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Most brands are vastly out of step with customers when it comes to fulfilling expectations, finds Publicis study

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

February 22, 2017 | 3 min read

The majority of brands are falling short of customer expectations in the face of ongoing disruption but remain ignorant to the problem, according to a new study.

brands disconnect customers

Most brands are vastly out of step with customers when it comes to fulfiling expectations

Research conduced by Publicis Media’s Business Transformation practice has highlighted a wide discrepancy between companies and consumers, with an overwhelming eight out of 10 brands saying they believe they're meeting expectations while just 61% of customers believed this to be true.

Just under two thirds of consumers said they think companies and brands are innovating to deliver the anticipated results.

The Publicis Groupe-owned agency surveyed almost 1,800 consumers and 750 executives across seven countries and 12 industry sectors as part of the study, highlighting an expectation gap of 25% between what brands believe they are delivering compared to what consumers feel they are receiving.

The figures follow on from a Havas report released earlier this month, which found that most people wouldn't care if 74% of brands disappeared. The statistic remained unchanged since the same 2008 Meaningful Brands survey and was underpinned by the finding that people are still skeptical of brands. Havas said three-quarters of people expect brands to make more of a contribution of well-being and quality of life yet only 40% of people believe brands are actually doing so.

It wasn't all bad news for brands though; Publicis' research found over 80% of consumers and executives said that tech giants like Facebook, Google and Tencent would play the most significant role in shaping future products, customer experiences and services.

At the other end of the spectrum, government agencies and organisations were earmarked as the least likely to accelerate transformation.

"Disruption, and the pace of disruption, is ubiquitous across all industry sectors and will only become more rapid. As our study shows, most companies and brands believe they are transforming and adjusting to their consumers’ expectations, but in reality they are actually falling short in some cases," said Richard Hartell, Publicis Media’s global president of business transformation.

"In my opinion, the brands who are able to unleash the alchemy of intelligence, creativity and technology will be best-placed to transform their business at the right pace to meet consumer expectations."

Brand Purpose Publicis Groupe Marketing

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