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From Adriana Stan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n As we get into cars with complete strangers, sleep in the beds of people we\u2019ve never met and lend money to others on the other side of the world, a powerful new currency is emerging \u2014 and it\u2019s based on trust.<\/p>\n What\u2019s striking about the shared economy is not the\u00a0technology that has\u00a0made it possible, but the\u00a0vast changes it has triggered in society. It has brought a renewed sense of community, engendered more collaboration, sparked new thinking and put a premium on trust, tapping into a need that transcends boundaries and is still rife with opportunity.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not working to build and demonstrate it, then the future\u00a0might be about to leave you behind, as trust is quickly becoming the global \u2014 and most-valued \u2014\u00a0currency of modern time.<\/p>\n Trust was once an expensive pursuit. Banks were built from luxurious materials in bold architectural forms, with sturdy marble pillars and adornments to provide the most powerful declarations of solidity, tradition and trustworthiness \u2014 and to project a sense of enduring history. \u201cYou can trust us \u2014 look how much money we can spend on our buildings!\u201d<\/p>\n Trust, more than anything, came from being purposefully wasteful.<\/p>\n Just as banks spent big money on marble columns, anything in TV commercials exuded an aura of quality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Likewise, expensive educations from Ivy League schools represented not just a level of intellect or achievement, but an aura of excellence one can derive from investing in a trusted academic institution that came with a built-in reputation. It signified the social status and financial ability to spend more than necessary to be part of an elite group, and, like a stamp of approval,\u00a0projected specific qualities to potential employers.<\/p>\n And think about the hospitality industry. Historically, hotels\u00a0found success through standardization \u2014 guaranteeing a level of comfort and quality under an umbrella brand or chain, often built on emblems of safety, trust and tradition.<\/p>\n This has all changed. Today, we are prepared to place our lives in the hands of people we know nothing about. We\u2019ve taken our most visceral fear of the unknown and cast it aside in a matter of months.<\/p>\n What\u2019s empowered this shift in values is the\u00a0codification of reputation \u2014 it\u2019s the five stars next to people\u2019s names that make it possible to trust someone we otherwise know nothing about. And it\u2019s transforming the way we live: From riding in an UberX<\/a> to staying in an Airbnb<\/a>; from buying or selling handmade products on Etsy<\/a> to peer-to-peer loans; from hiring someone on Upwork<\/a> or TaskRabbit<\/a> to booking home cleaners on Handy<\/a> or renting a car on Turo<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similarly, we\u2019re seeing a codification of influence and status, the result of which is also trust. The recommendations you receive on LinkedIn and the connections you share with a potential employer can determine whether you get the job. And your Instagram presence \u2014 specifically, earning the \u201cendorsement\u201d of high-profile followers\u00a0\u2014 determines your next date, if what you seek is a membership on Raya, a new dating app that prides itself on fostering an intimate community of celebrities and creative people.<\/p>\n Reputation is now carried by a new system, which takes rather elusive notions of credibility, influence and status and turns them into measurable scores. It\u2019s \u201cdigitizing\u201d relationships and social connections, extracting value and insights from our associations and both codifying\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0commodifying\u00a0<\/em>trust \u2014 signifying it and selling it.<\/p>\n PR, marketing and advertising campaigns have long looked to assert signs of quality, establish credibility and\u00a0give buyers reasons to\u00a0believe\u00a0in them.<\/p>\n What\u2019s striking about the shared economy is not the technology that has made it possible, but the vast changes it has triggered in society.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n As consumers, we used to trust that a recognizable hotel brand must provide a great guest experience \u2014 otherwise, it wouldn\u2019t have been able to build its name.<\/p>\n In fact, in the pre-digital age, the advertising that helped build brands was expensive, and that was key. Just as banks spent big money on marble columns,\u00a0anything in TV commercials exuded an aura of quality, stemming from the feeling that advertising had a high production value and air time was limited.<\/p>\n Compare that to today\u2019s decentralized and fragmented media landscape, and we see the challenges for brands. What becomes of brand-driven trust when we read news stories that our friends like and share with us, buy products because of reviews on Amazon and stay at hotels we find tagged on Instagram?<\/p>\n The very notion of branding is rapidly changing.<\/p>\nThe \u201ccodification\u201d of trust<\/h2>\n
Re-thinking branding around trust<\/h2>\n