Archive for the ‘online reputation’ Category

BP has got to the stage in its reputational decline where it is not just a falling stock but a laughing stock, with 7 million views of this spoof video so far and climbing, making a mockery of BP’s own videos of the containment effort.

The NetBase Brand Passion Index, which measures the intensity of consumer passion for brands among users of online communities reveals that consumers of a golfing bent are most passionate about Callaway a golf club brand.

TaylorMade is the next most loved brand, followed closely by Wilson and Nike.

While Nike Golf and Callaway are the subject of an equal amount of chatter, Nike is merely liked while Callaway inspires real passion.

Despite the negative publicity, Tiger Woods does not appear to impact the passion level for the Nike Golf brand. In fact, golfers express little negativity towards any of the major brands.

Titleist gets the least amount of love, but is still generally liked. Personally I hate them, keep losing the pesky things! Read the rest of this entry »

I remember dating a budding actress at university who at some point in our ultimately doomed relationship, pulled out a square, white chequebook with old fashioned writing on it – very different to the animal patterned Nat West ones most students were sporting in those days.  I remember being impressed and slightly intimidated by it, as I was by her if I’m honest. She explained it was a Coutts chequebook –the Queen’s bank – that her Stepdad had given to her.

At that time in the late eighties, Coutts had a rock solid, exclusive reputation which any self- respecting yuppie wanted a piece of. Legend had it that you needed half a million in cash minimum before they’d consider letting you in the door. As with many of the aspirant financial clubs of the eighties, the lack of information available about them just added to their mystique and cache.

Just as the red Porsches and matching braces have all but disappeared from the City, so the era of such corporate reputations, locked tight in a marble clad safety deposit boxes, have gone. It’s not just the high profile Madoff, Enron and Lehman scandals that have shaken public belief in financial institutions but on a micro level, through the internet, reputations now rise or fall on what customers are saying online. Read the rest of this entry »

The influential parenting site, Mumsnet, is playing an increasingly active part in social debate, with George at Asda becoming the first retailer to seek approval from the site’s members before putting a potentially controversial product on its shelves.

Whatever we think of this as a PR move – and it’s an interesting one – it serves to underline the impact that key social networking sites can have on brand reputation. Mumsnet receives more than 1m unique visitors each month. Its discussion boards attract about 20,000 comments daily. Even the upcoming General Election has been dubbed the ‘Mumsnet Election.’

George at Asda, Boden, House of Fraser, Mothercare and Start-rite have all signed up to the site’s ‘Let girls be girls’ campaign, after members expressed concerns about products on sale in high-street stores. It aims to get retailers to agree to end the ‘premature sexualisation of children though their products and marketing.’

Writing in his Editor’s comment this week, Gareth Jones of Marketing magazine is sceptical as to whether Asda’s decision represents an intelligent PR coup. “Mumsnet is a hugely powerful force that brands should seek to harness but, in this case, it seems George at Asda may be going a step too far,” he says. Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft has knocked Google off its top spot in the 2010 Business Superbrands survey.

Google, ranked first in the two previous surveys, changes places with Microsoft who were in fifth spot last year.

New entries to the top ten include BlackBerry, 42nd  last year and British Airways, back to eighth from its worst position last year – 36th. Rival Virgin Atlantic however, also appears, above BA, in fourth position.

Revealing the fall-out from the financial crisis, the list of the top 10 biggest fallers includes UBS and Morgan Stanley, with the Royal Bank of Scotland falling out of the top 500 altogether.

Proving that a re-brand can have a positive affect Aviva, Read the rest of this entry »

Back in the late eighties, the reputation of city institutions seemed bullet proof. As mysterious as they were venerated, ambitious graduates of the day would talk in awed terms about big fives and big fours, while leafing through prospectuses made from linen and parchment.

In private banking, one name soared above them all, a name guaranteed to score big yuppie points with the stripey shirted city aspirants of the day.

In 2010, that bank’s reputation is in danger and in this guest blog for Stopgap Group, Furlong PR CEO Ross Furlong lays out why venerable institutions need to wise up to the new world of online reputation.

A few weeks ago I fell off my chair at a comment one magazine editor posted on Twitter, speculating that members of a certain London club suffered from, shall we say, onanistic tendencies.

Such scope for personal expression may not last long. The LA Times has issued updated  social media content guidelines for their staff emphasising that just about anything they post online both personal and work related, reflects on the reputation and credibility of the newspaper.

“Integrity is our most important commodity: Avoid writing or posting anything that would embarrass The Times or compromise your ability to do your job,” says the first guideline.

It goes on, “Your professional life and your personal life are intertwined in the online world, just as they are offline, attempts, for instance, to distinguish your high school friends from your professional associates are fine, but in all spaces one should adhere to the principle that as an editorial employee you are responsible for maintaining The Times’ credibility.” Read the rest of this entry »

In a post on her blog on Thursday, Susan Moskwa, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst recommends proactively publishing “useful, positive information”  to gain control of your business (or personal) online reputation.

Moskwa’s comments come in the context of dealing with negative online publicity and in 2009, it’s still the case that most businesses only think of online reputation when something goes wrong. It’s the online equivalent of crisis PR.

Other companies are taking a more considered approach, combining elements of search and editorial planning to ensure that their online reputation matches their brand values. Read the rest of this entry »

So says Weber Shandwick’s US based chief executive Harris Diamond, speaking this week to PR Week’s Danny Rogers. Diamond sees the Italian suited ad execs and Ivy League management consultants ‘walking away’ from the challenge of driving reputation in the era of dialogue and a more strategic place for PR in the corporate pantheon.

On a more micro level, I was in a restaurant in Reigate this week, eating a cheese omelette with some very successful international marketers, talking about social media. The thing that stands out is not the need for technical advice, though there was a bit of chat about blogging platforms, but the need for good quality, on- message communications through new channels which they simply don’t have time to handle. Read the rest of this entry »

UK Google search results for online reputation have risen 41% in the last year, according to data from search specialists WhyCommunicate?

Internationally, the US, followed by UK and Germany are the countries running most searches for online reputation with “online reputation management” and “bad reputation” the fastest rising search phrases.

Interest in online pr has grown over the same period by 27%  and micro-blogging (Twitter) by 72%.

Interest in online pr is surfacing more frequently in the media too. Recent news stories include  the LSE’s findings  that companies with good online reputation grow 4-5 times faster and the slightly surreal recommendation from Gartner that company avatars follow a dress code. Centaur launched a dedicated site to the subject – Reputation Online last month. Read the rest of this entry »