Caliber, a brand reputation analytics and strategy company, polls continuously on many questions, but one’s a lapel-grabber for founder and CEO Shahar Silbershatz. It asks whether respondents would recommend a company. The question is posed to a variety of respondents, meaning that while consumers will interpret the question as whether they’d recommend shopping the brand, others take it differently.

“If I’m a supplier, if I’m an investor, if I’m a regulator or policymaker, recommendation is something that applies to a lot of people, not just to shoppers,” Silbershatz explained to Retail Brew. “It’s a more important metric, simply because it’s more multi-stakeholder.”

In other words, for retailers the response encompasses not just whether consumers would recommend shopping in their stores, but also whether financial planners would recommend their stock, vendors and other brands would recommend them as partners, and employees would recommend working for them.

According to data shared exclusively with Retail Brew, Caliber asked respondents in January whether they agreed with the statement, “I would recommend Target to others,” 49% agreed. But in February, following Target announcing at the end of January that it would eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, the percentage who agreed dropped 11 points, to 38%.

Considering how much coverage Target has received for backtracking on DEI, Silbershatz suggested that’s why Target took such a reputational hit.

“The biggest thing that was reported around Target at that time was the DEI policy, so it’s likely that,” Silbershatz said.

Keep reading here.—AAN

President Trump’s national energy emergency executive order and tariff-backed manufacturing mission aren’t exactly an environmental activist’s dream. So in a climate of near-climate crisis denialism, what are brands built on caring about the Earth and its inhabitants to do?

For companies like Califia Farms, a plant-based beverage brand, and Tony’s Chocolonely, an ethically sourced chocolate brand, the political and cultural atmosphere is something they’re considering, but not surrendering to, executives told us. Both brands, which are built on eco-conscious and ethical missions, lean on that value heavily in their messaging, ranging from plant-focused campaigns to educational packaging.

Though the current administration may be deprioritizing—and in some cases, seeking to fully eliminate—climate initiatives, and tariffs could stand to make green manufacturing and clean energy more costly, consumer demand for brand environmental responsibility is only increasing.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—JN

Spring is sprung. Easter is over. And back to school shopping is still a couple of months away. But don’t let the absence of holidays or major sales seasons fool you. Retailers are staying busy with promotional events, conferences, and earnings reports.

Here’s a sampling of what’s going on in retail this week:

In earnings: Some big-name earnings are dropping this week from a mix of CPG, QSR, and tech giants. First up are Coca-Cola and Starbucks on Tuesday, and then Amazon, Apple, and CVS are following them on Thursday. Between them, plenty of ground should be covered this week, with fresh insights on how tariffs, supply chains, and economic uncertainty are impacting consumer spending and retail operations.

Keep reading here.—AV