This year’s survey is bigger than ever before, with 30,000 people questioned in 25 countries. The Barometer reveals the state of Trust in business and institutions.

Richard Edelman, Global President and Ed Williams, UK CEO, were joined by a stellar panel of experts who answered questions and discussed the challenges facing global leadership.

The panel included:

• Rt Hon. Tessa Jowell MP
• Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founder & Director, Kids Company
• Anne McElvoy, Public Policy Editor, The Economist
• Amanda Platell, Columnist, Daily Mail
• Caroline Daniel, Editor, FT Weekend

Listen to the podcast of the event, then watch our YouTube playlist below for interviews with the panelists and key moments from the event:

For global information, visit our Global Trust microsite, or read our Slideshare Presentation below.

To request further information about the Trust Barometer or to discuss the implications for your organisation, please contact:

This week Stephen Doherty, Director of Communications, Diageo plc, discusses Trust and its importance to Diageo and the industry.

The series also includes a video interview with Jim Godfrey, Vice President, Public Affairs EMEA, Starbucks, who discusses the importance of Trust for business.

Watch the video interviews here:

The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer will be launched in London on 24 January. You can download a copy of the 2011 report here.

On Thursday, 1st December, Edelman hosted its third annual Crystal Ball event. 2012 promises to be eventful: a US presidential election, continuing crisis in the eurozone, anxiety over a weak economy, and the small matter of the London Olympics and Paralympics. As another year draws to a close, a panel of experts gazed into the crystal ball. Listen to the discussion by pressing the play button above.

Our expert panel included:

• Lord Norman Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Matthew d’Ancona, Sunday Telegraph and Evening Standard award winning political columnist
• Reverend Dr Giles Fraser, Former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, Radio 4 Thought for the Day regular and Guardian columnist
• Baroness Denise Kingsmill CBE, House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee

Watch interviews with the panelists below:

However in the months since our 2011 Trust Barometer was published, the world has been swept with events which impact directly on public relations and trust: the Arab Spring, the financial crisis in the eurozone, the “Occupy” protests in cities across Europe, government scandals, media scandals (particularly with phone hacking in the UK) and more. When the next Barometer is published in early 2012 it’s inconceivable that these events won’t have had a profound impact on public trust and provide significant indicators for any organisation seeking to engage the public.

It’s clear that the world is becoming more complex, the public sphere more sceptical and trust in all institutions and business is fragile and in a state of flux. As we look back at these events, and forward to their implications for 2012 and beyond, how can leaders help consolidate trust and build public engagement in a time of political,
economic and social volatility?

These essays, from Edelman leaders across Europe and the Middle East, discuss the events of 2011 and look at how to provide coherence in an age of complexity.

Please use the link below to download a copy.

Videos presentations, written summaries and photos of the 2011 Summit can be found at the ICCO Summit website.

The full video presentation of Robert’s session, Who Do We Trust, will be available here soon.

Stefan Stern, Director of Strategy at Edelman is joined by Laurence Evans, President of StrategyOne, and Miranda Green, Editor of The Day, to discuss the 2011 Trust Barometer findings.

Podcast participants:

	Chair: Stefan Stern, Director of Strategy, Edelman Stefan has been writing and commenting on business and management for the past two decades. He wrote the Financial Times’s management column for over four years before joining Edelman in August 2010 as its new Director of Strategy. In October he was appointed Visiting Professor in management practice at the Cass business school.
	Laurence Evans, President, StrategyOne Laurence leads StrategyOne, a full-service research firm that employs opinion polling and media analysis to craft evidence based communications strategies for its clients. StrategyOne is owned by Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm.
	Miranda Green, Editor, The Day Miranda is the editor of The Day, a daily news service for schools and colleges. She is also a writer for The Observer, The Economist and The Times and a regular political pundit on BBC, SKY and CNN. Miranda is former education correspondent at the Financial Times and press secretary to Paddy Ashdown.

Richard Edelman, President & CEO, and Robert Phillips, CEO EMEA, were joined by the FT’s Political Editor, George Parker and Michael Cohrs, retired board member of Deutsche Bank, to explore the 2011 findings – over a decade of analysis into trust in Government, Business, Media and the challenges facing Global Leadership. Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC joined us to give the keynote speech.

In a year marred by corporate crises and financial turmoil for European governments, trust in business and government showed marked resilience, according to the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer. Trust in business saw a two-point global increase, surging in Brazil, rising in Germany, and holding steady in China and India. In the UK, trust in business remained stable at 44 percent.  In the Trust composite score, an average of a country’s trust in all four institutions (business, government, NGOs, and media), the U.S. fell to fourth from the bottom, while three years ago, it was in the top four. The UK ranks second from the bottom, jointly with Russia and ahead of Ireland.

The panel included:

• Richard Edelman, President & CEO
• Robert Phillips, CEO EMEA
• Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC
• George Parker, Political Editor, The Financial Times
• Michael Cohrs, formerly of Deutsche Bank

Watch interviews with the panelists and Mark Thompson’s speech by clicking the right and left arrows below:

For global information, visit our Global Trust microsite.

To request further information about the Trust Barometer or to discuss the implications for your organisation, please contact:

Around half of people in the UK believe it is important for industries such as the food and beverage industry (51%) and brewing and spirits companies (50%) to educate the public on health topics related to their products or services and to communicate the health risks of those products or services (50% and 49% respectively). Further, half in Britain believe the food and beverage industry should help address obesity (52%).

For more information, please visit our Health Engagement site.

Edelman’s 2008 Health Engagement Barometer is available for download below. The 2008 report explores the changing communications landscape in the Health sector. The findings from research identify a growing group of Health Info-entials and the report describes new rules of engagement for building Trust with stakeholders.

Julia Hobsbawm’s ‘Where The Truth Lies’ is an assembly of a stellar cast of journalists and PR gurus. The wide ranging essays in this book tackle head-on issues such as journalism’s dependence on public relations, the centrality of trust in communications, crisis management, and a provocative new plan for the ‘Age of Transparency’.

‘Where The Truth Lies’ contains an essay from Robert Phillips on The Reformation of Public Relations. To download the full chapter, click the link below:

The panel included:

• Gail Becker President, West Coast Region, Edelman
• Maz Nadjm, Online Community Product Manager, BSkyB
• Matt Locke, Acting Head of Cross Platform, Channel 4
• Tom Watson Labour MP, West Bromwich East

Watch interviews with the panelists by clicking the right and left arrows below:

View the report on slideshare and download the pdf using the link below:

To download a copy of Robert Phillips’s speech at the 2009 We Are Names, Not Numbers Symposium in Portmeirion, use the link below. The speech expores the role of Public Engagement and Catalyst Citizens in bridging the divide between Government, Business and the People.

On Tuesday 26th January 2010, Edelman, in partnership with the Financial Times, launched the annual 10th Edelman Trust Barometer report. Guest speakers included Damian Green MP, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Stefan Stern Commentator of the FT.

Watch interviews with the panelists by clicking the right and left arrows below:

The Trust Barometer tracks trust in our major institutions (Business, Government, Media and NGOs); in industry sectors; and the credibility of sources of information. The survey was produced by research firm StrategyOne and consisted of 25-minute telephone interviews using the fielding services of World One from September 29 – December 6, 2009 .

• Gail Becker, Global Head of Edelman’s Digital Entertainment & Technology practice
• Paul Jackson, Principal Analyst, Forrester
• Euan Semple, Independent Social Computing Advisor
• Myles MacBean, Vice President Online‪‪, The Walt Disney Co. Europe
• Jonathan Hargreaves, Managing Director, Edelman

Watch interviews with the panelists by clicking the right and left arrows below:

<

Commenting on the results, Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman, said: “There is strong optimism about the role of business, but today’s leaders do foresee economic recovery bringing an unsupportable fiscal burden. Despite today’s economic challenges, business leaders see we are beyond a critical point in the crisis: 34% said investment in talent would be their top priority, compared with only 10% cost cutting.

Being a transparent communicator is overwhelmingly seen as the most appropriate style of leadership – and there should be no distinction between external and internal audiences. It is not about being a public figure or humble achiever – it is the middle ground. The key to successful public engagement is continuous conversation in a stakeholder society.”

Further reading: Richard Edelman’s 6A.M. blog.

Watch interviews with the panelists at our launch event by clicking the right and left arrows below:

On Thursday 30th July 2009, Edelman also published The Mid Year Trust Barometer 2009. When the Trust Barometer was published in January this year, it showed the lowest trust levels for more than a decade – a clear reflection of the political and business issues of 2008. With the outlook for 2009 still bleak in many parts of the world, we commissioned a mid-year update.

The Trust Barometer tracks trust in our major institutions (Business, Government, Media and NGOs); in industry sectors; and the credibility of sources of information. The survey was produced by research firm StrategyOne.

Originally published as a wiki-book, Citizen Renaissance explores the collision of the three seismic shifts of our time: the perfect storm surrounding Climate Change; the Wellbeing Imperative; and the axiomatic rise of Digital Democracy. At its heart lies a call for more citizen-centric thinking and behaviour and an end to the global imbalance of Wants & Needs. Citizen Renaissance continues today as a forum for thought; a platform for the exchange of ideas; and as a collaborative project that seeks to develop a Manifesto for Change.

For further reading, visit the Citizen Renaissance blog.

For a copy of the book and the PRWeek article written by Robert Phillips on the future of PR, click the links below.