On 20th May, Oystercatchers held their third Oystercatchers Club evening of 2014. The focus of the evening was on 'Brands Building Trust'.
We brought together a top panel of speakers to debate the hot topic of how brands build and rebuild trust.
The panel which Suki Thompson, CEO, Oystercatchers chaired was made up of:
Alistair Macrow, S.V.P. Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's
Benny Higgins, CEO, Tesco Bank
Steve Parish, Chairman, Crystal Palace Football Club
Johnny Hornby, Founding Partner, CHI & Partners
Here are the take outs from the evening...
2. Brands Building Trust
Alistair Macrow
S.V.P. CMO
McDonald's
Benny Higgins
CEO
Tesco Bank
Johnny Hornby
Founder
The&Partnership
Steve Parish
Chairman
Crystal Palace Football Club
Suki Thompson
CEO
Oystercatchers
Chair
3. Takeaway 1: Two components of trust
• The last five years have seen an undermining of trust between
customers and a wide range of businesses and institutions
• For example, the impact of the 2008 crash on banking, the horsemeat
scandal on food retailers and fuel price rises on energy suppliers
• In a recent study by Tesco Bank it suggested that there are two core
components of trust: Effective Trust and Transactional Trust
• Effective Trust: Does this business put the customer’s interests before
their own interest?
• Transactional Trust: Does the customer get what they have been
promised?
• Tesco Bank score highly on Transactional trust, and less well on
Effective Trust; while the reverse is true for the retailer
4. Takeaway 1: Two components of trust
‘The moment of truth is Transactional Trust-
what happens at the moment we hand the
burger over. The person behind the counter is
paid a fair wage. The burgers are 100% British
and Irish beef. The lettuce comes from Kent.
But if the lettuce is falling out of the bun then
all that is lost’ ’ Alistair Macrow
‘Terry Leahy said ‘What made Tesco act at its
best was when we were prepared to put the
customer before the P&L’ Benny Higgins
‘Trust in football is stripped bare if
you are an owner’ Steve Parish
‘It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. ’
Johnny Hornby
5. Takeaway 2: What leads to a breakdown in trust?
• Three issues were identified as leading to breakdowns in trust
between customers and businesses; Culture, Leadership and
Authenticity
• Culture: The failure to develop a culture where there is a belief
that trust is earned through what you/the company does, not
through what it says it does
• Leadership: The failure to provide the leadership to win effective
trust
• Authenticity: The failure to remain true to your origins, intentions
and commitments
6. Takeaway 2: What leads to a breakdown in trust?
‘Being successful has a hypnotic
influence on Chief Executives. It is
important not to forget why we
have succeeded’ Benny Higgins
‘In 1985 the world was a simple
place. then all of the institutions
began to let everyone down’
Johnny Hornby
‘Trust in football is stripped bare if you
are an owner. The fans don’t trust the
owner.. The fans have a huge sense of
ownership’ of the club’ Steve Parish
‘When customers trust you they want to
hear the good stuff about you. When
they don’t trust you, they only want to
hear the bad things’
Alistair Macrow
‘No one was remotely interested in
what I had to say until I bought a loss
making business in South London’
Steve Parish
7. Takeaway 3: The role of authenticity
• The panel were unanimous in the belief that authenticity played a
critical causal role in gaining trust
• If the leaders in an organisation focus on being authentic and
concern themselves with taking the long view, then the ‘rest takes
care of itself’
• Customers quickly see through the business which tries to
manufacture trust through media rather than building trust by being
true to their values and commitments
8. Takeaway 4: What happens to trust when a crisis hits?
‘Everything has become
much more personal in
banking’ Benny Higgins
‘In a crisis, leadership gets tested’
Benny Higgins ‘Trying to make the right decision in that
maelstrom is quite difficult’
Steve Parish
‘Being in the spotlight
constantly (is tough), and
some of the comments can be
very abusive’ Steve Parish
‘The danger comes
when someone wants to
over fix the problem’
Johnny Hornby
‘The first thing you need to do is to behave
in a trustworthy manner. You need radical
transparency. ’ Johnny Hornby
‘Mistakes can be made quickly so the first
point is to understand as much as
possible’ Alistair Macrow
9. Benny Higgins’ Literary References – for those of you who
wanted to know where they came from!
“Somebody had
blundered and
the most
expensive orgy
in history was
over”
‘Echoes of the
Jazz Age’, 1931,
F Scott Fitzgerald
‘The importance
of rational
detachment’
'A Descent into
the Maelstrom'
1841, Edgar
Allen Poe
‘Be yourself;
everyone else is
already taken’
Oscar Wilde
10. About the Oystercatchers Club
The Oystercatchers Club was created in response to Agency CEOs and Brand CMOs asking for
an informal forum where senior people could meet to inspire, share knowledge and
confidentially discuss industry trends and issues.
The Club meets on a bi-monthly basis in central London and members select the topics for
debate. At each Club evening, we welcome approximately 180 Marketing Directors, Chief
Marketing Officers, Agency CEOs and Managing Directors.
Four client and agency speakers are invited to debate a hot, and often contentious, topic.
Each is allocated fifteen minutes to share their points of view and knowledge leading to lively
audience discussion.
We’d like to think that there is no other Club like this in the industry.
Please click here for the 3 min edit of the evening and here for the full panel discussion
11. Who are Oystercatchers
We are a leading management consultancy, expert in helping agencies and brand teams maximise their marketing
performance with astute optimisation of creative, strategic and media partnerships.
• We help brands achieve their Marketing objectives
• We accelerate Marketing performance
• We remove the interference to release your potential
Our Services:
Model
We determine the most efficient model to drive client and agency effectiveness and performance.
Pitch
We work in collaboration with you to run the perfect pitch to find your long term agency partner.
Evaluation
We use Optimise™, our proprietary evaluation methodology to improve and retain your current agency partnerships.
Process
We deliver optimal ways of working through efficient process and financial rigour.
People
We transform people who work in marketing to become professional marketers, who work in a centre of marketing excellence.
Also…
We are proud to be the UK’s leading intermediary and accredited members of the Management Consultants Association.
12. Like to know more?
If you would like to understand more about Oystercatchers
and the Club, Suki would be delighted to speak to you:
suki@theoystercatchers.com
+44 7957 208 040
www.theoystercatchers.com
