Transparency evokes conflicting emotions in global marketing practices. For some, transparent communication means supremacy, and for others – vulnerability. The latter advocate from this standpoint:
The more details customers and stakeholders know about our product, the worse. If this trend of open communication continues, everyone can use their knowledge against us. In the end, I’d rather not discuss my suppliers as long as we deliver top-notch services.
What feels wrong with this claim is the view of transparency as a trend instead of a value. Unlike trends, communication values reflect a deeper cultural, emotional, and moral significance. Moreover, they can’t be orchestrated based on individual brand preferences and industry dynamics. Here we’re talking about communication of value. That is to say, the ability to listen, talk, and engage with stakeholders and customers. And if you carefully listen to their voice, you’ll recognize the need for transparency. Transparency as a value fits equally well on a paper flyer as it does on a TikTok reel. That’s why we can’t call it a marketing trend.
The Evolution of Transparent Information
We need no statistics to notice the change in today’s consumer behavior compared to a few decades ago. Just consider the flow in the buying process now and then. There are quite a few decision-making criteria apart from the price including the product’s origin, its environmental impact, social luggage, and sustainability. Speaking in numbers, when choosing between two products, 81% of the consumers in 2022 would go for the one that provides such information. Trying to segment this shift into time-based categories seems impossible on a global scale, but here’s a rough outline of how transparent information has evolved:- Somewhere between the increased demand for transparent information and the inability to provide one,greenwashing was born.
- Ironically, the growing consumer awareness encouraged self-declaring labels to shape the decision-making across all marketplaces worldwide: an all-natural label claim supported by green imagery on the product packaging. Or, a plant-based label with breath-taking landscapes, regardless of the prevalence of synthetic ingredients.
- Now, we’re witnessing the turning point of the greenwashing dominance. The reason for its decay is the new generation of consumers, who were born and raised in the era of information. Having developed strong mechanisms for choosing a product, this generation feels pretty comfortable with the consumerism culture. We can see this through the way they:
- navigate across fake sources of information;
- differentiate self-declaration from third-party validation;
- break local market myths in online communities and reviews.