The Rise of Transparency Tyranny

Recently we at LEGO had our most visible example yet of a phenomenon increasingly affecting companies world-wide: the rise of the consumer activist. Above and Beyond: LEGO Shop gives consumers new hope. In our case we are lucky as this commentary turned out in our favour and helped highlight some of the practises we have prided ourselves in offering ever since we set up our consumer service centres, but more often than not consumers bite back and give not only companies a piece of their mind, but also their fellow consumers.

We are truly moving away from the days when it was possible to limit the damage of a single consumer disappointment to travel only as far as that individual could reach through letter, phone and discussion with friends and family. Still damaging to a brand, granted, but today, we are faced with a new situation, a new world order if you like where single consumer contacts and their outcome, positive or negative - have the power to influence thousands, if not millions as they can now be recorded (not only in words, but through camera phones, video, voice) in addition to traditional text - making the content much more evocative and that content be shared with millions, through a plethora of rating and social networking sites.

The only fly in the ointment right now is the absence of profiles - i.e having a service/product/experience rated by someone just like me (age, education, income, job, interests, lifestyle etc.), which would lend the ratings even more gravitas, but it is just a matter of time before a networking site like Myspace teams up with a rating service and makes this happen.

Enter the era of transparency tyranny. This movement is picking up, as people are moving from trusting companies to trusting their peers instead. Furthermore the Digital Natives (those who have grown up with the Internet always there) communicate 155% more than before (Forrester), which means this phenomenon will only grow.

So in my opinion there is nothing that warrants a higher priority in companies than focusing on delivering first-class services and experiences to consumers, measuring it through the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS has to be consistently good across all touchpoints, because this - more than anything, will determine the future of your company. In our case - by the power of our strong heritage, we have a lot of expectations to live up to - people who have grown up with the brand and have come to expect a kind of quality, continuity and ethic to LEGO, which the other toymanufacturers struggle to achieve. All eyes are on us to continue to deliver that in the age of transparency tyranny!

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