Why Apple Bounces and Banks Splat: The Challenge of Reputation - Brian Jacobs

Last week39s Cog Blog was about what people think about organisations and why that matters Today39s continues and expands upon that themeA positive reputation creates a carapace around an organisation that sees it through the tough times It gives a business 39bouncebackability39 A good example is Apple whose reputation was for many years the personal responsibility of the guy at the top Steve Jobs Jobs recognised that if he could create a sense of something close to unconditional love amongst his loyal customers those same loyal customers would forgive him almost anything When problems hit the loyalists would shrug and assume that AppleJobs would sort it out As indeed theyhe invariably didCompare and contrast Apple with Blackberry Also benefiting from a fierce band of loyalists almost despite themselves when Blackberry39s network failed the opprobrium heaped upon them by these loyalists was close to terminal There was no sense within the online forums that Blackberry 39would sort it out39 Blackberry doesn39t have 39bouncebackability39Nor indeed do banks In fact they have the exact opposite 39Splatability39 perhaps They39re seen to mess up amp8211 even when they don39t Furthermore they keep making the same mistakes They understand the need to advertise amp8211 all the time even when they screw up was it really wise for NatWest to run their 39Helpful banking39 ads in newspapers the day after their systems failed in early December last year blocking thousands of customers from access to their money But advertising alone doesn39t build a reputation Certainly it can help if it39s longterm and consistent but you have to follow through in everything you do Everything and everyone communicates everything and everyone countsWhat banks and train companies many airlines mobile phone operating companies and utility businesses seem to miss is that reputation is multidimensional When to continue the bank example the banks39 investment arms behave as they have done whilst still paying huge bonuses the general public doesn39t make the distinction between highstreet branches and the City After all why should they when they39re both part of the same organisationEvery time you have to wait for ages on a phone to talk to a human every time an airline or train company fails to communicate why there39s a delay every time a poorly aimed mailer drops through the door or appears on a social media site every time you hear of how badly a friend or a friend of a friend has been treated by his employer all of those experiences add to a company39s or brand39s reputationAs with brands any organisation39s reputation is made up of the views of multiple groups As Jeremy Bullmore put it quotPeople build brands as birds build nests from scraps and straws we chance uponquot And so it is with reputation It is created and continuously adjusted by the overlapping views of those who come into contact with the business be that as users of the product or service as members of staff as suppliers as regulators as journalists as analysts as friends and families of any of the aboveThat39s why it39s complicated What I think of my Samsung phone is in part shaped by what others think say and write What others think or say is in part influenced by what I say or write When I read that the new Samsung curved TV was monstered by critics at the recent CES that has an effect on how I feel about the Company and by extension about my phoneThe way that reputation is measured doesn39t help organisations understand or guide them in their future strategies The metrics are too simplistic too onedimensional One feedback I received to the last post from an employee of a large market research firm said in effect reputation is a function of sales It isn39t Apple is by no means market leader in laptops or phones the major highstreet banks still have the majority of market share in the UK amp8211 but the fact that a large research company seems to think it is speaks volumesReputation is both complicated and important It39s also largely ignored by most CEO39s who pass it off as they tend to do with most activities tied to marketing as puffery and smoke and mirrors One way to change this is to root any Board level conversation about reputation not in the language of the research world but in the language of the Board That means a more joinedup multifaceted financiallyfocussed businesslike approachIt39s a challenge that the market research world can answer by focussing more on client needs and less on internal hierarchiesBrian Jacobs spent over 35 years in advertising media and research agencies including spells at Leo Burnett UK EMEA International Media Director Carat International Managing Director Universal McCann EMEA Director and Millward Brown EVP Global Media He has worked in the UK EMEA and globally out of the USA His experience covers shifts from fullservice ad agencies to media agencies from traditional singlecommercialchannel TV to multifaceted digital channels and from media planning to multidisciplinary communication planning Brian can be reached at brianbjandacom Read all Brian Jacobs39 MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Brian Jacobs amp160Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentariesImage courtesy of cooldesignFreeDigitalPhotosnet

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Why Apple Bounces and Banks Splat: The Challenge of Reputation - Brian Jacobs

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