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Cavill + Co’s new recruit Michael Thomas went along to Grey Worldwide’s Eye on Australia™ Presentation on 4 May (06) and shares some of the results and his insights:
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Driving to the presentation of this year’s Eye on Australia study I listened to the James Blunt song You’re beautiful, and I couldn’t help agree with the opening verse “My life is brilliant”. Life for many Australians is going well and indeed today’s release of the annual ‘Eye on Australia’™ report on Australian consumers, certainly confirms this.
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The report, now in its 15th year and conducted by Sweeney Research in conjunction with Grey Worldwide showed the first increase in Australians’ life satisfaction since a downward trend started in 2001. 58 per cent of Australians say they are extremely or very satisfied with life today, up from 55 per cent last year. However the report revealed that this trend is masking a dark view of the future.
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Eye on Australia reveals that consumers are increasingly concerned about a wide range of societal issues ranging from obesity, the environment and the balance between work and private life. 95 per cent believe obesity is a major problem facing the country while 96 per cent believe there may be companies that are degrading the environment. Questions about lifestyle revealed about 90 per cent believe we need greater work/life balance and 79 per cent saying they’re not seeing enough of their kids.
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As a 22 year-old male, I was unsurprised by the figures which showed that 44 per cent of my peers in the 18-24 year-old age group believe that the quality of life is declining. Many of my older peers agree. Overall, only 49 per cent of the 600 respondents believed that the future is likely to be better than the past, down ten per cent from last year.
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Trust in Australian corporations is slipping
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67% of consumers don’t trust large corporations and believe that they lack morals, ethics & generosity of spirit. An alarming number of consumers believe that there may be corporations in Australia who are breaking the law (97%) and who are committing human rights abuses (77%). On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is very important to consumers and 1 is the least important the top five things that anger consumers about large corporations are:
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1. Destroy the environment 9.03
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2.Break laws 8.82
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3. Treat workers badly 8.79
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4. Fiddle the books 8.75 and
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5. Sack people to make a quick profit 8.56
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According to Paul Gardner, Chairman of Grey Worldwide, consumers’ perceptions of big business are being shaped largely by companies failing to reflect their own vision & values. “Consumers hear a lot about corporate wrong doings in the news but hear little about what companies are doing right. If companies neglect their reputations in the face of bad publicity, it will fuel consumers’ negative perceptions of big business” he said.
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Ironically, scepticism and mis-trust is so high that when companies do do something good, like partner with and support a charity, many consumers feel that this is just PR spin. 79% say they don’t hear much about big corporations doing good works and yet 82% of consumers believe that companies only give to charity to look good. So how do companies overcome that dilemma?
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Hailey Cavill, Director of Cavill + Co, having facilitated 28 partnerships in her 11 years says: “Trust in large corporations has been slipping for some time. It is timely that there is pressure from all angles for companies to be more responsible, but many companies are still viewing CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as something for the PR or Reputation department. CSR must be embedded within the roots and culture of an organisation and therefore must come from the top. For CSR to be truly authentic it must be driven by a strong leader and adopted, owned & most importantly, BELIEVED, by every employee”.
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When it comes to giving to charity how do companies overcome the scepticism? Hailey Cavill comments: “Firstly a company must have a clear Vision for its company – its place in society – and a set of agreed Values that it is going to operate by. Ideally a company should have in place the fundamentals of CSR – good governance, sound & deliverable ethics, transparent stakeholder communication, respect for people, environmental policies & responsible manufacturing – before going public with its community engagement program (which can be expressed as Cause Related Marketing, Employee Volunteering, Cause Partnering or Sponsorship). This way, consumers will see support of charities as an expression of the company’s values, as part of a much bigger picture of responsible business practice, rather than just a ‘bolt on’ in order to look good”.
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Consumers are extremely savvy these days. They have far greater access to information about companies than ever before – for every website that extols the virtues of a company there could be 10 more blogs and Crickey’s that tell another story. Don’t think for a second that a movie like “The Corporation” is the first and last of its kind. Companies who ignore that they have to earn consumers’ trust, and earn their ‘licence to operate’ will do so at their peril. No amount of window dressing – charity donations, glamour advertising, clever PR – will fool today’s smart, informed and boycott-ready consumer.”
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Indeed, 79% of consumers say that ordinary people can make a difference to the way big business behaves by refusing to buy products – and work in companies – that do the wrong thing. Almost half said that they make active decisions to find out who the ethical companies are and buy their products (48%).
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The environment as the greatest concern
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Consumers greatest concern is the effect of big business on the environment – almost all respondents in this year’s study believe that there may be companies in Australia who are degrading the environment (96%).
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“Authenticity is the key to this generation. Don’t just give money to an environmental charity and feel that’s enough to tick the environmental box. Instead a company should decide on an environmental issue that it wishes to tackle, and tackle it – with the help of an existing charity that is already dong it. That may sound like a very subtle difference and the difference is all about...
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COMMITMENT"
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concludes Hailey.
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Charities are the most trusted
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Charities were the only group who received an increase in the level of trust consumers place in them. The newsflash for companies is that despite the low level of trust consumers hold towards big business, Eye on Australia indicated that consumers WANT to trust big business. So all is not lost, and there is a wonderful opportunity to win back trust.
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What makes a good corporate citizen?
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On a scale of 1-10 where 10 is an important attribute to consumers and 1 is not important being a good corporate citizen involves looking after the environment which ranked at 9.03, providing employees with work life balance ranked at 8.5, caring about people before profits rated 8.22, showing they are committed to positive social change at 8.10, giving to charity at 7.99 and having causes they are committed to at 7.89. Right at the top however was ‘obey the laws of the land’ at 9.24.
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The Eye on Australia ™ is an annual study that tracks consumer attitudes about life, work, advertising and big business. It is based on a random sample of 600 adult Australians and is conducted for Grey Worldwide by Sweeney & Associates. As well as consumer attitudes towards business, the Eye on Australia™ study reveals much about the mood of the nation, including:
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Australians are more uncertain about the future with terrorism, crime, the economy, quality of life, health, information overload, technology, privacy, intolerance, environment & big business being their biggest fears
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More than half said that the future won’t be a better world for our children (53%)
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Many believe that crime will increase (74%)
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53% believe that quality of life has eroded
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Regional Victorians are the happiest (75%)
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95% believe that obesity in Australia is a major health problem
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73% say there is little privacy for the individual in the modern world
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97% believe there is too much information to read
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And the last word from Grey’s Chairman Paul Gardner: “Brands and companies that innovate in such a way that benefits the world and the future of Australians will not only be accepted but championed”.
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I hope you enjoyed reading Michael’s take on this important study. If you’d like more information about Eye on Australia contact Jane Emery, Managing Director or Sascha Nicholson on j.emery@grey.com.au or s.nicholson@grey.com.au. This week’s BRW (May 4-10) also has a 6-page article.
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