0:06 Hello, everyone. I'm Doug Straton, chief client and retail growth officer of Bazaarvoice. I'm very excited to be with you today. It's my privilege to speak with you, and I can't thank all six thousand of you, a new record, enough for spending some of your precious time with us today. 0:22 We have so much great innovation, research, and insights to share from our Bazaarvoice product teams, our customer panels, our consumer research, and our special guest speaker. 0:32 We have a lot to cover. So to get us started right away, I wanted to talk to you about something crucial to our collective success when selling our products to the consumer, and yet it is often taken for granted. 0:45 And that is the issue of trust. I want to talk to you about it today because due to a number of factors, technological, societal, and governmental, we have reached a watershed moment in our industry where trust cannot be taken for granted. 1:01 And your business growth can be accelerated or halted based on whether you keep or lose that trust, particularly your consumers' trust. 1:10 Think about this. Today, trust is at the heart of your relationship with the consumer. So it is the acceleration of your growth and the currency of commerce. 1:20 Consumers believe what they read, especially if it comes from you, our brands and retailers. And the more you have earned their trust, the less friction there will be on their path to purchase, and the faster you create commercial and hopefully lasting relationships with your consumers. 1:36 Now you've earned that trust through years of carefully crafting your brand's reputation by faithfully recording the attributes and benefits to the consumer of your products and by transparently sharing real time consumer feedback of your products in the form of authentic ratings and reviews and other user generated content. 1:56 But no matter how long you have spent building trust, I am always reminded of the phrase, trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. 2:06 Lose that trust, and it's nearly impossible to win back. Take the situation of our industry today. For the last twenty years since our founding, we have collectively built our businesses where consumers could and have relied on each other's authentic opinions to build trust. 2:23 Those opinions have continued to shift from friendly and knowledgeable in store employees to more and more being complimented by consumers relying on peer reviews and user generated content, from branded content to UGC content. 2:38 Leveraging consumers' opinions has empowered shoppers and scaled access to real time authentic opinions anywhere and anytime they want, thus supercharging all of your collective commerce efforts. 2:52 You could say business moves and has accelerated with increasing speed of trust. Think of how authentic ratings and reviews has always increased conversion and accelerated your sales. 3:03 But recent technology changes and tactics have exposed consumers to deception. Fake reviews, AI generated content, and manipulated marketing have raised serious concerns, awakened regulators, and can cause serious consequences for consumer confidence. 3:21 AI generated content is flooding digital commerce. Deepfakes and synthetic influencers blur the line between real and fake. 3:31 We see online shopping marketplaces rife with fraudulent claims and fake reviews, with consumers struggling to tell the difference. Who can they believe? 3:41 We're at an inflection point where bad actors can destroy that trust for all of us. And the risk isn't just ethical. It's financial. 3:49 It's a serious issue, one that is on the rise and has woken up the regulatory authorities. One mistake can cost brands millions of dollars. 3:59 Take the FTC's latest ruling. Brands can now be fined up to fifty thousand dollars per deceptive review read by consumers. 4:08 Think about that. Whenever a shopper reads a misleading review, it could cost a business tens of thousands of dollars, not per product, per read review. 4:20 US and international regulatory bodies are stepping in to crack down on deceptive content like never before. The cost of breaking consumer trust is no longer just reputational. 4:31 It is financial, and the penalties are steep. Imagine losing millions, not just in fines, but also in reputational damage with potential impairments to your brand's goodwill on your balance sheet. 4:43 That's exactly what's happening to brands caught deceiving their customers. Just last year, a major fast fashion brand was forced to issue two point four million in refunds after it was caught hiding negative reviews from its customers. 4:58 Imagine what that means. Not just in fines, but in permanent brand damage. Losing trust isn't just a marketing problem. 5:06 It's a business crisis. There's the financial with lawsuits, fines, PR disasters, the emotional where consumers feel betrayed and stop engaging with your brand, the brand destruction with consumers posting negative reviews, social media backlash, and lost loyalty. 5:26 Consumers are watching. Regulators are watching. The question is, are you ready for this new reality? 5:35 So embracing manipulative tactics can be very costly, and technology can be a foe, all combining to erode and destroy consumer confidence. 5:44 However, this is a solvable problem. And the issue can be avoided when brands prioritize authentic content and strong technology partnerships to protect them at the front and center of their missions. 5:57 At Bazaarvoice, we see it as our responsibility, and we have led our ways for years in protecting our clients' reputations and their brand safety. 6:06 We have seen this more challenging we've seen this more challenging situation coming, and many of the regulatory bodies often consult with us to help shape their thinking. 6:14 And with the risks increasing, over two years ago, we decided to take our leadership and our focus on the authentic voice of the customer and our focus and investments on authenticity and trust to the next level. 6:27 We're taking bold steps to solve the trust and authenticity challenge, which is a whole industry issue, and so we are all in this together. 6:35 Don't just take my word for it. Trust. It's a powerful word these days. What does trust mean? 6:45 There's nothing more authentic than a customer voice. It is probably the most trusted data point that a customer can look at when they're making their trust and authenticity and honesty. 7:00 When you find other consumers also love that brand, that builds more trust for the brand. 7:10 As a leader in UGC and trust management, we have always been honored to call so many of you our clients. Leading global brands and retailers are partnering with Bazaarvoice to take a more aggressive stance against the fake content and information being spewed into the airwaves every day. 7:26 For us, authenticity isn't an afterthought. It's a foundational commitment backed by industry leadership, cutting edge technology, and a team that prioritizes consumer trust above all else. 7:40 Bazaarvoice has been setting the industry standard for authenticity for over a decade. And at Bazaarvoice, we are not just a technology provider. 7:48 We are and have always been pioneering experts on authenticity and advocates for consumer protection and brand safety. 7:57 We continue to leverage world class fraud detection technology to stay ahead of deceptive practices, advancements in our Harmony AI systems to help scale authentic narratives and practices, ensure transparency, and prevent the erosion of consumer trust and further damage to our six trillion dollar industry. 8:17 The Bazaarvoice Authenticity Policy was first published eleven years ago and established our guidelines for what qualifies as real trustworthy consumer content. 8:28 And this policy continues to evolve as threats and regulations change. This policy is not just a best practice. It is embedded in our service agreements with you, our many thousands of brands and retailers, ensuring that we drive accountability around authenticity at scale. 8:45 And in the past year alone, we have authenticated hundreds of millions of reviews, stopping fraudulent content before it can mislead consumers. Bazaarvoice operates with a singular focus, protecting consumer trust, even when it's not the easiest business decision. 9:01 We only choose to partner with brands and retailers with the highest commitment to authenticity standards. We have rejected two million fraudulent reviews in the last twelve months alone. 9:12 And authenticity in today's world, we feel, is nonnegotiable. For years, the Bazaarvoice Trustmark, which up until now has been an opt in feature for clients on our brand and retailer partner sites, has signified verified authentic content, giving consumers confidence in what they see. 9:31 Consumers actively seek third party validation, and brands that display this certification stand out as trusted sources in an era of skepticism. 9:41 Trust is no longer assumed. It must be earned, verified, and proven continuously. And so today, I'm thrilled to introduce the Bazaarvoice Intelligent Trustmark, a more dynamic, seamless, and visible verification that ensures your UGC meets the highest standards of authenticity. 10:02 With the Intelligent Trustmark, we're setting a new standard for authenticity. This will be a game changer for brands and consumers alike as it provides a visible third party certification that guarantees UGC is real, verified, and trustworthy. 10:20 Later, Marissa Jones, our senior VP of product at Bazaarvoice, will discuss the intelligent trust mark in more detail during the upcoming innovation session. 10:31 But as I said, ensuring content authenticity and brand trust is not just a Bazaarvoice challenge. It's an industry challenge. 10:39 An industry wide issue calls for an industry wide solution. And that's why today, I am also thrilled to announce the formation of the Alliance for Authenticity with Bazaarvoice and Consumers International, the global membership organization for consumer groups, with two hundred plus members operating one hundred countries around the world as a founding member of the alliance. 11:04 And we're in the process of adding several very well known leading brands and retailers currently in active discussions to join, which we will publicly announce very soon. 11:15 And we will also discuss this further on the authenticity panel right after this keynote. Together, we will set the gold standard for authenticity and trust in user generated content, ensuring stronger industry standards for content verification, moderation, and trust symbols, collaboration across sectors to combat fake and deceptive online content, research driven solutions to stay ahead of emerging fraud tactics, consumer education to help shoppers identify and trust real content, and policy advocacy to drive compliance and accountability. 11:52 Following this keynote, Stefan Hall, managing director of Digital Innovation and Impact of Consumers International, Osh Sivour, chief brand and marketing officer of Mesa, and Katie Steiner, manager of Omni Product Content Experience, Integration and Oversight at Lowe's, will join us for a panel discussion on why trust is the future of commerce. 12:13 Authenticity is not just our responsibility. It's our mission. We are investing, innovating, and driving accountability in the industry with all of you who take this so seriously so that our brands, our retailers, and consumers can trust what they see is real. 12:30 And we are proud to be recognized as the industry's gold standard by brands, retailers, and industry analysts. And as Ananda Chakravarti, VP of Research at analyst firm IDC says, quote, trust is the hallmark of a good business, unquote. 12:46 So to bring this as a close, as the saying goes, it takes years to build trust and seconds to destroy it. So to that end, we will be commercially releasing the new intelligence trust mark in about six to seven weeks. 13:01 Our systems will dynamically determine if the trust mark should be displayed on your PDPs based on your current technical setup, data quality signals, and consistent compliance with our authenticity best practices. 13:14 Assuming everything is in order, the trust mark will automatically appear. Of course, when we are ready to launch, we will be in touch to notify you in advance about this change should you have any questions whatsoever. 13:25 Ensuring authenticity throughout our entire content supply chain of branded and user generated content along the full funnel shopper journey will be key to the success of this connected commerce world. 13:37 The six trillion dollar global retail commerce industry and the billions of consumers worldwide count on all of us to scale and grow. 13:46 So winning trust isn't just an afterthought. It's a fundamental part of your growth strategy. Thank you so much for your time and attention. I hope you enjoy the show. 13:55 And with that, I'm gonna bring Ed and Emma back to the stage.
