The Cost of Being Believed: On Purpose, Promise, and Costly Signaling
Key Takeaways
The Trust Deficit: 71% of consumers no longer believe brands will deliver on their promises (Havas), and 53% consider brands dishonest about societal contributions (Edelman, 2025).
The Solution is Costly Signaling: True brand authenticity requires making operational choices that actually cost something to sustain.
Purpose Cannot Be Retrofitted: Real brand purpose must precede the business; it dictates what market opportunities a brand willingly refuses.
On June 11, 2026, Porsche CEO Michael Leiters announced that there will never be a fully electric 911. The 911 will remain combustion-powered, defended by a hybrid system Porsche described internally as an "elixir of life". In 2026, this decision is a masterclass in brand authenticity because it costs something visible to sustain. Costing something has become the only currency of credibility a brand has left.
Why Do Consumers Distrust Brands?
The trust collapse is not just a marketing problem; it is the default cognitive posture of humans today toward everything asking for attention.
71% of consumers no longer believe brands will deliver on their promises (Havas).
53% of consumers consider brands dishonest about their societal contributions (Edelman, 2025).
Volume and repetition no longer establish credibility; instead, repetition reads as pressure and polish reads as evasion.
Communication, by itself, no longer produces belief.
What Makes a Brand Credible Today?
To pass the consumer's cognitive filter, a brand's actions must share four specific qualities:
Authentic (Character): This is inferred by the audience through the cumulative texture of a brand's decisions, language, and behavior.
Well-Intentioned (Character): The perceived underlying motive of the organization.
Backed by Resources (Behavior): Demonstrable evidence that the brand has the operational capability to deliver what it claims.
Transparent (Behavior): Clear, public visibility into the brand's actions and supply chain.
Brands only survive scrutiny when the character traits (authenticity and intent) and the behavioral traits (backing and transparency) reinforce each other. Demonstrating competence without conviction reads as accounting, not trust.
What is Costly Signaling in Branding?
Costly signaling is a concept from evolutionary biology and economics dictating that a signal is only credible if emitting it imposes a real cost on the sender.
When declaring a purpose has zero marginal cost—like publishing a LinkedIn post or a website manifesto—it stops carrying information. Because the gesture is cheap, audiences cannot distinguish between brands that mean it and brands performing for attention.
Brands recover credibility by introducing cost back into their signals. They do this by sustaining a position that gives something up or refusing a market opportunity that contradicts their position. Porsche's commitment to combustion is an expensive signal—costing them regulatory pressure and the premium electric performance buyer—and that cost serves as the operational proof of their intent.
Can You Retrofit Brand Purpose?
No. The brand strategy industry has built a consulting category around helping companies "discover" their purpose after the fact, but this is designed to fail.
Real purpose precedes the business. The ultimate test is whether a founder would still make their product even if the margins were thinner. If the choice to exist was solely based on market opportunity, that is competent strategy, not purpose. Companies that try to retrofit purpose produce the hollow, polished declarations that modern audiences discount on sight.
Why True Brand Purpose Costs You Money
Having a real purpose means you must stand for something, not for everyone.
A brand that stands for something will naturally repel customers who wanted what the brand refused to be.
It requires turning down work, partnerships, and products that look fine on a spreadsheet.
Trying to be relevant to everyone reads as ambition, while accepting you are for someone specific reads as conviction. Conviction is what survives skepticism.
Conclusion: The Path Back to Credibility
The collapse of trust in brands reflects a wider societal skepticism toward institutions and media. The path back to credibility is not paved with better communication or sharper campaigns. It is paved with sustained behavior that costs something to perform, done consistently until the doing becomes the proof.
