Marketers must adapt to a new reality: Purpose has evolved from we to me. This is the central finding of the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust, From We to Me. Over the past decade, brands have championed societal causes to earn relevance and loyalty, but today consumers need economic hope and personal stability. Across age, income, or politics, respondents in 15 markets on 5 continents agree that they depend on brands to be active partners in a better day to day life. Instead of changing the world, consumers want brands to change my world.
Eighty percent of people trust My Brands, placing it far ahead of the traditional institutions of business, government, media, and NGOs. This is driven by the stunning rise in trust in brands in general among both High and Low-Income consumers since 2022. Trust now equals price and quality as a purchase consideration. Consumers have a hunger for active brands in their lives: Among the most important jobs for brands are “Me Factors” such as “Make Me Feel Good” (68%), “Give Me Optimism” (62%) and “Teach and Educate Me” (59%). The “We” factors are important but additive, namely “Help Me Do Good” (61%) and “Provide Me with Community” (51%).
Trust has emerged as the new decisive factor in marketing because the consumer has endured a series of hammer blows in the past five years, from COVID-19 to global conflicts to surging global inflation. A majority of respondents under age 45 say they have skipped meals, lost a job, or otherwise experienced financial distress in the past year. Three quarters of people worldwide worry that tariffs and trade wars will drive up prices of everyday goods. Brand nationalism dominates the developed world, with Germany, Canada, France, the UK, the U.S., and Japan all 20+ points more trusting of brands headquartered at home rather than abroad. Gen Z continues to struggle, moving from the enforced isolation of COVID to the new challenge of AI eliminating entry-level jobs. These many challenges are why consumers need brands to give them hope and optimism more than political signaling.
Trust in brands fits into a broader picture of an evolving trust ecosystem, where trust is local. The consumer depends on close relationships with my employer, my doctor, my peers, my information sources, and my brands. Consumers can hold brands accountable in a way that they cannot with traditional institutions, giving them control and power. Trust must be earned over time by brand action, which translates into sales and market share gains. Brands that feel it best to put their head down and wait out this period are mistaken because the majority of respondents say if a brand stays silent on societal issues, they assume the brand is doing nothing or hiding something.
The active brand doesn’t just speak; it shows up through tangible actions. Here are five ways to deliver on this new strategy:
- Start with the personal. Brands need to deliver on Me Factors such as “Make Me Feel Good”, “Give Me Optimism”, and “Teach and Educate Me”. The We Factors of “Help Me Do Good” and “Provide Me With Community” are important but additive.
- Go peer to peer. Communicate through local voices. Relevance is earned through peers, community networks, and on-the-ground creators who shape culture.
- Go bottom up. Global entities need to take a multilocal approach, beating country brands at their own game. Purpose is effective when it’s local: Play a part in the happiness of the people and places that mean the most to me.
- Win in the GEO vs SEO battle. Generative AI is tailored to and in the language of My World in a way the traditional search simply isn’t. Gen AI results are driven by mainstream media, which feeds the models. This is the new Golden Era of Earned.
- Be a source of optimism. Consumers want to see what their better future looks like, and they want brands to play a practical role in it.
This Edelman Trust Barometer data highlights a pivotal moment in brand leadership. Trust has conventionally been seen as a matter of corporate reputation. In this moment, it’s emerged as a battleground for brand competitive advantage. There’s a third axis for corporate strategists: Just like brands need to compete on price and quality to win customers, they must compete on trust.
At Cannes, we celebrate creativity, its power to move culture, unlock belief and drive business outcomes. Brands should center campaigns on the benefits to the individual, providing reasons for real optimism about the central parts of life: my family, my job, my community. This is a compelling leadership opportunity to not just build brands, but to deliver on personal security and wellbeing. Given that trust is the most valuable currency for brands, this is our creative brief as an industry.
