Lead Or Be Left Behind: Brands Enter The Expectation Economy.

Accountability now governs loyalty, investment, and growth; proof replaces posture.

Collapse Of Institutional Trust

The BBMG × GlobeScan Radically Better Future report captures a shift in the architecture of trust. As governments and media falter, people turn to business as the institution most capable of acting with scale and speed. Eighty-one percent of adults surveyed across 27 markets agreed that companies are essential to solving humanity’s challenges.

The finding recasts corporate responsibility as a civic mandate. Younger generations push this further, treating corporate power as a lever to address inequality, climate breakdown, and social division. Companies are no longer evaluated solely on price, quality, or convenience; legitimacy rests on whether they deliver systemic value.

Generational Pressure And Boycott Normalization

The same research shows the generational divide shaping loyalty. Forty-four percent of under-30s said they actively support companies that make a positive difference, compared with 32 percent of older adults. A

round 70 percent of people globally support consumer boycotts of irresponsible companies, and younger respondents are more likely to act.

Boycotts have moved from being extraordinary protests to routine enforcement tools. For the rising generation, brand engagement itself is political, and loyalty is conditional on evidence of responsibility.

From Symbolism To Structural Consequence

Events of the past five years prove how expectation translates into consequence. In the United States, brands that posted statements of solidarity during racial-justice protests without changing internal practices were boycotted and discredited.

Climate movements pressured investors into altering voting policies and shifting capital away from high-carbon portfolios.

In the Gulf, Etisalat’s rebrand to e& hardwired sustainability and digital inclusion into its business model; by 2025 the company was ranked among the world’s fastest-growing brands, while rivals that relied on transactional positioning failed to generate momentum.

Each case demonstrates that expectation is enforced through outcomes that affect revenue, valuation, and trust.

Enforcement Mechanisms Driving Accountability

Accountability now functions through durable market levers. Consumer boycotts drive immediate sales declines.

Divestment campaigns alter capital flows and credit terms. Shareholder resolutions tie leadership compensation to social and environmental metrics. Employee activism erodes retention and recruitment when corporate behavior conflicts with stated values. Digital platforms magnify every contradiction, turning isolated failings into global liabilities.

These mechanisms operate continuously, making expectation a structural condition of competition.

The Editorial Stance

The expectation economy is not an abstract theory. It defines how brands win or lose relevance. Consumers reward credible purpose and punish empty rhetoric. Investors treat contradiction as financial risk. Employees evaluate leadership on alignment between culture and commitment.

Growth, trust, and legitimacy now move together; once one is compromised, the rest unravel.

Companies that still treat accountability as optics rather than operating reality are already out of step with the market that will decide their future.

Bottom Line

Expectation has become the governing principle of loyalty; brands that fail to demonstrate structural accountability will be stripped of relevance, trust, and growth.