THE BURDEN ON BRANDS.

Brexit has done us all a good deed. 

It has exposed politicians for the kind of people they truly are.

There is little or no interest in them doing what they were hired to do.

Here in Scotland for example, the entire focus of the SNP, or more specifically The First Minister, has been on independence.

The NHS, Education, crime, climate change, the economy, these are aspects of their job that have been neglected and diminished for something they don’t have the ability to deliver. To make independence happen will take people with a great deal of skill and talent. Both devoid in today’s politics. This is a party that cannot even build a Children’s Hospital without controversy. Yet we trust them to bring about independence?

In the US, well events there speak for themselves. The lack of integrity is astonishing, let alone the complete lack of general smarts.

Then there’s Chile, Lebanon, Iraq, Hong Kong and on the story goes.

We elect Governments to keep us safe, keep us educated, keep us alive, keep us healthy, keep us working, keep us at peace and keep the planet thriving.

Sadly, they do little, if any of these.

But somebody has to. Somebody has to think about health and the environment and ageing and the economy and, and, and.

That job has fallen onto the corporate world. We now expect and trust brands to look after us, and the planet. 

In the Edelman Trust Barometer 76% of people said that CEOs should take the lead on change rather than wait for Governments.

On the whole, companies are doing a pretty good job. They are certainly more aware of their role than the politicians. They care more. They do more.

The result is that people now hold brands to a higher ethic than they do governments. If a brand blatantly lies, that would spell the end of it. If a President lies, no big deal. That’s the norm.

When Dolce & Gabbana created films that were seen as culturally insensitive in China, the brand crashed. When a nation’s leader is seen the same way, what’s the big deal?

It’s not just the large corporations with tons of cash to spread around that are doing the good, it’s also the small companies, the family-run places, the start-ups that are innovating and changing.

A couple of companies I have worked with include Rainforest Foods who is involved with Warka Water to help drought stricken nations such as Cameroon.

Here in Scotland, there’s Visorcat who help keep a voluntary group called Blood Bikers safe as they transport essential blood and organs for the NHS around the UK, in all kind of conditions, at all hours.

This burden on brands is in fact, not a burden at all. I have found that when owners and CEOs are given the opportunity to do more than make what they make, it reignites their passion and interest.

As one owner told me "I've fallen in love with my business again."