All posts by Reputation Communications Staff

About Reputation Communications Staff

Reputation Communications Staff

Reputation Communications' staff of writers, editors and researchers contribute to You(Online): The Magazine.

Branding, Reputation Case Study, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

She may not have won last Sunday’s Daytona 500, but rookie NASCAR driver Danica Patrick definitely attracted the most buzz. Most of that attention focused on how she became the first woman to earn the pole position at Daytona. While some may still know her by her appearances in risqué GoDaddy.com ads than for her driving, a closer look at her story reveals just how much time, effort and planning has gone into her brand. According to an in-depth ESPN Magazine profile by Janet Reitman, it all started with “Plan Danica.” Reitman describes how Patrick caught the racing bug as a young girl and soon had her own “hero cards, the flashy racing version of baseball cards, as well as T-shirts featuring her name and picture.” After her father signed her up for a public speaking course, Patrick “blossomed into a polished pitchwoman,” said Reitman.

Off to the Races

When major media outlets came knocking a few years later, Patrick was ready, and her hard work both on and off the track continued to pay off. In 2002 she was picked up by David Letterman’s and Bobby Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Racing, and in 2005 she was named “Rookie of the Year” at the Indianapolis 500. Another major strategic decision was Patrick’s move from IndyCar to NASCAR. Her recent success will surely be a boost for the racing league, which is already a huge industry. “Right now, the spotlight is on Danica Patrick, someone who has no problem making headlines and handling same,” writes Forbes’ Darren Heitner. “Her 720,000+ followers on Twitter do not mind the attention Danica is demanding.  Neither does NASCAR.” An early start isn’t the only factor that has contributed to Patrick’s success and high profile. Her gender has made her story unique in the racing world, but her management of that story has been the key. Sally Jenkins’s Washington Post column sums it up perfectly:

“What’s most interesting to me about Patrick, though, is not her womanness, but how she deals with it. Watching her walk through her fledgling career as the only female in NASCAR is not unlike watching a driver adroitly pick off cars, negotiate curves and avoid trouble in a crowded field. It’s an essay in control. In talking to her about this larger performance, what you get is a blast of cool intelligence, a fundamentally composed whip-smartness.”

Shifting Gears

After earning her place at the front of the pack, she has begun tackling her next challenge: getting major wins on the racetrack and refining her brand. “Patrick finally seems ready to shed her reputation as a model and finally contend in races this year,” writes The Sports Quotient’s Will Hayman. Her success at Daytona was a big step, and she’s also been letting the public see more of her genuine self. “The difference between the Patrick of old and today’s version is the newer one appears to be more open and less guarded,” observes NBC Sports’ Tony Dizinno. Another smart move was picking up a Coca-Cola sponsorship last year. “It’s amazing how much my message aligned with [their brand] so well,” she told USA Today. “I feel you really can have it all in life if you do it right and work hard enough.”

 
 
Branding, Social Media, , , , ,

In My Look, My Ego, My Brand, Ruth LaPerla looks at how stylish, self-promoting fashion bloggers are attracting lucrative product endorsement, TV and other contracts.  (Andy Torres, shown here, blogs at Style Scrapbook.) Image is a big part of it. So is the content they create. Their blogs attract large online audiences who are both peers and consumers – the kind hotly sought after by fashion labels. Their personal style results in a front-row presence at prestigious fashion shows, where they are flanked by celebrities and fashion industry royalty whose own career rise often took decades.

Social media savvy, crafting their image to attract attention and the willingness to put themselves out there are key aspects to their success. They are also authentic: their readers can relate.  According to Ms. LaPerla, Andy Torres’ audience grew considerably when she started using her own image in photographs that show readers how to pull together different looks. In an industry where creating imagery is a multi-million dollar business, the appeal of such indie style makers makes a strong statement.

Fashion is not the only industry where Millennials — 18 – 32 year olds who strongly value the views of their friends and are heavy social media users — are making an impact. To gain more insight, check out Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaping Our World, by David B. Bernstein.

 
 
Internet Legal Issues, , , ,

John Leland’s article in today’s New York Times pulls back the curtain on a years-long online harassment campaign that is certain to become a case study.

The perpetrator is a Harvard PhD whose father is a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar. To attract more support for his father’s views, he devoted years creating anonymous online identities and content – emails, blogs, articles and numerous online comments – to denigrate the reputations and findings of more prominent Dead Sea Scrolls experts.

An FBI investigation led to findings of 51 charges of identity theft, aggravated harassment, criminal impersonation and forgery.  They were assisted by one of the victims of the attack. As Leland explains:

“A typical e-mail message or blog post has an Internet protocol address that identifies the computer used to create it. Using simple software that identified the I.P. addresses, he traced the e-mails and blog posts of 82 aliases to the same few computers.”

Many such cases have surfaced in recent years. They are becoming a standard part of the legal landscape.

 
 
Crisis Management, Reputation Case Study, , , , , , , , , , ,

As NBC News’ Allison Linn says, the new plane is “receiving plenty of attention lately — but it’s not at all the kind of buzz the aircraft maker had been hoping for with an aircraft that carries such high hopes it was dubbed the ‘Dreamliner.’”

In an article highlighting similar problems with aircrafts historically, BBC News’ Rob Corp notes that, while their seriousness and impact can vary, such issues “can have a detrimental effect on an airliner’s popularity, reputation and sales.” A New York Times article on the 787’s issues echoes that perspective: “While problems are common with early models — including with the first Airbus A380, the Boeing 777 or even the first 747s — analysts say the issue could become a growing embarrassment for Boeing if travelers or airlines begin to lose confidence in the plane.” The company needs to move fast to solve these problems. According to The Wall Street Journal, the 787 and other Boeing models have already experienced “lengthy delays that have damaged Boeing’s credibility.”

Reputation Restored…

Under W. James McNerney Jr., who became CEO in 2006, Boeing has spent recent years improving the company’s reputation following a period of misconduct that “marked an all-time low for the company,” according to Businessweek. In addition to smart moves like “encouraging managers to talk more openly about Boeing’s severe ethical lapses,” McNerney was responsible for Boeing doing the “right thing” when it came to closely watched tax decision. McNerney’s work has earned the company the #30 spot on Fortune’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies.

…But Experiencing Turbulence

While history suggests that Boeing will weather this crisis, today’s media environment makes things less certain. A video of smoke coming from a 787 in Japan, for example, has been broadcast widely. “Welcome to the era of social media, Boeing,” aerospace consultant Michel Merluzeau told the Times. “That sort of thing is going to be seen by millions of people.” While Boeing has wisely responded to the issues via social media, if the company can quickly resolve the 787’s problems, they may be forgotten just as fast. “Two years from now, no one will remember this,” Airfarewatchdog.com’s George Hobica says in another LA Times piece. “People still rode on ocean liners after the Titanic sank.

 
 
Internet Legal Issues, Social Media, , , , , , , , ,

The National Labor Relations Board is increasing employee rights to discuss their employers online….and making some companies rehire employees dismissed for their Facebook and other Internet commentary.

Steven Greenhouse reports that the Board is requiring many companies to revise their social media rules to protect employee rights when it comes to discussing work-related matters on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.

He discusses the issue in today’s New York Times. Every CEO and HR manager should read it…and the National Labor Relations Board’s three case studies referred to by Greenhouse.

Three notable points:

“The general counsel’s office gave high marks to Wal-Mart’s social policy, which had been revised after consultations with the agency. It approved Wal-Mart’s prohibition of “inappropriate postings that may include discriminatory remarks, harassment and threats of violence or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct.’ ”

“…in assessing General Motors’s policy, the office wrote, “We found unlawful the instruction that ‘offensive, demeaning, abusive or inappropriate remarks are as out of place online as they are offline.’ ”

In a ruling last September, the board also rejected as overly broad Costco’s blanket prohibition against employees’ posting things that “damage the company” or “any person’s reputation.”

Companies can apparently benefit by collaborating with the National Labor Relations Board on their social media policies to ensure both their and employees’ rights are protected.  At the least, reading the case studies in full should help.

 
 
Reputation Case Study, , , , , , , , , , ,

A new book published by Harvard Business Review highlights how Whole Foods founder John Mackey’s philosophy has played a central role in the grocery chain’s distinct reputation and success.

Whole Foods’ “higher purpose” is reflected in everything from its longstanding “Declaration of Interdependence” to its recent ban on unsustainable seafood. One key way the company established its distinct reputation was by providing customers with “information and narrative, along with the food.” “It told stories about where the food came from, putting up displays by the seafood counter with photographs and descriptions of the real fishermen who had caught it all,” Nick Paumgarten wrote in a 2010 New Yorker profile of Mackey. Paumgarten also cites the company’s decentralized management structure as a “key contributor to Whole Foods’ success, and to its reputation and self-image as a progressive business,” and that the “high degree of autonomy” of regional divisions and individual stores has fostered “creativity and a sense of ownership.” Some stores, for example, have added bars serving craft beer and local wine, while the company’s Portland, Maine location sells live lobsters. Whole Foods’ strong reputation springs from the fact that its core ideals are reflected throughout its operations.

Mackey’s unique perspective, principles and personality have been the source of the Whole Foods’ guiding philosophy, but, as the CEO of dairy company Stonyfield Gary Hirshberg told Paumgarten, Mackey is “management’s greatest asset but also, at times, its greatest challenge.” In 2007 an FTC investigation revealed that he had anonymously attacked a competitor in online financial forums prior to Whole Foods’ offer to buy the company. That led to a realization, Mackey told Paumgarten: “If I wanted to continue to do Whole Foods, there couldn’t be any part of my life that was secretive or hidden or that I’d be embarrassed [about] if people found out about it.” Such radical transparency has generally served Whole Foods well, though there are exceptions, such as Mackey’s 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed on health care reform, which triggered a social media-fueled boycott.

That response may have inspired Mackey to more closely examine the expectations that accompany his business’ reputation. According to a Wall Street Journal article from last February, Whole Foods “doesn’t want to be known as the pricey grocery store for well-heeled, organic-food sophisticates” and has implemented a “price perception” strategy to counter that reputation. The outcry didn’t, however, move Mackey to recant his opinion on health care. “So many politicians and C.E.O.s get to be sort of boring, because they end up suppressing any individuality to conform to some phony, inauthentic way of being,” he observed in Paumgarten’s profile. “I’d rather be myself.”

 
 
Reputation Case Study, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We previously highlighted how Toyota utilized innovative social media strategies to repair its reputation following recalls in 2009 and 2010, but more problems, including recalls in both October and November of this past year, have threatened to undo that progress. Toyota attributed these recent recalls to “its increased diligence toward quality and safety” and “fought vigorously in recent years to defend itself against claims that its vehicles were prone to speeding out of control with no warning,” according to Forbes.

The Value of Trust

Despite the historic size of the recent settlement—and the fact that the acceleration issues have not been scientifically confirmed—Toyota appears to have decided that the benefits to its reputation outweigh the cost. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the settlement “includes no admission of fault or unlawful conduct by Toyota and allows the company to avoid the risks associated with battling a lengthy trial.”

By offering support and compensation for both current and former owners of affected vehicles, Toyota is seeking to win back the trust of some of its most important customers. “This settlement is a nod to loyal Toyota owners whose car resale values were hurt by the unintended acceleration issue and the intense publicity that followed,” auto industry analyst Michelle Krebs told Forbes. Additionally, allocating $30 million “to finance automotive safety research related to driver behavior and unintended acceleration” allows Toyota to underscore its broader dedication to safety. “We concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company, our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers,” said Toyota’s Christopher P. Reynolds. “This agreement marks a significant step forward for our company, one that will enable us to put more of our energy, time and resources into Toyota’s central focus: making the best vehicles we can for our customers and doing everything we can to meet their needs.”

An Expensive Solution

With its stock on the rise and the automaker set to once again become “the world’s biggest car maker,” Toyota appears to be faring quite well. But as Pepperdine University School of Law professor Richard Cupp warns in a Reuters article, “lawsuits like these could become increasingly common, even where there is not provable physical injury on large scale.” On Business Insider USC Marshall School of Business marketing professor Ira Kalb offers some valuable advice, pointing out how better crisis management and communication could have lessened Toyota’s woes. “To keep the top spot,” Kalb says, “making a better car is not enough.”