Top Strategic Communication Trends: Brand Transparency & AI

1 Industry Trends University of Maryland Global Campus DCL 600: Decisive Thinking, Communicating, and Leading Prof. William Denny Oct 16, 2020

2 Industry Trends Findings My industry of study is the Strategic Communication industry and what it focuses on is managing and guiding brands and organizations in decision making and setting up new policy for and between organizations to aid its industry in fulfilling its mission. Based on my research, the three top trends within the strategic communication industry would be brand transparency, political affiliation, and artificial intelligence (Park, & Ki, 2017, p.9). My questions relates to the brand transparency trend and it is, how much of an impact does brand transparency have over brand truth, and what are the policies or implementations someone from the strategic communication industry put in place to carry out the vision within this trend? Top Trends of the Strategic Communication Industry Brand Transparency Brand transparency is the top trend of the strategic communication industry because it has shown to be most effective in driving the organization or brand’s integrity. Surveys show that more than 90% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to an organization that goes to great lengths to show its integrity to its product, and its commitment to their consumers (Cambier, & Poncin, 2020, para. 9). Consumers want to feel that what they are purchasing was made in good faith. That good faith is affected by the transparency of the brand when scandals occur, consumer trust is damaged by company breaches, or simple wrongdoings that require companies to issue public apologies. The transparency of the brand to its consumers in these moments can go a long way and its why brand transparency is the number one trend.

3 Political Affiliation Political affiliation is the number two trend in strategic communications and has a lot to do with the current climate of the consumer market today. It’s very obvious we are in a deeply divided society which has resulted in a deeper passion in political involvement. In the 2018 midterm elections, the nation had the highest voter turnout in over a century with over 113 million people who voted (Post, 2018, para. 2). This is important because consumers are making purchases from companies that reflect similar values to their own and brands are making political stances that result in large impacts on their market and consumers (Jung, & Mittal, 2020, para. 12). As the society become more polarized, brands will increasingly consult with the strategic communication industry on stepping out of the neutral zone and taking stronger stands on political issues. Their stance will have great impacts and long lasting effects of their organization which is why political affiliation is an important trend for strategic communicators. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the third trend in the strategic communication industry because it, of all the trends, directly simplifies the consumer experience with the product being offered by the company. AI is not just robots and self-driving cars, but it is also things such as dating applications that automatically find compatible matches, website chat virtual assistants, or recommendations from streaming platforms (Kietzmann, Paschen, & Treen, 2018, p. 264). The reason AI is a trend for strategic communicators is because it’s not beneficial for a company to just try products and use the consumers as lab rats because if the product fails, they risk losing the consumer. Strategic communicators aid in locating what is the consumers issues that can be corrected or streamlined with AI and what is the company or brand’s bottom line and how technology can impact it in a positive way.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 Important Emerging issue in Brand Transparency An important emerging issue with the brand transparency trend is transparency versus truth. Transparency versus truth is an emerging issue because there is a large gray area between a brand being transparent and forthcoming with the consumer about the product being purchased and fostering higher brand affinity, and being truthful about a product in regards to what and how it was made and only offering the necessary minimum of what it requires to market and sell. A great example of transparency versus truth would be the current state of the world we live in today with coronavirus, or Covid-19, spreading to every corner of the planet over the past year and health officials and leaders releasing information regarding the virus to the public. Although coronavirus is not a brand or something being marketed by a company or organization, it is still a highlight of the issues that emerge between being truthful about something versus being transparent about something. Truth is very minimal and can be subjective because what my truth is today may not be my truth tomorrow if more information or clarity is obtained that causes my truth to shift. Meanwhile, transparency covers what is true and untrue because it blankets the issue and offers transparency to what is known to be true and what may be unknown or still being studied for further information. The issue with using only truth is obviously withholding information that may be beneficial to the safety of the consumer. However the same issue arises with transparency which is releasing too much information about what is unknown for the sake of being transparent with the consumer and causing more harm than help (Tsetsura & Aziz, 2018, p. 181). We see both sides of this issue earlier in the year when coronavirus was still somewhat new and information was being learned about it. On one hand, there were some scientist and health officials who knew

5 the truth of what the virus could become and shared that truth but was not transparent with the fact that they did not know everything yet which caused many not to take precautions seriously and has led to the further spread of the virus. On the other hand there were scientist and health officials who were completely transparent about the coronavirus and sent the country into a frenzy where resources where scarce and the economy took a negative hit for months on end to the point where some individuals and businesses may never recover. This is the emerging issue as it relates to transparency versus truth. When is too much transparency or not enough truth a bad thing, and how do you determine the healthy medium between the two? Overall, brand transparency has the greatest impact over brand truth because being transparent, in a sense, covers what is already true. Consumers are not interested in empty facts based on truth but instead want to be secure in the fact that their investment to the product supports who they are and what they value. This brings me to my research question in regards to brand transparency which is, how much of an impact does brand transparency have over brand truth, and what are the policies or implementations someone from the strategic communication industry put in place to carry out the vision within this trend? Brand transparency holds more weight in the eyes of the consumer than brand truth because transparency will cover more than truth alone. Transparency encompasses the credibility of the brand and allows consumers to see past the product into the company’s integrity and trustworthiness (Cambier, & Poncin, 2020, pg. 260). It is even possible for a consumer not to be satisfied with the truth of a product but will still go with it because they believe in the integrity of the company who created it and are loyal to the brand itself. A strategic communicators job is to carry out the vision of being transparent by fostering innovative communication strategies for the company and implementing new avenues for a brand to be

6 authentic to its consumers. What this looks like is not waiting until the scandal happens before brand information is shared with the consumer and creating multiple avenues for consumers to learn more about the product and details of the company. Whether it be website links, company tours, or special labeling with brand facts. The objective for the strategic communicator is to explore the avenues and resources within the competitive market to communicate to the consumer that the brand can be trusted and is transparent to its consumers. Conclusion In summary, the three top trends within the strategic communication industry is brand transparency, political affiliation, and artificial intelligence. Within brand transparency, an emerging issue that was discovered was transparency versus truth and how it creates a gray area in relation the trust of the consumer and the integrity of the company. Both are important to the trend but research shows brand transparency is what fosters loyalty between a company and its consumers. A strategic communicators job is to create avenues and resources that allow for the brand to be more transparent to the consumer without causing harm by offering information that can be deemed destructive to the public.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

7 References Cambier, F., & Poncin, I. (2020). Inferring brand integrity from marketing communications: The effects of brand transparency signals in a consumer empowerment context. Journal of Business Research, 109 , 260–270. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.060 Jung, J., & Mittal, V. (2020). Political identity and the consumer journey: A research review. Journal of Retailing, 96 (1), 55–73. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.1016/j.jretai.2019.09.003 Kietzmann, J., Paschen, J., & Treen, E. (2018). Artificial intelligence in advertising: How marketers can leverage artificial intelligence along the consumer journey. Journal of Advertising Research, 58 (3), 263–267. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.2501/JAR- 2018-035 Park, H., & Ki, E. (2017). Current trends in advertising, public relations, integrated marketing communication and strategic communication education. Public Relations Journal , 1-12. https://doaj.org/article/f0da473d5e4d470393aeec35e017076f Post, C. (2018). “The most crucial election of our lifetime?”--The 2018 US midterm elections. Brooklyn Rail , 1–11. http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=hsi&AN=135883550&site=eds-live&scope=site

8 Tsetsura, K., & Aziz, K. (2018). Toward professional standards for media transparency in the United States: Comparison of perceptions of non-transparency in national vs. regional media. Public Relations Review , 44(1), 180–190. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.06.008

WashingtonD-IndustryTrends

Related Documents