Trust and action: how to use reputation to build business success

In a year when half the world’s population has been to the polls, reputation has been a huge part of the reckoning with incumbents across the globe turned out of office for a perceived failure to deliver.

For businesses, corporate reputation is an issue that has eternal importance, and is increasingly associated with brand values. 

However, with only 32% of the US public trusting news media, and a backlash in the UK and elsewhere against companies’ sustainability and DEI initiatives, balancing reputation and brand is increasingly complicated.

According to new research by Bloomberg Media among senior business leaders, 57% will prioritise business outcomes over reputation during a crisis. And half of marketers say they spend 10% or less of budgets on corporate reputation.

Although digital is the top external channel for influencing reputation, 61% of leaders believe technologies like generative AI adversely affect corporate reputation.

Duncan Chater, managing director, Europe, at Bloomberg Media, says the company’s global survey of 15,000 decision makers shows the issue of corporate reputation is a growing priority. “There is an interesting discussion to be had on how brand perception and corporate reputation link together and how it is discussed in the boardroom.”

The third pillar of marketing

With their diverse range of clients, spanning size, sector and specific circumstances, agency leaders are in a prime position to give a clear-eyed view of how brand marketers are truly thinking about corporate reputation - and budgeting for it.

At a Campaign breakfast discussion, in partnership with Bloomberg Media and hosted at its London headquarters, top media agencies met to uncover such insights.

A hot topic of conversation: how does corporate reputation link with brand strategy and performance – and is it now the “third pillar” of marketing strategy, alongside brand and performance marketing?

Allying reputation and brand is seen to make sense as it provides a consistency of message, although it’s not always given the priority it perhaps should. 

It is highly sector specific too. In financial services, reputation and trust are intrinsically linked to brand, says Vincent Hooplot, chief operating officer at Fundamental Media.

“In our industry, if reputation goes, everything goes. If trust is gone, the money follows. It’s everything.”

Brand is reputation

Despite this close relationship between brand and reputation, Pippa Glucklich, CEO of Electric Glue, believes some companies can be antipathetic to the notion of brand.

It’s a point underpinned by Bloomberg Media’s findings that, while 72% of CEOs say they feel confident that they understand modern marketing, only 27% of CMOs believe CEOs actually do.

Glucklich offers some sort of solution: “In the boardroom, it [corporate reputation] can be seen as fluffy. Our chairman Sir John Hegarty recommends substituting the word ‘brand’ for ‘reputation’ because they are completely the same.”

Whatever the nomenclature, organisational silos still come into play. Brand is usually owned by the chief marketing officer while corporate reputation resides with the chief communications officer. The latter is on the board while the former is often not.

Whether or not the board makes a space for marketers, the C-suite is not immune to feedback from digital channels.

Caitriona Henry, head of strategy EMEA at Hearts & Science, is noticing chief executives now taking more interest in corporate reputation.

“Where the product name is the same as the company, we are seeing a faster acceleration with issues like product recall. There’s a shortcut between the consumer, the shopfloor and the CEO, and they will get their voice heard.”

Who’s trusted?

Trust no longer belongs with traditional guardians such as corporations, media or governments. Consumers may be more likely to trust an anonymous online review.

Reputation can be affected in multiple channels and brands have to be consistent at every touchpoint. Integration has therefore become more important as the distinction between paid and social media blurs. 

Organisational separation on these makes it difficult to tackle that, Chinar Desai, managing director at Spark Foundry International, points out. “We’ve seen most success where the CMO reports to comms or there’s integration - because trust can live across many different channels.”

However, trust is not always clear cut. There is a difference between functional trust - that a brand “does what it says on the tin” - and emotional trust that a company will “do the right thing”.

“It is beautiful when they coincide but that’s not often,” notes Elliott Millard, outgoing chief strategy & planning officer at Wavemaker. “FMCG brands [sometimes] try to bolt on reputation that isn’t true to the brand – for example, a shower gel that is going to do something about bullying. Nobody needs them to do that.” 

Additionally, there’s an issue that brand and reputation typically operate to different timescales. Brand campaigns are allied to shorter-term, quarterly objectives in comparison to the more far-sighted vision of reputation.

Reputation is curated over time, across all touch points, but brands often expect instant results. And reputation can be lost very quickly.

Think again

With many businesses currently still focused on growth, it can be hard to reset the long-term. But it is possible to ride both horses at once, insists Fleur Stoppani, managing director at Mindshare.

“We are seeing more issues in briefs, such as inclusion and sustainability. Media agencies are very good at being given a brief and identifying those issues.”

An example is Marks and Spencer. When it presented Mindshare with a sales brief for its bras, the media agency pointed out that it was not reflective of how inclusive the company is - and so the retailer spent a year reworking its customer experience for different communities including trans, black, and disabled customers. “It is happening,” Stoppani acknowledges. “Just not as much as we’d like to see it.” 

Media choices

Can agencies be expected to be the brand’s moral compass when determining media choice, or should they simply focus on the outcomes they deliver for a client? They risk being damned if they do, and damned if they don’t, says Kirk.

Brands can righteously decide to boycott a particular channelbut they may simply be joining a comforting herd rather than truly making a stand. And would their minds be changed if the media they’d avoided started performing exponentially well?

“It’s about balancing pragmatism with principles, but that’s a conversation that rarely gets space,” says Kirk.

In a polarised age, media choices are an indicator of what brands stand for – quality journalism versus “fake news” for instance. “Part of the role of media agencies is advising clients that their media choices are like your clothes,” says Glucklich. “It’s how you show up. If you’re appearing on certain platforms – no matter how efficient they might be – it says something about your brand.”

Measuring reputation

When it comes to assessing corporate reputation and brand, not everything can be measured, but a lot can be.

Silos and a lack of joined-up thinking create a less-than-straightforward process but short and long-term views can be combined to see where patterns are emerging.

Corporate reputation marketing budgets are usually small, calling for creative thinking. Tools such as AI, for instance, could play a role in scrutinising how brands are perceived. 

After years chasing the “crack cocaine” of programmatic advertising, WPP’s VP of planning and strategy James Harris suggests, brands are waking up to the importance of the quality side of the equation. 

A curated, less-is-more approach to advertising is perhaps one vision of the future that pays more attention to the dynamic between brand and corporate reputation. 

Investment in something which “ultimately protects against the worst happening” is hard to justify, Chater acknowledges.“It feels like there’s a big opportunity to reframe corporate reputation so it’s much more connected to brand.”

That is a conversation that has just begun.

From left to right: Jenny Biggam, CEO & owner, the7stars; Chinar Desai, managing director, Spark Foundry International; Caitriona Henry, head of strategy EMEA, Hearts and Science; Christine Cook, global chief revenue officer, Bloomberg Media; Duncan Chater, managing director, Europe, Bloomberg Media; Beau Jackson, media editor, Campaign UK; Vincent Hooplot, COO and chief strategist, Fundamental Media; Kat Bozicevich, managing director, MG OMD; Richard Kirk, joint chief strategy officer, EssenceMediacom; Sharon Dhillon, managing director, Initiative; Elliott Millard, outgoing chief strategy and planning officer, Wavemaker; Fleur Stoppani, managing director, Mindshare; James Harris, VP of planning and strategy, WPP; Pippa Glucklich, CEO and founder, Electric Glue; Iain Prickett, owner, White Spider Media.

Authored by Suzanne Bidlake, Campaign's commercial editor.