This post was created in partnership with Marketing Architects
Brands need consumer trust to grow, but gaining and keeping it takes a careful strategy.
During a Brandweek 2026 fireside chat co-hosted with Marketing Architects, Angela Voss, CEO of Marketing Architects, sat down with Dale Sperling, CMO of Trust & Will, to discuss how the challenger brand is building trust at scale.
A tricky category to navigate
Voss began the conversation noting, “Trust is a lot more than just a feel-good metric. It’s one of the biggest drivers of whether people actually buy from you.”
Sperling then shared some of the unique challenges Trust & Will, a digital estate planning company, faces. “We compete in a category where people really don’t want to think about the product,” she said.
When people actually decide to start an estate plan, most don’t know who to trust, Sperling added. “They think the most credible path is sitting across from a local estate planning attorney. So, our job is not just to make it simpler, but we have to find a way to make using an online platform credible and feel safe,” Sperling explained.
A TV-first strategy
Trust & Will, which partners with Marketing Architects, uses TV to build trust. “There’s a legitimacy that comes from being on national television,” Sperling shared. “It puts you in the same room as the biggest established brands.”
Voss elaborated by referencing signaling theory research. “When consumers see a brand investing in something as visible and expensive—traditionally—as national TV, they read that as a signal that this brand must be legitimate,” she explained. “It becomes that shortcut for trust for that brand.”
Trust & Will complements linear TV with CTV. “Running them both together is actually what maximizes total reach for us,” Sperling shared. “Today, TV is the No. 1 way people first learn about Trust & Will. It’s truly that top of the funnel demand gen for us, and it really is a powerful platform.”
Leveraging memorable and consistent creative
Creative also plays a role in developing trust. Voss noted, “This is where a lot of brands leave trust on the table with ineffective, boring creative.”
Trust & Will connects storytelling in its “Make it Count” campaign series as an example of memorable moments that could prompt a customer to think about estate planning. One spot features parents telling an aunt they’ve chosen her to be their kids’ guardian.
Spokesperson Eddie Blackwell Williams interrupts the conversations in each campaign ad to emphatically share that an intention alone “doesn’t count.” Rather, it needs to be stated in a legal document.
