brands that represent consumers they see as being like them. This is a symptom of what we call The Age of Insularity. So, if you're a brand that starts marketing to a consumer that you perceive to be different from you, that is a problem and I think that's a really interesting conundrum for brands, because that would imply that your growth gets stagnated bourn out of the need to attract more people.  

Is AI a factor in trust or is it still too early to tell? What is AI's relevance when it comes to consumers' trust? 

Mainardo: It varies significantly by age group. Younger people instinctively understand how AI and their data is being used and accept AI as part of the system. Older generations struggle more, so perceptions of AI differ sharply across age groups. With younger consumers, you barely need to explain AI applications — they already assume AI is involved and can see its applications. 

Why is it important to them that a brand earns consumer trust?  

Anna: The brand is often seen as a representation of oneself, and we found that around four in 10 Gen Z and Millennial consumers will use brands in secret to avoid social stigma. That's a really interesting insight for us on how values are driving behaviour.  

Mainardo: As an example, look at Tesla drivers. How many of them have the sticker at the back saying ‘I didn’t know. I bought it before’ or whatever? They're embarrassed… The link between the CEO of the company and trust in the brand is becoming more intertwined. In the past, nobody cared about the CEO when buying a new car. Now, they are the voice of the brand. 

What is the impact on trust of a vocal CEO over one that is quiet?  

Mainardo: I just came to see you from the CEO Forum [in Cannes Lions], so we were just having this discussion, and one of the conclusions was CEOs, you can’t be quiet. There are expectations from your role that you've got to fulfill. If you want to be quiet, go do something else, that's not your job. But your people expect you to have a message to represent them, to play a role in the company, not to stay up there in the ivory tower in too much splendid isolation and disconnection. 

Anna: It's showing that trust unifies two parts of the business as well, from way more of a corporate side that has previously understood the importance of trust, and then also the marketing side where they have to work together. One impacts the other. So, it happens from a reputation perspective, it's just a much more of a common denominator. 

Just to clarify, then if you're a CEO that isn't outspoken and is quite hidden, does that develop mistrust? How can that be measured? 

Mainardo: I think it depends. It's difficult to generalise if you're quiet, but you're still transparent and you communicate in a different way, then that's perfectly acceptable. Everybody has their own style, but if that means you become less transparent, and you don't have a story - you're not relevant to your audience. Well, then people can perceive what is he or she hiding?  

There are so many factors [to measure:] how the brand communicates, how the company communicates, how the CEO communicates, how relevant you are in society, the answers you give, and how you engage your own people as an internal audience. That’s where trust is built first, and those people then become ambassadors externally. Every lever contributes to trust. That’s why integrating corporate and brand communication matters — you can’t look at only half of it. Consumers see the whole picture. One part influences the other; you can’t isolate it. It’s not like the old days where you spoke to a single audience with a single message. Everyone sees everything now, in real time. 

What the role of the creator economy and influencers in building trust through community?  

Anna: We emphasise an ‘earned‑first; approach not just as a channel but as a strategy: developing ideas from what people genuinely care about, where momentum already exists, and using paid to amplify it. Creators and influencers are central to this, acting as trust bridges between brands and consumers. They’re already embedded in the information ecosystem and can carry messages in a more authentic and credible way. 

With the Creator Economy, is it vital that a brand needs to have that involvement now to have trust with younger people? 

Mainardo: Brands have to work with creators but have to learn how to manage the risks which can be significant. As an agency specialising in corporate and brand reputation, on top of brand marketing, we understand those risks better than most, so our vetting of influencers and creators is extremely tight. A small misstep can seriously damage a brand, as recent examples have shown. Our expertise in risk management has helped us build a much stricter vetting system than others, because we respect the brands we work with and don’t want clients exposed to unnecessary risk. This approach allows us to grow our creators business together with our clients, building on the opportunity while managing the risks. 

How would you advise marketers to stay on top of the trust their brand has built? 

Anna: It comes down to understanding your consumer — their connection to the brand, what they care about, and how to participate in their communities authentically. Creators and influencers can help execute that, but only when guided by a clear strategy rooted in data, not just trends. Strong trust-vetting, community insight and an understanding of where natural momentum already exists ensure brands act with focus rather than guesswork. 

Is there a particular Edelman campaign that you could point to and say this really helped that client build trust? 

Mainardo: Dove’s Real Beauty with Unilever. There’s no better one. It's one of those ideas that has many great fathers or mothers. We are proud to be one of them.  

Anna: Progresso’s Soup Drops was another example from last year. We talk about how you measure the impact of work like that, because you should be able to attach ROI. And most earned-led campaigns currently aren’t doing that consistently. And that’s our proposal. Rethinking measurement of earned-led strategy and creative so we’re not just celebrating reach and impressions but building a new framework for defining business impact. 

Do you already have an expectation of what the next Edelman Trust Barometer might highlight next year?  

Mainardo: If you look at macro trust, it’s constantly shifting together with society, world events and culture. Five years ago, people trusted governments at the start of the pandemic; a year later, that trust collapsed. Over the last decade, trust in governments, brands, CEOs and NGOs has been volatile because society itself has moved. Brand trust behaves differently — it doesn’t usually swing at that speed unless you do something wrong. You build trust slowly, but you can lose it in a day. 

Is the truth vital for every brand? Do they always have to stick to the truth, or can they kind of be a bit vague at times without damaging consumer trust? 

Mainardo: Transparency always wins. The facts are the facts — you can’t avoid them. What matters is how you frame those facts and the story you build around them. That’s the personalisation. But you have to be transparent, honest and truthful about the facts first; otherwise you’re starting from the wrong place. Only then are you entitled to build the story.