INVISIBLE
- 20 hours ago
- 6 min read
We ask this simple question at IGU constantly.
To founders. To marketing directors. To business owners who've been running their brand for ten, fifteen, twenty years. These are normally people who know their industry extremely well, they’re people who are very smart, very driven, and genuinely care a lot about what they've built.
And almost every time what I get back from that question is silence.
Sometimes I get back something vague or something that could describe almost any competitor in the category and often it's something that sounds right but doesn't actually mean anything. Right? The harsh reality is that silence there is more than a brand problem. It's a profit problem. And the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer which was built from 33,938 respondents across 28 countries just proved it and at scale.
The World Has Changed. A Lot of Brands Haven't.
Here's the thing we need to understand before anything else.
Regardless of the business you're in, whether it's retail, hospitality, property, professional services, you are dealing with humans. Internally as a business, and externally as customers. And if you don't understand how humans work, the product you have becomes almost irrelevant.
This has always been true. But in 2026, it's become urgent.
The Edelman data is really clear, business is now the last trusted institution standing. The government is distrusted in 14 of 28 countries measured. Media distrusted in 13. NGOs flat. Business sits at 64% trust globally and the only institution in trusted territory, alongside employers at 78%.
I don’t really know how else to say it other than that's the opportunity. And still so many brands are wasting it. Because having the trust advantage doesn't mean you've earned trust. It means the bar has dropped so low that simply not being government puts you ahead. That's not a foundation. That's a warning.
The 70% Problem You Don't Know You Have
Let's talk about what's actually happening with the people you're trying to reach.
7 in 10 people globally now have what Edelman calls an insular trust mindset and what that means is they are hesitant or unwilling to trust anyone who differs from them in values, facts, background, or approach to solving problems. Majority insular in 25 of 28 markets and that's across every gender, every age group and every income level. 76% say people with differences actively try to make things worse for one another. That's an all-time high and up 11 points since 2021. Only 39% of people are consuming information from sources with a different political view than their own and down 6 points in a single year, with significant decreases in 20 of 28 countries. People are closing in and our bubbles are getting smaller. And here's what that means for your brand or business.
If you haven't declared what you stand for very clearly, unapologetically and with the kind of conviction that inevitably means some people won't be for you, you are now invisible to 70% of the market. That's not disliked or controversial. Invisible. A generic positioning just doesn't read as inclusive anymore. In an insular world, it reads as having nothing to say and people who are already closed off just don't open up for brands that are trying to be everything to everyone.
Belonging and standing alone are inseparable. You cannot create one without the other.
The Income Divide Is A Revenue Leak
This is where it gets forensic so hold on tight.
The Edelman data shows that trust inequality has more than doubled since 2012. In 2012, the gap between high and low income trust in institutions was 6 points. Today it's 15 points globally and in the U.S. it's 26 points. France, 21 points and Saudi Arabia, 29 points. Same brand. Same product.
Completely different trust reality depending on who's receiving it. But here's the specific finding that should stop every business owner in their tracks. High income people see business as both competent and ethical while low income people see business as competent but unethical. Not incompetent or irrelevant. Competent but operating in bad faith.
That's not a price point problem. That's a serious narrative problem.
54% of low-income people believe they will be left behind by AI and new technology, compared to 31% of high income. The anxiety gap is very real and it's growing fast. And brands that haven't done the emotional identity work or that haven't been clear on who they're for and what they stand for land differently across that divide every single time.
But here's the proof it's fixable. When institutions broker trust well and when they communicate with genuine clarity and emotional coherence low income trust jumps 18 points. From 49 to 67. Almost closing the entire gap. You don't have an audience problem. You're just not clear.
The Leadership Cliff
This one is confronting if you're in a leadership position and it probably should be.
Among people with an insular trust mindset and remember, that's 70% of your market, business trust drops from 71% to 43% the moment leadership is perceived as "different." That's a 28 point cliff and it's consistent across every institution measured. NGOs drop 28 points. The government dropped 28 points. The media drops 29 points.
Ok so let's think about what that means commercially.
Every time your CEO takes a public position, every time a campaign spokesperson shifts, every time your brand enters a new market or community, if there isn't a strong, clearly defined emotional narrative underneath it all, you are very exposed. You take the hit and it shows up in sales.
Here's the other side of that data though. Among the 22% of people globally who do trust someone different from them, the reason is this, they have an open mind and don't try to change me (49%). They are transparent about how they differ from me (46%). Notice what that's not. It's not about having the same values, it's just about knowing your own values clearly enough that you can hold them without needing others to adopt them. That's what's called emotional coherence and it's what absolutely protects a brand when the world gets turbulent.
Your Employees Know. Your Customers Don't.
I hate to say it but this is the gap most brands never even look at.
Employer trust globally: 78%. Trusted in 27 of 28 countries measured.
Business trust globally: 64%. Trusted in only 15 of 28 countries.
14 points. That gap is not a marketing problem. It's a narrative one.
Your employees know the real emotional story of your brand and they live it every day from how decisions get made, how customers get treated, to how problems get solved. That lived experience generates a massive 78% trust. But customers? Well they only see the external communication. Things like your campaigns, your social posts, the website copy and that's generating 64%. The emotional narrative that your team knows intuitively is not making it out of the building. And the CEOs? The data shows 73% of people believe CEOs are obligated to bridge divides and build trust actively, but only 44% think they're actually doing it. That's a 29 point gap between expectation and performance.
That is not a small miss. That is a structural failure in how brands are being led and communicated.
What The Data Is Actually Telling You
Ok, so 76% of people globally recognise that insularity is a moderate-to-crisis level problem in their country. They know it and they feel it, and 35% say the most powerful thing a brand can do in a highly divisive moment is encourage cooperation without taking a side.
You can’t broker trust if you haven't declared your values first and you can’t facilitate if you're trying to be everything to everyone. The brands that bring people together are the ones who were very clear about who they are in the first place. Only 22% of people globally trust someone who differs from them at all. That means brands with genuine emotional clarity and who have done the real identity work have access to a market that generic brands simply cannot reach. Read that again.
The data is all pointing in one direction and yet businesses still aren't listening unfortunately.
Making Trust Part Of Your P&L
Trust is not a brand asset anymore and in my opinion it never should have been. It's a profit centre.
Every point of trust decline is measurable revenue leakage and you can see it through lost purchase confidence, through weakened loyalty, through leadership exposure and through the income divide landing your brand differently to different people because your emotional narrative isn't precise enough to land consistently.
This is what we do at IGU. We make trust strategic, measurable, and embedded in how you operate and grow. I need to make sure this is clear because this is not a values exercise or a brand refresh. This is a commercial imperative.
Ok so let's go back to the beginning.
If your brand is the answer, what's the question?
If you can answer that, immediately, clearly, in a way that no competitor could replicate then I am in love and you've done the work. I can’t tell you what it means to me when I see this by the way.
If you can't, now you know what it's costing you.
Nick Gray
Source - 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer
IGU Global (I Got You Global) is a Sydney-based retail strategy consultancy with 25+ years of experience across major retail and brand environments. We work with founders, leaders, and brands to build trust as a commercial strategy.
