Applause for Business? What our latest research says about public attitudes towards business and brands

For the last few years, the public’s attitude towards companies has reflected a consistent theme: cynicism. Companies are viewed as being motivated only by profit, and many are felt to be working against the interests of customers, employees or the wider community. Only in January, during the annual Davos gathering, business leaders were at pains to demonstrate how they’re trying to improve the state of the world. According to the Trust data, their efforts each year largely fall on deaf ears.

However, in our latest research, there’s some initial evidence that the actions of business during the Coronavirus crisis may be shining a different light on their role.

One month on from the lockdown, our research shows a clear majority of the public (65%) can name examples of brands and businesses that are doing the right thing during the crisis.

425 different brands, organisations, companies and individuals were mentioned by our respondents – each with a reason why they were standing out as doing the right thing.

As you might expect, supermarkets are the most frequently praised, along with the NHS brand. Those companies that have been providing help to NHS workers or switching production to make vital healthcare equipment service are also recognised by the public.

Interestingly, this is one list of brands that isn’t dominated by tech companies – other than Amazon, the most frequently mentioned names are on the high street. Facebook and Google get only a handful of mentions together.

Not all those recognised by the public are big corporates – in the FMCG space, BrewDog was mentioned many times more than the biggest global brands. Almost 2% of all responses said a local shop or service, whether that’s the local corner shop doing impromptu deliveries, or the petrol station shop that lets the village know when supplies are in.

Lots of different company actions stand out but three are most often mentioned: helping the NHS or NHS workers; looking after the public during the crisis; and looking after their own employees.

They say people can really judge you from how you act in a crisis. In the case of many businesses and brands, this could provide a much-needed moment of reconnection with the colleagues and communities they depend on.

The full findings can be found here.