Trust used to flow upward. To experts, institutions, and authority.

Then it shifted to “people like me.”

Now even that circle is tightening.

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a growing insularity: smaller tribes, hardened perspectives, and a widening mass-class divide driven by whether people believe the system works for them.

Persuasion is shifting to trust brokerage, and what communicators, leaders, and businesses can do when trust itself has become the battleground.

Listen For

3:10 Skip the opening story and go right to the interview with Tim Weber

3:47 What does it mean that we’ve moved from echo chambers to “turtle shells”

7:21 Is polarization economic, cultural, technological—or all three?

12:35 How can companies blunt fear and become true trust brokers?

20:13 Will AI reinforce our biases and deepen our personal echo chambers?

Guest: Tim Weber, Managing Director & EMEA Head of Editorial, Edelman

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2026 Edelman Trust Barometer

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Can a joke really sell a brand? Or save it from sameness?

Most campaigns sound the same because they’re afraid to sound wrong. Safe language, serious faces, purpose-heavy messages that all blur together.

And yet one of the most successful creative agencies in North America has built its reputation by doing the opposite. Zulu Alpha Kilo lives by a simple motto… Fight Sameness… and they do it with humor, sarcasm, and a willingness to say the quiet part out loud.

Why does that work? Why does making people laugh end up being the fastest way to earn trust?

Why does honesty often land better as a joke than a lecture.

Listen For

3:01 Fast-forward to the start of the interview

5:19 Check out an example of a funny (sarcastic) ad by Zulu Alpha Kilo

5:36 Why does ad satire feel so personal to marketers?

9:11 What tiny detail annoyed people in that absurd ad?

Guest: Michael Siegers, Zulu Alpha Kilo

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Doug

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You can be the same person across every channel.

Your social media accounts. Your YouTube. Your newsletter. Your blog. The same principles. The same voice. Often even the same message.

And many of the people following you on LinkedIn are the same people who see you on Instagram, hear you on a podcast, or read your newsletter. Yet those same people can understand you, trust you, and remember you very differently simply because they encounter you in a different place.

Not because you changed.

Because they did.

They arrive with different expectations.

Different attention.

Different patience.

The channel shapes what they notice, what they believe, and what stays with them, even when the words don’t change at all.

In this episode, we explore how platforms shape perception, why fractured identities are now the norm, and what that means for communicators who already know better but are running out of time and headspace.

Listen For

4:30 How do you tailor one piece of content for different platforms?
6:04 Is it better to master one channel or be on many?
7:49 Can AI help create content that still feels human?
12:21 What’s the right way to use emojis on LinkedIn?
16:35 Are we choosing content or are algorithms choosing for us?

Guest: Molly Demellier, Sounds Profitable

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Doug

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Farzana

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Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it.

Apply to be a guest on the podcast

Connect with us

LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest

Request a transcript of this episode

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