In our ethics and compliance universe focused on avoiding scandals and prosecutions, we can sometimes forget the greatest value ethics programs can add to a company. James Stengel, the Global Marketing Officer for P&G hasn’t. Stengel oversees the world’s largest advertising budget—$6.7 billion—and had this to say in a recent interview with Geoff Colvin in Fortune:

Geoff Colvin: You are in a great position to evaluate consumer trends. What is the most important thing you are seeing?

James Stengel: The biggest thing going on with consumers is that they want to trust something. They want to be understood, they want to be respected, they want to be listened to. They don’t want to be talked to. It’s trust in the largest sense of the word. People really do care what’s behind the brand, what’s behind the business. They care about the values of a brand and the values of a company. We can never forget that. We can never be complacent about that.

This is an enormous phenomenon, enabled by technology in many ways. Businesses and brands that are breaking records are those that inspire trust and affection and loyalty by being authentic, by not being arrogant, and by being empathetic to those they serve.

He is a marketer, and a good one.

“People . . . care about the values of a company. We can never forget that. We can never be complacent about that.”