Brand perception is shaped by what people experience, what others report, and what an organization communicates. Recent surveys show a persistent gap between executive confidence and stakeholder trust, while authenticity, privacy, social responsibility, and recognition increasingly influence purchase and loyalty decisions.
Contents
- Trust gaps between organizations and stakeholders
- What people want brands to represent
- Experience, reputation, and artificial intelligence
- Privacy and security as perception signals
- Trust and loyalty in customer relationships
- Authenticity, identity, and recognition
Trust gaps between organizations and stakeholders
The 2024 PwC Trust in US Business Survey describes trust as both a responsibility and a business concern. Ninety-five percent of business executives say organizations have a responsibility to build trust. The same view is held by 92% of consumers and 94% of employees. For executives, the commercial case is also clear: 93% agree that building and maintaining trust improves the bottom line.
Yet confidence is not shared equally. In the PwC survey, 90% of executives think customers highly trust their companies, while only 30% of consumers say they highly trust companies. The employee gap is smaller but still substantial: 86% of executives think employee trust is high, compared with 67% of employees who say they highly trust their employer.
Executives also report practical obstacles. Ninety-four percent say they face at least one challenge when building trust with stakeholders, and 24% identify a lack of clarity about what stakeholders want as a top challenge. When customers do not trust a business, 42% of executives say customer engagement is the biggest risk. Another 41% point to the ability to expand into new geographic markets or customer segments, while 38% identify profitability as the biggest trust risk.
For personal brands and career-focused professionals, this gap is a useful warning: intended reputation and experienced reputation are different measures. A clear promise needs to be supported by observable behavior and stakeholder feedback.
What people want brands to represent
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust, From We to Me measures expectations that extend beyond product performance. Sixty-eight percent say it is very or extremely important that brands in their lives make them feel good, up from 64% in 2024. In the same report, 62% value brands that give them optimism, 61% value brands that help them do good, 59% value brands that teach and educate them, and 51% value brands that provide community.
Culture also matters. Seventy-three percent say a brand that authentically reflects today’s culture would be more effective in increasing their trust than a brand focused solely on its products. The finding does not mean every brand must adopt the same message; it shows that perceived relevance can be part of trust.
The Edelman report records specific expectations for public commitments. The share saying they are more likely to buy from a brand that demonstrates a commitment to clean air and water in the local community is 60%. The same percentage applies to combating climate change and environmental degradation. The figures are 56% for ending racism and racial inequality, 54% for reducing economic inequality, 52% for protecting media independence and combating misinformation, and 50% for promoting gender equality.
Silence can also affect perception. Fifty-one percent say that when a brand does not mention what it is doing on a societal challenge, they assume the brand is doing nothing or hiding something. Another 51% say they would be less likely to buy from a brand that ignores its obligation to address a societal issue, and 51% say they would lose trust in that brand.
Experience, reputation, and artificial intelligence
Before purchase, experience carries more weight than brand messaging alone in the 2025 Edelman report. Seventy percent say their own experience influences their opinion of a brand at least moderately. Fifty-nine percent say the experience of others has at least a moderate influence, while 50% say what the brand says has at least a moderate influence.
These figures place a personal brand’s claims in context. A profile, résumé, website, or campaign can introduce a promise, but other people’s experiences determine whether the promise feels credible. Recommendations, delivered work, and consistent interactions therefore contribute to perception alongside formal communications.
Generative AI is also becoming part of shopping-related discovery. Ninety-one percent of generative AI users say they use it for shopping in some way. By age group, the figures are 74% among users aged 18–28, 66% among users aged 29–44, 48% among users aged 45–60, and 28% among users aged 61 and older. These are reported usage rates among generative AI users, not the share of all people in each age group.
The Edelman report also shows that expectations vary by geography. The share saying it is very or extremely important that brands make them feel good is 83% in Canada, 82% in Indonesia, 79% in South Korea, 75% in France, 75% in Japan, 74% in Saudi Arabia, 73% in the UK, 72% in South Africa, 68% in Brazil, 65% in Germany, 65% in the UAE, 60% in India, 58% in China, 56% in the U.S., and 48% in Mexico.
| Geography | Share saying brands making them feel good is very or extremely important |
|---|---|
| Canada | 83% |
| Indonesia | 82% |
| South Korea | 79% |
| France and Japan | 75% |
| United Kingdom | 73% |
| United States | 56% |
| Mexico | 48% |
In the U.S., 73% say it is very or extremely important that brands give them optimism. The corresponding figures are 49% for helping them do good, 49% for teaching and educating them, and 44% for providing community.
Privacy and security as perception signals
Trust is closely connected to the handling of personal information. The 2024 Thales Digital Trust Index reports that 89% of consumers are willing to share their data with organizations if the experience is trustworthy, while 87% expect some level of privacy rights from companies they interact with online. The most frequently identified privacy right is being informed that personal data is being collected, at 55%; 53% identify having personal data erased.
Trust can be lost through excessive collection or unclear use. Twenty-nine percent say they abandoned a brand in the past 12 months because it demanded too much personal information, and 26% abandoned a brand or service because of concerns about how their personal data was being used. The Thales report separately states that 26% of consumers abandoned a brand in the past 12 months due to privacy concerns.
The Telesign 2024 Trust Index Report finds that 87% of consumers expect companies to protect their digital privacy. Fraud incidents affect brand perception: 64% of global consumers say they negatively impact their perception of the brand responsible for the breach, and 58% of U.S. fraud victims report the same effect. Among U.S. fraud victims, 38% completely sever ties with the compromised brand, 33% actively discourage friends and family from engaging with those brands, and 20% take their grievances to social media platforms.
The behavioral effects extend beyond a single purchase. Sixty-five percent of global fraud victims report being less likely to use social media after a fraud incident, 64% reduce their use of payment services, and 56% decrease their e-commerce activity. Forty-nine percent consider their most recent fraud attack life-altering or very impactful.
The Vercara Consumer Trust & Risk Report 2024 gives another measure of the reputational cost: 58% of consumers believe brands hit by a data breach are not trustworthy, and 70% would stop shopping with a brand that suffered a security incident.
Trust and loyalty in customer relationships
The J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Auto Insurance Study illustrates how trust relates to retention within one category. Fifty-one percent of auto insurance customers fall into the low-trust category, while 15% fall into the high-trust category. Ninety percent of high-trust customers say they are likely to renew with the same insurer, compared with 30% of low-trust customers.
Satisfaction follows the same pattern. High-trust auto insurance customers score 917 on a 1,000-point satisfaction scale, which is 426 points higher than the score for low-trust customers. These results are specific to U.S. auto insurance customers and should not be generalized to every industry, but they show how perception can accompany measurable relationship outcomes.
Trust also varies with the reason people choose a category. Morning Consult’s 2024 findings report that 61% of consumers say trust is important when choosing a bank to keep their money safe. For retailers, 57% say trust is important because they want consistent quality. For beverage brands, 52% say trust is important because they want consistent quality. Among U.S. adults, 48% say a social media brand must protect personal data and respect privacy.
Recognition and value can reinforce loyalty. The SheerID 2024 Consumer Loyalty Report says 71% of consumers are more loyal to brands that give them exclusive offers, and 73% feel more emotionally connected to brands that provide one. At the same time, 71% say they are changing their spending habits because of rising prices. More than 80% of community members check whether brands offer exclusive deals to their group, and more than half say an exclusive offer would motivate them to try a new brand. Forty-five percent would switch loyalty from one brand to another if the brand had a community-based exclusive offer.
Authenticity, identity, and recognition
The Clutch 2026 study places authenticity directly in the purchase relationship. Ninety-seven percent say authenticity influences whether they support a brand, 85% say they have purchased from a brand because it felt authentic, 62% recommend authentic brands, and 70% are willing to pay more for brands they perceive as real.
The SheerID findings show how recognition can shape feelings toward a brand among specific communities. Seventy-five percent of military members and first responders felt honored by receiving an exclusive offer, while 75% of healthcare workers felt grateful to brands that give them that recognition. The corresponding figures are 69% for teachers and 67% for students.
Taken together, these statistics point to a measurable distinction between visibility and perception. People may notice a message, but trust depends on whether the experience is credible, privacy is respected, commitments are visible, and the relationship feels relevant to their identity or community. For anyone building a personal brand, the most defensible signals are therefore concrete: consistent experiences, clear expectations, useful education, authentic communication, and behavior that matches the promise.