We live and work in a world where a single tweet can trigger significant reputational damage — to people and to brands. That’s partly because social media and other technology help information and ideas spread around the world faster now than at any other time in human history. The benefit of increasing the reach and speed of our interconnectivity is also resulting in an increasingly polarized and unforgiving landscape where media and public opinion are deeply divided by political extremes and social intolerance.

For businesses, today’s complex issues landscape creates challenges. But it also presents opportunities.

Companies are feeling pressure to take a stand on a wide range of divisive issues. Taking a stand can pose risks to business continuity, share price and corporate reputation. However, our research found that consumers don’t expect companies to act on and fix everything, but more specifically those issues most under their control. Three out of four consumers globally expect CEOs in particular to take a stand on issues that have an impact on the company’s customers (74%), products and services (72%), and employees (71%).

Companies that engage authentically on issues that are aligned with their business objectives can enhance their financial performance, strengthen their connections to consumers and make themselves more attractive to top talent. To get to that point — where corporate values and purpose guide policy and practice — takes time, careful thought and a fully integrated approach.

If silence is no longer golden and brands are expected to be part of the conversation and part of the solution: What issue(s) should you focus on? When and how should you respond? How do you decide?

Our approach is grounded in four principles that are essential to managing reputation today: 1) staying socially attuned, 2) being transparent and accountable, 3) ensuring alignment across relevant business and communications functions and 4) preparing for potential negative impacts. This leads to informed decisions and positions that are true to a company’s values.

Download FleishmanHillard’s Authenticity Gap Report from our dedicated report page here.

Retailers are expecting record spending at the start of the 2019 school year given the nation’s growing economy. The National Retail Federation reports that total spending between K-12 and college shoppers is predicted to reach $80.7 billion. So, who is buying what?

1. Gen Z is spending more of their own money on back-to-school shopping. Rather than leaving it to mom or dad, teens and pre-teens are making product decisions, mostly on clothing and accessories, and are willing to spend their own cash. Each teen will spend an average of $36.71 and each pre-teen $26.40.
2. College students want to show their spirit! Spending on college-branded items has increased 17% year over year. College goers will spend an average of $66.22 each on collegiate gear. However, the college shoppers will spend the most on electronics, followed by clothing and accessories, dorm and apartment furnishings and food items.
3. Fundamentals matter. Deloitte’s 2019 back-to-school survey showed that (regardless of shopping age) consumers are crystal clear on their top three purchase motivations: 1) price 2) product and 3) convenience. Most start shopping four to six weeks before school starts, but they are willing to wait for the highest discount.
4. Brick-and-mortar stores are still winning. Among back-to-school shoppers, 88% plan to visit brick-and-mortar mass-market retailers. Rounding out the other top four retailers are online, dollar stores, specialty retailers and off-price.
5. Going back to school also means giving back. Thirty-one percent of consumers plan to donate school supplies and other needed items while they are doing their own back-to-school shopping — in fact, around $51 per family.

Think about the last decision you made about something you knew would impact your organization’s reputation. Was it based on years of experience and good instincts?

If so, you likely missed the mark.

For years, we have forged our craft and our careers with the lessons we learned through hard-won experience. But that collection of experiences is singular to us as individuals.

Today, the best in our industry don’t make decisions based on experience and gut instinct. They counsel with data and insights. None of us has the breadth of experiences to fully prepare an executive, or an entire company, for how to behave in these very polarized times.

It’s against that backdrop that we introduce this year’s Authenticity Gap Study, which explores consumers’ views on today’s most discussed topics and trends from six points around the globe (China, Germany, UK, Brazil, Canada and the U.S.). We also unpack consumers’ expectations and their experiences with more than 300 companies in nearly 30 industries.

With an established track record of doing this study, I thought I had pretty good instincts for what we’d find. Once again, there is no substitution for real data to better understand the world around us. Included here are just a few of the headlines we’ve found interesting.

WHERE AND WHEN TO TAKE A STAND:
There has been much written this past year about how and when companies are taking a stand on societal issues. Turns out, the issues consumers most care about (and it varies quite a bit by country) isn’t exactly the same list as the issues where consumers expect companies to speak out. Driven by a sense of realism, consumers know companies can’t fix everything, but they expect them to be most active on those issues most under their control.

WHO’S A GREAT EMPLOYER?:
Engaged consumers care about a company’s employees. How businesses treat their workers has skyrocketed up the list of consumers’ concerns. When it comes to employers being a great place to work, offering experiences to develop skills and pursue new career opportunities skyrockets upward as engaged consumers put it at the top of their list. In fact, employees may have turned the expectations of how companies treat their employees on their head, as having flexibility for greater work/life balance now comes in last.

HOW TO PLAY IN A NEW SPACE:
Today, when companies expand into new industry segments, they are asking what it takes to win the hearts and minds of consumers in a space where they don’t have a track record. The answer from consumers: Demonstrate a greater positive impact on society than the incumbent companies when launching a new product or service. Consumers believe that for a company to be more credible than competitors, it must talk about how its leaders behave and how the company impacts society and the environment, not just the product benefits it offers.

CEOS, DON’T MAKE IT PERSONAL:
We see a growing tide in companies engaging more in societal issues and more notoriety around the personality of CEOs. But consumers don’t want CEOs to mingle the two. They don’t care about the personal views of the CEO, but rather how he or she is activating the company to show what the company does and doesn’t value.

TELL THE COMPLETE STORY:
While most companies want to spend most of their time and resources talking about what they sell, consumers say less than half of their perceptions of a company are shaped by its products and services. The other half is shaped by information on how leadership behaves and how the company is having an impact on society. People, not products, are what consumers care about. They want to know how companies are:

• Understanding customers’ unique needs
• Reducing their impact on climate change/environment
• Impacting consumers’ health and well-being
• Taking care of their employees

It can be easy to think that conducting a little bit of research is a luxury only suited for large initiatives. But smart insights can save you money and avoid market-share-eroding crises down the road, by ensuring you understand the very different expectations of your very different audiences. So, the question becomes, are you willing to stake your company and your own reputation on your gut instinct?

Download FleishmanHillard’s Authenticity Gap Report from our dedicated report page here.

We’ve all seen or heard the stats about how unprepared Americans are for retirement, and frankly, they are scary. It’s no secret that there’s a growing problem with Americans’ retirement funds and savings overall, but solutions require more than simply telling people to save more. Each generation experiences its own set of issues and challenges – including large sums of credit card debt, massive student loan balances, stagnant wages, underemployment and rising housing costs in many urban areas.

Additionally, the long-term effects of the Great Recession are still with us, both in terms of personal financial outcomes, as well as emotional scars – much like the lasting effects that the generation that lived through the Great Depression experienced. However, as we’ve seen through the work of many of our banking clients, with a little financial literacy and the courage to take small steps to address these challenges, we can all eventually become better at saving, and in turn, have more stable financial futures.

A look at the problem

A recent study by Northwestern Mutual found that 21% of Americans have nothing saved for retirement and another 10% have less than $5,000 in savings. Equally alarming is that one-third of Baby Boomers currently in or approaching retirement age have between $0 and $25,000 set aside.

Figures from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) are even more daunting. The numbers were even worse for Millennials, with more than two-thirds having no retirement savings at all.

These numbers are a big reason why the financial services industry runs awareness campaigns encouraging people to save more. These firms collectively spend millions of dollars on financial literacy programs to help educate people about the problem, make them feel more secure in their financial decision-making and inspire them to act. Granted, it is also in these companies’ best interest for people to save and use their accounts, services and mutual funds to help manage their assets and generate fees, but they are also trying to be part of the solution to a growing problem.

Small solutions lead to big rewards

So, how do we tackle this problem when many financial advisors believe that the average 65-year-old should have between $1 million and $1.5 million saved for retirement to maintain a reasonable standard of living? To many that seems like a huge number that is completely out of reach. Many experts in behavioral finance will tell you when a financial goal seems out of reach, that instead of trying, many give up and don’t make the sustained effort it takes to move the needle – even when it is in their own best interest.

Below are a few things to keep in mind that demonstrate incremental steps can make a big difference over time:

1. The Power of Compounding: Saving $1 million can seem like an impossible task. However, if you put just $3,000 a year into an IRA and invest it in a S&P 500 index fund, and that fund generates just an 8% annual return (which the index has averaged since 1988, even factoring in the Great Recession) you will have $1,069,000 at age 65. So, it is possible, but if you wait until age 32 to start saving the same $3,000 a year, you’ll only have $473,000 at age 65. Starting early can turn a molehill into a mountain … of cash.

2. The Power of Tiny Behavior Changes: Many people are strapped and can’t think of where they would come up with $3,000 a year to put into an IRA. Start with tracking your spending. Find out where you are spending your money today and the changes you can make to reach your objective. Say, for example, you spend $2 a day on a morning coffee and $10 on lunch on work days. If you can brew your morning coffee at home and bring a lunch you would save roughly $10 a day or $50 a week. Over the course of a year that would be about $2,500 – you have now nearly reached your goal and haven’t really had to make too drastic a change. Imagine where else you could turn wasteful spending into savings if you kept track.

3. The Power of Financial Apps: There are tools aplenty, and many are free. A quick visit to the App Store and a search of financial tools produces a treasure trove of online financial assistance. There are apps for budgeting, banking, education and investing. Investing through several online apps can put the power of buying stocks, bonds or mutual funds in your hands with real-time quotes and instant trade execution. In addition, the fees and account minimums for online trading are approaching zero, with some firms already using that approach. It has never been easier for an investor with a relatively small amount of capital to participate in building long-term wealth.

Two famous quotes taken together really sum this up. Ben Franklin is oft-quoted that “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Albert Einstein, by varying accounts, either called compound interest “the most powerful force in the world,” or “the eighth wonder of the world.” It can be pretty amazing to see how quickly those saved pennies can turn into dollars that can multiply themselves – and with enough time create a meaningful nest egg for you and your loved ones. The good news is that today there are more resources than ever to help you on your journey of financial literacy.

Tomorrow, many consumers will be taking advantage of National Lazy Day. Couches will be surfed and screens – this includes phones, tablets and TVs – will be lit up. For brands, this means more opportunities for exposure, higher engagement and awareness in consumers’ homes, as more and more individuals opt for In Your Home (IYH) experiences over In Real Life (IRL) ones.

Here, FleishmanHillard’s Brand and Consumer Marketing experts dive into the ways brands can win over consumers this National Lazy Day – IYH vs. IRL.

From Sidelines to Screens: Staying Relevant in the Streaming Era

In this era, where consumers are binge-watching or cheering on their favorite teams from the comfort of their own couches, brands are having to find unique and tailored ways to get in front of their audiences on the platform of choice.

Streaming and subscription-based services have skyrocketed during the past few years and have quickly become the solution to Millennial (and neighboring generations) desires for quality content, cost and –  the big one – convenience.

With streaming increasingly becoming the cultural norm, the reality is that for modern-day consumers, some of the biggest events in entertainment now take place in their homes and on their couches. And can you blame them? Accounting for expensive tickets, transportation and food, not to mention the long lines and cramped seats, it’s no wonder they’re gathering their squad at home for unlimited chips, dips and viewing options. The champions of the IRL roar of a stadium, the laughter in a theater or the chest-rattling bass of your favorite band are dwindling as live streaming creates more tailored options for the at-home viewer – 45% of whom said they would pay for live, exclusive or on-demand video from a favorite team, speaker or performer.

With no escaping the influence that streaming now has, brands need to identify broadcasted moments that fit their values, generate relevant, attention-getting content, and seek out audiences that see eye-to-eye.

Our on-demand lifestyles are now, more than ever, defined by what we can access. But how does a seemingly endless library of curated content impact what we choose to watch, listen to and experience IRL? As we explore this new cultural norm – the duality of experiencing entertainment IRL vs. IYH – it’s important to look at the human truths and brand implications associated with this shift.

Sports, movies, shows, music – these are all forms of streamable at-home experiences that have joined the cultural shift. As consumers increasingly take advantage of their “lazy days,” we’ll continue to see brands form creative partnerships, sponsor activations, encourage live social sharing and promote on-screen engagements in order to stay relevant with these two co-existing forms of entertainment – IRL and IYH.

Madison Wood, a member of the Brand Marketing practice in our Dallas office, also contributed to this piece.