THE CHALLENGE

A global retailer operating in a fast-moving market needed a clear and consistent way to measure how communications impacted two key goals: building trust and increasing sales. The team needed to prove the business value of communications with reliable data, understand which messages were most effective in building trust, and move beyond basic metrics like reach and engagement to better guide strategy and investment decisions.

THE APPROACH

We created a custom measurement framework to prove how communications influenced trust and how trust impacted sales. The approach combined trust expertise, advanced analytics, and behavioral science to quantify how media coverage and messaging affected both brand perception and revenue.

Using a custom econometric model, we were able to isolate the impact of earned and owned channels on trust and link changes in trust directly to sales performance. This approach turned trust and communications activity into a measurable business KPI directly tied to business results, and identified which messages and channels to optimize to drive the biggest impact going forward.

THE OUTCOME

The work proved a clear link between communications, trust, and revenue, showing that trust directly drives sales. Earned media generated €180M in incremental sales impact in FY25 — a 50% increase year over year.

The framework also drove smarter investment decisions by showing which messages, channels, and narratives delivered the strongest results.