When it comes to the role brands play in our day-to-day lives, the marketing world appears to be divided into two camps and, as Rudyard Kipling once put it, never the twain shall meet.

In one camp, there’s the earnest believers who think that consumers love their brands so much that they want to engage with them on a regular basis and talk about them to their friends, family and colleagues in both the virtual and real worlds. If the brand has a sense of purpose, or even invents one, even better. Not surprisingly this camp is headed up by the likes of Marc Pritchard of P&G and the former CMO of Unilever Keith Weed, who now sits on the board of WPP.

In the other camp, however, there’s an equally earnest cohort that believes brands tend to overestimate what consumers actually think about them. For some of the better-known advocates like Professor Byron Sharp, Mark Ritson and the so-called ‘Ad Contrarian’, Bob Hoffman, consumers don’t give a horlicks about brands and the vast majority of them are not remotely interested in engaging with them online or offline unless there’s something in it for them. In many cases marketers are spending way too much time and money on cosying up to consumers.

But what about consumers themselves? What do they think about brands and the role they play in their day-to-day lives?

A new global report by the French agency giant Havas shines a light on how people view brands, what they expect from them and what marketers should be doing to prioritise the value-exchange between brand and consumer.

Called Meaningful Brands 2021, Havas has also published a number of country-specific reports which, in the case of Ireland, was carried out by Havas Dublin and will be published next week.

Irish marketers who are in any way squeamish should look away now.

According to Havas, 77pc of Irish people wouldn’t care if brands disappeared overnight. This compares with a global average of 75pc. In addition, the survey notes that 74pc of Irish people are tired of the empty promises that brands make while only 41pc of us view brands as trustworthy.

When it comes to purpose-led brands, our cynicism is still palpable with only 30pc feeling satisfied with a brand’s actions to make the world a better place, while just 20pc think brands are being transparent about their commitments and promises.

But all is not lost and brands will not disappear overnight. But if they want to remain relevant and play a role in people’s lives then they need to take action, according to the Havas research which highlights the role they can play in wider societal and environmental issues, particularly in a post-pandemic world.

“Like so many other trends and behaviours, the pandemic has played a role in accelerating things. The importance of positive environmental and societal change has come to the fore. As have peoples’ demands for businesses and brands to play a part in solving them,” says Chris Upton, CEO of Havas Dublin.

“I am reminded of a paper written by Ronen Shamir in 2008 titled ‘The Age of Responsibilisation’. He set out the idea of market embedded morality. In it he spoke about how governments have shifted their focus from societal and moral issues to economic ones, and in so doing had passed the burden of these societal and moral issues on to the public, who in turn have been passing this burden on to businesses and corporations. I believe we may have entered the age of cynicism as a result of this shift. And what we are seeing is the lag between consumers setting a higher bar, and the time it takes for businesses and brands to act in an authentic and meaningful way,” he says.

According to the Havas survey, some 77pc of Irish adults believe brands must act now for the good of society and the planet, while 83pc expect brands to show support to people in times of crisis.

What’s the trade-off? According to Havas, 55pc of consumers are ready to pay more for a brand that takes a stand on these issues, while 68pc of us prefer to buy from companies with a reputation for having a purpose other than just maximising shareholder value and profits.

Brands take note.