What the press release was built for, and what it wasn't
For a long time, the corporate communications model worked because the environment rewarded it. One approved message, released at one moment, shaped the coverage that followed. Control was the strategy, and control was enough.
That world is gone. Press releases still matter for disclosures, filings and formal announcements. But they have stopped doing the one thing leaders actually need them to do, which is to influence anyone. A release informs the people who read it and changes very few minds.
Part of the reason is structural. Trust in traditional media has been falling for years, and the institutional voice falls with it. In the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, the largest of these studies at nearly 34,000 people across 28 countries, trust in major news organisations dropped 11 points among those who said recent events had shaken their confidence in institutions. Nielsen's Trust in Advertising research, built on surveys of more than 40,000 consumers, tells a similar story from the other side. Recommendations from people rank as the most trusted source of information, with 88% of respondents trusting them above any form of advertising. Tobacco advertising ranked as the least trusted category of all.
If you work in a contested sector, note the pattern: the official, paid channel is both less effective and actively distrusted. You can spend more on it and move the needle less.
Trust has moved closer to home
The same 2026 Edelman study found that trust has stopped flowing toward institutions and started flowing toward individuals. While trust in national government leaders fell 16 points and trust in major news organisations fell 11, trust rose for the voices closest to people. Coworkers gained 11 points. Neighbours, family and friends gained 11. Among employees, trust in "my CEO" rose 9 points.
Edelman describes this as trust shifting from "we" to "me." People are retreating into smaller, closer circles of belief. The institution, as a category, is losing the benefit of the doubt. The credible individual is gaining it.
The same study found that roughly three quarters of people now say CEOs are obligated to build trust actively, yet only 44% believe leaders are doing this well. The expectation to lead with a visible, human voice has never been higher, and most leaders are not yet meeting it.
Why regulated industries feel this most
Every company is affected by this shift. Regulated companies feel it twice.
In pharmaceuticals, finance, energy and tobacco, the corporate channel is wrapped in legal review, advertising restrictions and multi-level approval that strips urgency and authenticity out of anything it touches. By the time a statement clears, the moment has often passed. The controls designed to protect the company are the same ones that make its official voice slow and easy to discount.
Yet the regulations almost never stop a leader from sharing professional perspective on where the industry is heading, honest reflection on the challenges the sector faces, or analysis of how the rules themselves are evolving. What they restrict are specific claims, promises and marketing. Thinking out loud, intelligently and within clear boundaries, remains open to any leader willing to do it.
The asymmetry sits in plain sight. The most restricted channel, the corporate one, is the one audiences trust least. The least restricted, the individual leader, is the one they trust most. Most companies in regulated sectors are pouring effort into the first and leaving the second almost entirely untouched. That is a missed opportunity wearing a compliance costume.
"But we're too busy, and the timing's never right"
When a critical file is consuming the team, pausing the personal-brand side feels like good prioritisation. The trouble is that visibility compounds. One post changes nothing, a consistent presence over months builds recognition that a single announcement never could, and every stop-start cycle sends you back to rebuilding from cold. The steady human voice does its most important work in exactly those busy stretches, holding credibility while the official machine is occupied elsewhere.
It changes who picks up the phone
Visibility moves the things leaders actually care about, starting with revenue.
In Edelman and LinkedIn's B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, the largest ongoing study of how thought leadership shapes buying behaviour, 75% of buyers and senior executives said a specific piece of thought leadership led them to research a product or service they had not previously been considering. Earlier editions found that 63% of buyers say strong thought leadership proves an organisation genuinely understands their problem.
The 2025 edition adds a finding built for anyone in corporate affairs, legal or communications. It identified the hidden buyers, the people in finance, legal, compliance and procurement who never sign the contract but still shape whether deals move forward. More than 40% of deals stall on internal misalignment among exactly these people, and 95% of them said strong thought leadership makes them more receptive.
There is a talent dimension too. Half of decision-makers in the same research said thought leadership is effective for attracting the best people. Top candidates research leadership before they apply, and when they find silence they fill the gap with assumptions that rarely favour a company in a contested sector.
And soon, who the machines recommend
When someone asks an AI assistant who the credible voices are in pharmaceutical transformation, or which leaders to follow on financial regulation, the system looks for patterns of consistent, substantive, visible contribution rather than checking who is officially approved. Leaders who have built that presence get surfaced, cited and recommended. Those who have stayed quiet simply do not appear.
Distribution already rewards the individual. On LinkedIn, content from personal profiles consistently outperforms company pages, with personal-profile engagement running around a 4.7% median against roughly 1 to 2% for brand pages, according to Sprout Social's 2026 index. The human voice travels further, and the machines are learning to follow it.
What this looks like in practice
Any executive could set the system up this week. Agree three topics with legal once, in a single meeting: where the industry is heading, what the sector keeps getting wrong, and how the rules are evolving. Products, claims and promises stay off the list, so nothing needs case-by-case review. Block 45 minutes a month to talk through your views, on a call or into a voice memo, and have someone turn that into two LinkedIn posts a week, scheduled a month ahead so a regulatory crunch cannot knock the rhythm offline. Judge it quarterly on three numbers: impressions, profile views from the audiences you care about, and inbound conversations you would not otherwise have had.
The results follow faster than most expect. One executive we partner with in a regulated industry went from a near-silent presence to more than 56,000 impressions in roughly two months. No advertising spend, no legal gymnastics, just a credible person showing up consistently and saying things worth reading.
The choice underneath all of it
Staying visible in a contested sector takes a certain kind of courage: a willingness to be present and human in public when silence would feel safer, without recklessness and without any disregard for the rules. When leaders choose that, the organisation reads it as confidence. When they stay hidden, the organisation reads that too.
Silence does not protect a reputation anymore. It just guarantees that nobody hears your side of the story.
Learn more about Ripple™
If this resonated, this is exactly what we build. Ripple™ helps leaders in regulated industries turn perspective into presence, without adding to their workload. We capture the voice, handle the writing, planning and publishing, and keep the rhythm consistent through the busy stretches when it matters most. Discover our personal brand management system for executives who want lasting visibility without the time cost, see how we activate entire leadership teams with corporate visibility at scale, or read more in our News and Insights.
At Ripple™, we turn leadership into leverage through personal branding, visibility systems, and storytelling that travels further.
To explore how we can help, get in touch at joost@majortale.com.
Sources: 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer (33,938 respondents, 28 countries, fielded October to November 2025); Edelman and LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, 2021, 2024 and 2025 editions; Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising; Sprout Social 2026 Index.
