Richard Edelman describes the ‘new normal’ for brands

It’s happened to Kenneth Cole, Toyota, AllState, and more. So, what’s going on? Does the PR industry have its own legion of so-called Monday morning quarterbacks shouting from their blogs and Twitter feeds about what a PR agency should have done?

On Thursday, CTV in Canada published an interview with Richard Edelman, the CEO of Edelman PR, in which the network asked the PR man why there’s a greater engagement with brands. Edelman said:

“I think people have new expectations of brands. I think that they believe somehow that their voice can be heard. So it’s in part technological empowerment, but it’s also some part a merging of brand and corporate reputation. Maybe they feel they weren’t adequately consulted, or that they weren’t somehow better informed prior, and they’re mad.”