Coronavirus Report: The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews Richard Edelman

Steve Clemons interviews Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman Public Relations, about special coronavirus editions of his famous Edelman Trust Barometer on how COVID-19 has impacted the state of “trust” in America, trust in businesses, trust in government, and trust in the media.

Excerpts from the interview are below:

{mosads}Richard Edelman: I think the most important fact for listeners is that business has to step into the void left by lack of quality information. The media is seen as politicized. Government is seen as episodic. And so whether you’re a corporation or you’re a brand, you have a duty to inform your employees who then can share that information more broadly. And you also have an obligation to be in the business of solutions and not selling. You should be seen as somehow helping this country get back on its feet, to keep as many people as you can employed, to include small businesses in the supply chain. And make sure that you are looking to be a member of your community, that you’re giving away food, that you’re giving away product and time, and that you’re protecting your employees above all.

Clemons: I read your report and one of the many lines that stood out is what you mentioned, that companies and CEOs need to help solve, not sell. Who do you think stands out as helping to solve and not sell? 

Edelman: Well, I think two or three good examples. Unilever pledged to keep not only its employees, but also its suppliers. For instance, Sodexo operating the company cafeteria in New Jersey — even if the place is closed, they’re paying those people through June. At the same time, Unilever has also expanded its financing terms for its small vendors and for its suppliers. And so that’s really making, in a certain way, a company like a bank. Also, Starbucks is now trying to reopen, but with different terms that they’re somehow making sure that customers feel safe, that they do a drive-in or whatever and have a different service modality. Also, Farmers Insurance cut the rates of its auto insurance by 25 percent. So each one of these, in its own way, is a significant action. That’s the point for companies. Don’t just talk. Do something.

Clemons: I would have always thought that science was a trusted voice, that doctors and people with knowledge and expertise were looked at as trusted. What comes out loud and clear in your findings is that after science being pilloried for a few years, science is back, particularly over journalists and politicians. Your thoughts?

Edelman: People trust those who have credentials so technical experts from the company or even more scientists, but they also trust those who are close to them. So, for instance, my employer, CEO or friends and family, or peers at the company — because trust usually used to be conveyed vertically — and then has moved horizontally — and now has moved local, something close to me. So it’s today some combination of scientific fact and people who, in a certain way, I work with all the time, my peers or even more my CEO. That puts big obligations on my employer to speak to me frequently. I want updates every day on what’s happening with our policies — return to work; am I going back to work with a mask? Am I going to go back to work on an A and B shift? Am I going to go in some way without a company cafeteria so that I have some mandatory social distancing. Everybody wants to know specifics. They don’t just want to get facts through social media. Social media is deeply distrusted right now because there’s too much fake news. Mainstream media is increasingly trusted, but sometimes seen as politicized. So Fox on the right and New York Times on the left. So, I need business as the the plug between.

Clemons: One of the things I’ve started doing every day is watching my colleagues on “Rising” on Hill.TV — Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti — and they have a lot of viewers who don’t believe that the bailout package is really helping people more than its helping big businesses. Many see the bailout as corrupt. How do you recommend that businesses swim in this situation where there is so much skepticism of them?

Edelman: I think that people accept the idea that hotels or airlines or others whose businesses have been crippled by COVID, that they get some government support. What they don’t accept is the idea that a retailer, a restaurant chain, others who seem to have a good business prospect of getting bailed out. The Los Angeles Lakers returned $4 million yesterday. They shouldn’t have taken it in the first place. We have to be really careful just as in 2008 and 2009 on getting government bailouts and if we do, they should be merited and they should be paid back and there should be transparency as to how they’re used.

Clemons: One of the other things that also jumped out in the report is the willingness of consumers, worldwide, to punish brands. Can you tell us more about that?

Edelman: Three-quarters of people said that they would stop using a brand if they felt as if they were somehow exploiting the situation, pretending to end COVID by getting rid of dandruff, for instance. That’s  ludicrous. On the other hand, one-third of people said they’ve already changed brands because of the acts of responsibility taken by brands. So in a way, I believe in brand democracy, the idea that somehow I have more power through what I buy every day than I do voting every four years, and so I really want to have to be a belief-driven buyer, and I fundamentally want brands to stand for me during this terrible time.

Clemons: You and I have talked about your trust barometer in previous years. Does the COVID-19 crisis create an opportunity for businesses to reprove themselves and to come back in terms of trust?

Edelman: I think in two industries in particular, there’s a real opportunity. So financial services has really been the bottom-dweller for the last decade, ever since the financial crisis. And it started to build back with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo and others trying to rebuild communities, Detroit, etc. That’s a big moment now, because banks are distributing the [Paycheck Protection Program] PPP funds. What else can they be doing to get money to small business in particular? The other is tech. For the first time since last Davos, Steve, we found the tech was no longer the most trusted industry in one-third of the countries that we survey. That’s a big warning sign for tech. So either tech is a force for good here enabling e-commerce, somehow enabling us to work from home in a safe way — or it’s seen as a way of helping the wealthy make a bigger difference to the disadvantaged who can’t do this kind of of education at home, etc. So tech really has to play carefully in trying to provide product to those who don’t normally participate.

Clemons: What advice or counsel would you give the White House through this? The White House doesn’t fare very well either in terms of trusted voices. What does President Trump and his team need to do to up their game as a trusted voice during this virus crisis?

Edelman: I think the president’s done a really good job of being available and being present and frequent. Where I think he could use a little more message discipline is not thinking aloud and making sure that he has credible sources such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and others around him who are carrying the science message. A president needs to be empathetic. He needs to be specific about federal aid to small business, but he needs to leave the science to those who are scientists. That’s a very clear steer from our Trust Study, which said that 80 percent trust scientists and 40 percent trust politicians. They don’t want this politicized. They want solutions that work and are tangible.

Clemons: Another sector I’ve been talking to are scientists and pharmaceutical firms. Nearly everyone says that to end this crisis, vaccines and antivirals will be created by the pharmaceutical industry. But if you look at the reactions of the American public out there, they may know that’s true. But they still don’t trust the pharmaceuticals on things like cost and accessibility. Do you have any insights from your research that that helps PhRMA firms navigate this. There could be a situation where they develop a drug but then are still public enemy number one.

Edelman: So I think the PhRMA companies have an important — maybe once in a generation — opportunity here to be heroes. First, to give us some degree of immunity. Second, some certainty about whether we have the condition. But third, affordable, consistent product. And that we find it distributed in a fair way, not just to those who have a lot of money. And also in a way that’s not too nationalistic. One of the problems of being multinational is you may make the product in Singapore, and then you’re pulled by the president to bring it all to the U.S. instead of supplying it evenly across the world. So I think the real chance here is for PhRMA companies to have heroes. And it won’t be the CEOs. It will be the medical directors or the scientist who comes up with the new vaccine. Have the bench person with the white coat, the woman who comes up with the great idea — make that the face of the company.

Clemons: I know that you’re one of the best crises advisers in the world for people that have shocked the trust of their consumers. In this high stress moment, what are the two or three most important things for that brand of reestablishing itself as a trusted player with its consumers?

Edelman: I want to go back to the premise of solutions and not selling. I want that company to definitely be seen as a major partner of this country in solving COVID — and that the commitment is more than financial — it’s actually “spiritual.” And that the CEO, the board and employees all reflect this drive to achieve a solution. And we want to be on the side of the angels, on the side of our employees and keeping them working and also on the side of our communities so that we’re giving away product, that we’re somehow really pitching in to make this as short of a crisis as we can.