On Edelman’s trust barometer

Every year Edelman PR commissions a survey of opinion leaders in 18 countries, measuring the degree of trust they have in business, government, media and NGOs.

As in other polls and lists, it’s interesting but not very useful to most firms targeting specific segments. You wouldn’t want to bet your marketing strategy on this study.

What is very significant, though, is that this poll acknowledges the influence of peers, “average employees” and “people like me.” It’s not just the elite that influencer. As David Brain, president and CEO, Edelman Europe, says:

“The growing trust in ‘people like me’ and average employees means that companies must design their communications as much on the horizontal or the peer-to-peer axis as on the vertical or top-down axis. CEOs should continue to talk with elites, such as investors and regulators, but also provide critical information to employees and enthusiastic consumers who spur the peer-to-peer discussion. Third parties with credentials, like academics and physicians, are also critical.”

It’s significant not because of what it says – it basically echoes the point of this blog and of Influencer50’s business model – but of who says it. Edelman is one of the world’s big PR firms and as such is clearly trying to get its head around the impact on its business of reaching out to new and diverse communities, while not incurring the wrath of the blogosphere. It’s had a couple of crises already (Walmart, Microsoft), but at least it’s trying.