by Aziz Alangari, Brianna Holzman, Mengyang Li, and Whitney Jefferson

The topics of trust, authenticity, and transparency have emerged as what consumers expect from businesses today (MultiVu - PR Newswire, 2020). This study looks at the entertainment industry and how these topics are central to the relationship between media and entertainment companies and consumers.

There has been a growing distrust among consumers of Big Tech companies and the media in recent years (Kite-Powell, 2020). This trend is also affecting the entertainment industry, as seen with companies like Facebook and Electronic Arts. The public has become aware that Facebook shares data with third-party entities. The Independent reported that Facebook shares 57% of users’ personal data, while their other platform, Instagram, shares 79% of user data (Cuthbertson, 2021). Electronic Arts has also developed a negative public image. The well- known gaming company has acquired smaller studios for specific intellectual properties and then either altered the games or dissolved the original studio (Stebbins, 2018). This practice of dismantling independent game studios has angered many in the gaming community and has led Electronic Arts to be deemed the “Evil Empire” (Stebbins, 2018).

Since consumers are more conscientious of what brands and companies they support and how their data will be used, the topics of trust and authenticity are key in maintaining positive relationships with their consumers. This sentiment is especially true after COVID-19 and the summer 2020 protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer Report in 2020, 44% of respondents said they started using a brand because of its response to the pandemic and 40% convinced other people to stop using a brand because they felt the brand was responding inappropriately to the pandemic (Trust Barometer Special Report, 2020). Similarly, 58% of respondents said it’s extremely important to them for brands to advocate for positive change in our culture (Trust Barometer Special Report, 2020). Knowing what makes a consumer trust a company or brand is imperative to establish consumer lifetime value, which is a key marketing metric for most companies.

Trust is becoming necessary for business. Several recent studies identify this trend and informed the following research. The Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on Brand Trust and Morning Consult’s first annual “Most Trusted Brands in America” survey report. Additionally, Morning Consult completed another study that we found informative, called “The Influencer Report: Engaging Gen Z and Millennials,” which is “an in-depth guide to how younger Americans interact with the new class of cultural tastemakers” (Influencer Report - Morning Consult, 2020, p. 1). An Ernst & Young (EY) report observed that 34% of media and entertainment companies will cease to exist in the next five years if they don’t reinvent themselves (Harrison et al., 2020). Additionally, the report claimed that 50% of executives indicated traditional business models are no longer serving best practices in light of the changing marketplace. Moving forward, the Industry will need to pay close attention to an increasingly dynamic competitive landscape, the accelerated pace of technology change, and the continued shifting of customer expectations and trends (Harrison et al., 2020).

To expand knowledge from existing reports, we conducted a consumer survey with 23 key questions and received 204 responses. Additionally, twelve interviews with industry professionals, including executives from Disney Music Group, Dubsmash (music and dance social media platform), and Mediablitzz (digital marketing) provided key insights. Comparing insights from the industry professionals with the results from the survey and industry reports informed the conclusions.

Before launching into findings, it is important to create shared definitions. Due to ambiguities about the way the industry and non-industry readers may interpret certain terms, the following key terms that will be used as defined below:

Trust: an act of assuring confident, consistent, clear, and organic communication to provide value to consumers.
Authenticity: whether a brand is recognized for continuity, credibility, and integrity; brand practices that provide information that is true to an organization’s values (Marsden, 2015).
Transparency: the clarity of an organization’s actions that are observable by consumers.
Mindshare: where people are spending their time as it relates to a certain product, idea, or company (What Is Mindshare?, 2021).
Timeshare: how long are people spending their time on a certain product, idea, or company.
Valuation: the consumer perceived worth of the product, idea, or company.
Experience Economy: a phrase that marketers use in referring to the transformation of organizations to provide consumers or “guests” the chance to enhance their goods/services consumption. The switch to offer experiences instead of only goods or services allow guests to develop memories associated with products that will stand the test of time (Gilmore & Pine, year, p. 17).
Creator Economy: meant to describe the world of digital material published online. This mechanism is continuously changing consumer habits and consumer spending, as well as creating materials that allow viewers to have content in their niche areas of interest and at their fingertips in terms of satisfying expectations of immediacy (Freytag, 2019). The business of a creator centers around “independent content creators, curators, and community builders” (Yuan & Constine, 2020, para. 3).
Celebrity vs. Influencer: an influencer is someone who has “the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience” (What is the “Creator Economy”?, 2020, Most Influencers Are Part of the Creator Economy section). Someone who is a celebrity has typically gained their following due to admiration from fans for a specific talent such as acting, music, etc. (Barker, 2018). Typically, celebrities can reach a wide range of demographics, unlike influencers who tend to be experts within a specific niche area.
Sentiment Analysis: a natural language processing technique used to determine whether data is positive, negative, or neutral that is often performed on textual data to help businesses
monitor brand and product sentiment in customer feedback, and understand customer needs (Everything There Is to Know about Sentiment Analysis, 2017).
Machine Learning: An application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed (What is Machine Learning? A definition, 2020).
Collaborative Filtering: A technique based on algorithms used to build personalized recommendations for future purposes on the web (Techopedia, 2012).

Customer-Based Brand Equity

Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) is the value of a brand based on how customers feel about that brand (Qualtrics, 2020). This correlation can be directly linked not only to a company’s success, but also to brand loyalty and customer lifetime value. That said, there are two different accepted models used by marketers to measure brand equity: the Keller Model and the Aaker Model. The first is the Keller Model, as seen in Figure 1, which is broken into four stages. Stage one is “brand identity” where the consumer market first becomes aware of a brand. In stage two, the customer needs to discover more detailed information about brand products or services. For example, this level may address an aspirational component or when a brand communicates that its products are status symbols and express socioeconomic position. Stage three involves the brand listening to customer feedback by running brand perception surveys, doing social listening, and/or focus groups. Finally, consumers reach “brand loyalty in stage four.” (Qualtrics, 2020).

The second model used by marketers to measure brand equity is the Aaker Model. Many of the components of this model are equivalent to the Keller model, but Keller suggests one stage needs to be achieved sequentially, while Aaker believes they can all happen simultaneously. Our team agrees with the Keller Model. Before brand loyalty can be achieved, we believe customers need to be aware of a brand, what it offers, and be invited to share their opinions with the brand. Such a mutually beneficial customer-brand relationship is critical to building lifelong customer satisfaction and loyalty.

CEO: Extension of the Brand

Some of the best-known brands in the world demonstrate that CEOs and other top executives can provide a highly representative “face” to a company, and as such, are an extension of the brand or company they run. Some strategists consider a CEO as the “chief brand ambassador” (Branding Beyond The CEO - The Role of The Organization, 2017, The important role of the CEO section, para. 1): Tesla (or SpaceX) is to Elon Musk as Amazon is to Jeff Bezos as Disney is to Bob Iger. Some CEOs, including those listed, lean toward the idea of celebrity CEOs. When leaders are in this position and actively speak out about certain issues, it reflects on their brand, employees, and consumers. There has been a “growing wave of business leaders speaking out on social issues,” which has been labeled “CEO activism” (HBS Working Knowledge, 2019, para. 3). When referring to a CEO being an “extension” of their brand, then what they do, what they say, and how they act can signal to consumers whether they should trust or support that brand. One example of a controversial issue that caused consumer backlash is the case of Chick-fil-A, whose CEO’s homophobic stances inspired boycotts in 2012. Although the company stopped donating to anti-LGBTQ+ groups in 2019, people are still calling on Chick-fil-A to do more.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

According to Investopedia, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a broad concept that can take many forms—such as specific programs, philanthropy, and volunteer efforts—that help a company be socially accountable (Corporate Social Responsibility, 2021). In our consumer survey, we asked respondents if they had ever made a conscious decision not to purchase a product from a brand because of what the particular brand stands for. Over 84% of respondents said they had done so. A 2019 Business Wire report also studied the issue. It found generational differences, including that Millennials are more likely to support companies who take part in social and environmental initiatives, even if it means paying higher prices (Schaeffer, 2019).

One good example of CSR is TOMS. It was established in 2006 as a footwear company and has incorporated CSR as part of its business model since its inception. For over a decade, TOMS focused on three main CSR initiatives: shoe giving (donating a pair of shoes for every pair bought), sight giving (helping people restore sight), and water giving (make safe water access easier). In 2019 and 2020, Toms gave away over seven million pairs of shoes and gave over $4.4 million in grants to its partners. Moving forward, TOMS will be focusing on grassroots giving by donating a third of its profits to help with promoting mental health, ending gun violence, and increasing access to opportunity in terms of education and work (TOMS Impact Report, 2020). To accomplish these initiatives, TOMS partners with companies around the globe that are committed to helping communities (Smith et al., 2021).

TOMS was founded at a time when consumers became more conscious about their spending and preferred to purchase more from socially responsible companies that do charity directly (Fritz, 2019). This trend is also confirmed by a Nielsen study that found signs of a shift in consumer spending toward ethical spending and brands that are committed to “social value” (Kane, 2017, para. 16). TOMS continues to expand its corporate social initiatives and is growing rapidly. Additionally, the company’s socially responsible footprint also raises employee morale and attracts more human capital. Its “buy one, give one” model provides consumers a story to retell to family and friends about this product and serves as powerful word-of-mouth marketing for the brand.

Transparency

In a 2019 Forbes article, Mike Kappel, founder and CEO of Patriot Software, LLC, discussed transparency and ways to build consumer trust. Consumers appreciate companies that are transparent and are more likely to trust and be loyal to those who are open, honest, and straightforward about their operations, products, and services. While companies should not extend transparency to the point of revealing trade secrets, transparency and trust start at the top of the company (Kappel, 2019). The article also indicates that “one study found that 94% of consumers would be loyal to a transparent brand because transparency in business leads to trust and consumers only want to support companies they trust” (Kappel, 2019, Benefits Of Transparency In Business section, para. 2). In 2010, Google became the first company to publish a transparency report. Transparency reports were created to provide detailed information about government data requests on a country-by-country basis (Google Transparency Report, 2021).

Since then, over 70 companies within the Internet industry have established their own transparency reports, including TikTok. We decided to focus on TikTok because the company’s operations were of serious concern to both consumers and government officials in 2020.

TikTok

Controversies about TikTok arose in 2020 due to data privacy concerns. Similar social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter aggregate user data; according to The Wall Street Journal, the difference is that TikTok has access to location data and IP addresses for all its users, as well as browsing history, phone contacts, and payment information. TikTok claims it uses such data to enhance the user experience by feeding this information into its algorithm (McMillan et al., 2020). This statement sparked public outrage, which resulted in the U.S. government trying to ban the Chinese-owned app and the Indian government successfully banning it. TikTok has vehemently denied providing any user data to the Chinese government and has complied with legal requests sent to them from a variety of countries.

In TikTok’s semi-annual transparency report, the company acknowledged many of these concerns. TikTok only collects physical addresses and payment information from users who are a part of their creator fund. These users have over 10k followers and 100k views in the last 30 days (Creator Fund | TikTok Creator Portal, 2020). Otherwise, TikTok collects IP addresses to show relevant content to everyone else (Safety Center – Resources, TikTok, 2020). Additionally, TikTok collects browsing data solely from its platform, rather than aggregating search history data from other apps or web browsers. Finally, while the app does not collect phone contacts, it does utilize user phone numbers or emails to create an account (Safety Center – Resources, TikTok, 2020). Although TikTok has been harshly criticized in the media, its executives are taking the steps towards transparency by releasing these reports and actively responding to all government requests to repair the company’s image. To the general public, these actions towards transparency are small in comparison to what companies in similar situations have done. If TikTok wants to be bolder, actively change the narrative, and protect its brand reputation, it needs to issue counter-media campaigns.

SURVEY RESULTS

An online survey investigated how the media and entertainment industry is transforming its relationships with consumers, with a focus on how it builds or loses trust and authenticity. The survey was launched in December 2020 and was open to the public until March 2021. Respondents were briefed with the definitions for trust, authenticity, and transparency. Although these definitions were provided, it is unknown if people internalized them or if they answered the survey questions based on their own definitions. The survey was distributed on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, WeChat, our professional networks, as well as R&C PMK’s network.

The survey received a total of 204 responses. Of these respondents, there were 133 women, 67 men, and 4 nonbinary. Since our primary focus was within the U.S., respondents came from 30 states and 1 territory, and primarily from California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida. Additionally, respondents’ education levels ranged from a high school diploma to doctoral degrees, with most having either a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. The consumer survey was open to all ages and split into six age brackets: 17 and under, 18-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-42, and 43 and above. Ultimately, analysis focused on 2 main brackets — above 43 and younger than 43. It is important to note that the sample is not representative of the US population, oversampling from younger populations.

This figure was produced from our consumer survey (2021). Those 18-24 were equivalent to 34% of respondents, those 25-29 were 31% of respondents, 30-34 were 9%, 35-42 were 4%, and 43 and above were 22%

For the initial survey analysis, Netflix and Amazon were broken down in relation to trust and authenticity. In the survey, consumers were asked to rate on a scale from 1-100 how much they trust brands from a given list of companies. Figure 3 shows that on average, Netflix is the most trusted brand among the surveyed consumers. Analysis indicates consumers trust Netflix over other brands (not just for entertainment brands) because consumers are not required to provide any personal or confidential information to the platform. This is in contrast to Amazon, where users have to provide personal details such as an address, phone number, etc. Also, Netflix’s data usage differs from other companies, such as Amazon, Apple, YouTube, etc. Netflix primarily uses the data to measure consumer taste, allowing the company to more accurately predict consumer interests using collaborative filtering and to offer content options based on past personal selections. Again, this contrasts with other brands which typically collect consumer data to target and re-market their products or services, rather than for consumer interest.

Like the trust question on the survey, consumers were asked on the same 1-100 scale to rate how much they believe brands (from the given list) are authentic in their messaging. As shown in Figure 4, Netflix came out on top once again. From our research, several key factors indicate why Netflix performs so strongly. As the company has built its brand, it has maintained consistency in both messaging and marketing, including a unique voice. When the company moved from its initial model of DVD rentals to streaming in 2007, Netflix was planning to increase prices. However, after backlash from consumers, Netflix listened, adapted, and decided not to raise the price at that time. In summary, Netflix has been consistent in producing original, authentic, personalized experiences (Cyndhia,2020).

The technical term of the “Amazon Effect” refers to Amazon’s disrupting impact on the traditional brick-and-mortar business model (Mitchell, 2021). It is significant to include and focus on Amazon due to it being the largest e-commerce website in the world. According to the survey, the company is not trusted, and its messaging is perceived to not be authentic by some consumers, yet people are still purchasing from the site. For this study, the team is referring to the “Amazon Effect” as it relates to the attributes associated with trust and purchasing from a brand. Research revealed a discrepancy with Amazon, specifically regarding the topic of trust. Industry professionals interviewed expressed trust in Amazon due to the ease of purchasing, reasonable pricing, timely deliveries, and the ability to return products with no questions asked.

The survey asked what attributes consumers consider before purchasing from a company as well as factors consumers consider when trusting a brand. Related to trust, consumers are most concerned with the reliability of the brand, protection of their data, and quality delivery of the product or service. When purchasing from a company, consumers focus on price, product quality, and trust in that brand. Interestingly, data privacy was second to last when considering purchasing from a brand. Nevertheless, data privacy being second to last is not surprising, as Deloitte found 91% of people will accept terms and conditions without reading them; this is even more likely for people ages 18-34 (97%) due to the complexity of the language in such documents (Cakebread, 2017).

Amazon is trustworthy when it comes to its reliability, price, and product quality. However, Amazon has “security shortfalls that expose users’ information to potential breaches, theft, and exploitation” (Manancourt, 2021, para. 1). It seems that the consumer respondents were focused on their data privacy when deciding how much they trust Amazon or how authentic their messaging is. Although there is a lot of mistrust in Amazon as a company as it relates to data privacy and protection, Amazon is still ranked as one of the most valuable brands in the world (Christe, 2019). Consumers are still willing to put their faith in this tech giant as it is convenient, reliable, has great quality products and services, and has great customer service.

Industry Interviews

Through industry interviews, we wanted to gain perspective from brand executives, consultants, and academics to learn how consumers react to trust and authenticity in the media and entertainment industry. From the professionals we spoke with, we were able to discover what companies can do to be even more successful in the marketplace. Additionally, these interviews generated some fascinating insights that supported our survey findings and illuminated more topics to advance our research.

Overall, there were many similar points of view in the interviews. Many interviewees expressed building trust with clients or consumers is the best path to long-term success and agreed that transparency is the best way to breed trust. One interviewee noted trust required understanding a client’s comfort level and asking a lot of questions about past failures. There’s no definitive way to build trust, but what is most important is how a company’s messaging and marketing is genuine and shows it cares about its offerings and its relationship with consumers.

Another similarity found across the interviews is that social factors regarding purchases are very important to consumers. On interviewee said that “word of mouth” is important to consumers and another said that people trust peer reviews. The survey results show that peer-to-peer recommendations (word of mouth) and reviews ranked highest for all age ranges in how powerful these social factors played in their purchasing decisions. Testimonials were the third most popular social factor, but ranked half as important to consumers when compared to reviews and a third as important compared to peer-to-peer recommendations. These results are not surprising, but the category that deserves further analysis is influencers.

It is worth noting that authenticity is also a key component of our project, so each interviewee was asked what they thought their company or others could do to be more authentic. Most of the responses referred to communication, but one response, in particular, was different noting “authenticity is used by influencers as an excuse or validation for success.” This answer is inherently true. The more authentic an influencer is, the more likely they are to secure sponsorships and endorsements.

A second interviewee hit on this topic as well by saying the reason that consumers trust their company’s clients is that it partners clients with authentic influencers who are true to themselves and represent the program or promotion topic. Even though industry professionals interviewed believe celebrities and influencers can impact consumers, the survey results show that 76.1% of respondents say that celebrity or influencer endorsements have little to no effect on their purchasing habits. That does not mean that celebrities or influencers are not trustworthy to consumers; it just means that our respondents claim they are not necessarily swayed by the presence of them. These results are in stark contrast to research conducted by Morning Consult, which found that influencers are still relevant for marketing purposes.

Diversity and Inclusion

Deloitte-owned agency Heat conducted two studies in 2019, one related to diversity in advertising, and one looking at non-LGBTQ+ people and their responses to seeing LGBTQ+ people in advertisements (Bain, 2021). Although we did not specifically ask about diversity in advertisements in our consumer survey, respondents were asked if they have ever made a conscious decision not to purchase a product from a brand because of what the brand stands for. About 84% of respondents indicated that they do make a conscious decision, whereas about 16% said they do not. Even though this statistic is overwhelmingly positive, price and product quality were the two attributes our survey respondents consistently said were most important when purchasing from a brand or company.

The example of Dubsmash, a music-centric social media platform, is illustrative of a new company that is successfully meeting the demand for diversity. Barrie Segal, Global Head of Content at Dubsmash, explained that Dubsmash is a home for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of color) creators (B. Segal, personal communication, March 3, 2021). A few years ago Dubsmash’s audience shifted to non-white, and specifically black teenagers. The users gravitated to the platform because of dance, and Dubsmash decided to retain that audience (B. Segal, personal communication, March 3, 2021).

Since Dubsmash is a similar app to TikTok, it was of interest to find out why users would choose Dubsmash over the most downloaded app of 2020. The answer had a lot to do with representation. In other words, users were interested in seeing popular creators on the platform that look like them. An NBC News article highlighted, “Despite the issues surrounding race on TikTok, Black creators said they're undeterred in finding ways to thrive despite feeling they have to work twice as hard as their white counterparts” (Rosenblatt, 2021, para. 14). Tia Tyree, Communications Professor at Harvard University, said that Black people have always been trendsetters in America, which correlates with Segal’s observation that many dance challenges were created on Dubsmash first and then copied by TikTok creators (Rosenblatt, 2021, para, 19, B. Segal, personal communication, March 3, 2021). Diversity and inclusion tend to be something that people care about, but it also tends to be overlooked when it matters most.

Generational Differences

The survey revealed that when combined, Gen Z and Millennials have different behavioral patterns compared to Gen X and Baby Boomers. Using the information from the survey question about trusting brands revealed, perhaps, why certain brands were favored by the different generations.

Gen Z and younger Millennials (those 18-29) tend to be more skeptical about heavy data usage and its impact on privacy by brands such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook compared to Gen X and Baby Boomers (those 43 and above). According to our survey, those 18-24 are less likely to understand data collection than those 25 and older, making them more vulnerable to data privacy concerns. This relates to our earlier mention of 91% of people in general and 97% of people 18-34 not reading terms and conditions. Gen Z and Millennials, on average, spend anywhere from 1-10 hours on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok and 1-5 hours on YouTube per day/week/month. On the other hand, those 43 and above spend anywhere from no time at all to less than 1 hour per day/week/month on these platforms.

However, even though Facebook was the least trusted and also found to have the least authentic messaging in our survey across all age groups, consumers still spend on average 1-5 hours on Facebook each week. When it comes to streaming, on average, consumers tend to spend anywhere from 1-10 hours on Netflix, either no time or 1-5 hours on Hulu and HBO Max, no time or less than 1 hour on Peacock, and anywhere from no time to 10 hours on Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video per day/week/month. Since these numbers are a little low, we are not sure that the respondents were completely honest when filling out the survey.

Influencers Study

In our survey, respondents said they trusted influencers the least, with the average trust of them being 1.93 (on a scale of one to five, five being the highest). When broken into age groups, those between 30-34 ranked their average trust of influencers at 2.47, which was the highest average. That’s a 27.98% increase from the total average. This is intriguing because the average person would assume Gen Z would have the highest average in this category, given that they are early adopters of technology and have an easier time formulating relationships with creators.

Conversely to our survey, a report conducted by Morning Consult found that Gen Z trusted influencers and celebrities more than other generations when it comes to promoting products (Morning Consult, 2019). To ensure these results were not skewed, we cross-referenced it with our question about how celebrity or influencer endorsements affect a consumers’willingness to purchase from a brand. Of respondents between the ages of 30-34, 36.8% said celebrity or influencer endorsements affect their willingness to make a purchase a moderate amount or more, whereas respondents between the ages of 18-24 said the same at a slightly lower rate (32.8%). This shows that there is some significance in how the power of celebrities and influencers can transcend age groups. The results found by Edelman and Morning Consult show influencers resonate more with Gen Z. Even though we did not get the same definitive results, our data shows that influencers and celebrities make an impact on Gen Z and Millennials more than other generations. These insights should be utilized by media and entertainment brands and companies to leverage the impact of marketing campaigns.

It is not a coincidence that the younger generations see value in an influencer because, unlike celebrities, being an influencer is much more attainable, so the creator comes across as more authentic and relatable. There are more than 50 million people who consider themselves creators today (Constine, Yuan, 2020). The level of influence a creator has can range from nano-influencers (1,000-10,000 followers) to mega-influencers (1 million+ followers) (What Are Mid-Tier Influencers? Qualities, Partnerships, & More, 2019).

The competitive advantage of being an influencer is financial independence. The unattainability of being an A-list celebrity is not reflected in influencer culture or the creator economy because anyone can become a creator and monetize their talent. That is why people of various age groups are deciding to become influencers. A prime example of an influencer who is perceived as very authentic by her audience is Charli D’Amelio. When Charli and Dunkin’ Donuts partnered together, Dunkin’ was able to create an organic relationship and capitalize on Charli’s popularity and her love of coffee. When they released “The Charli,” Dunkin’ received a 57% increase in app downloads and had little investment effort as they were able to market Charli’s signature drink order, rather than having to create a new product (Cook, 2021, p. 40).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on our findings and guidance from the Keller Model, we believe that the best way for companies and brands to build trust is to do the following: leverage authentic thought leadership, make use of a credible spokesperson(s), issue counter-media campaigns, and conduct
sentiment analysis that is powered by machine learning.

1. It is important to leveraging the brand’s Senior Leadership and CEO. Consumers are expecting CEOs to speak about societal challenges and hold themselves accountable. By putting the CEO and Senior Leadership at the forefront of the brand and being transparent about what the brand stands for, it can create a sense of trust for consumers.

2. In addition, it is important to leverage a credible spokesperson, depending on the demographic the brand is targeting. If brands are targeting Gen Z or Millennials, we suggest using influencer marketing as this age group tends to be on social media, and following or listening to influencers. By leveraging authentic influencers, it can be easier to reach those audiences and get higher conversion rates to create brand trust. If brands are targeting Gen X or Baby Boomers, brands should focus more on industry experts, as they can leverage their expertise both on and offline.

3. There are times when companies may be scrutinized with negative publicity. The key to being believed is to focus on authentic, direct communication with consumers. If an issue occurs and the news reaches beyond a company or brand’s target audience, the brand should implement counter-media campaigns to reclaim the narrative and protect its reputation.

4. Donducting a sentiment analysis that is powered by machine learning. While many companies have already been conducting a sentiment analysis manually, the team is suggesting using Machine Learning/Natural Language Processing (ML/NLP) to analyze it. This can be beneficial for several reasons: provides a quicker analysis, assists during a crisis, allows for better decision-making, returns bias-free and objective results, and generates easy-to-understand reports.

Overall, following these four recommendations as the best practices will build trust in a brand. In order to do this, a company should be authentic with consumers and be transparent about what the brand is and what the brand stands for. To transform a brand through these practices, we’ve developed the following equation: Trust + Authenticity + Transparency = Transformation.

This research was important to understand and investigate the trust in the relationship between entertainment brands and consumer culture. We found that marrying trust with authenticity and transparency leads to transformation. Through this process, media and entertainment brands can build lifelong customer/user satisfaction and loyalty.

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