Tag Archives: Reputation Rehabilitation

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The Koch Brothers’ Reputation Management Campaign

 This post was originally published on August 3, 2015.  

Aside from the candidates themselves, no one faces greater attacks on their credibility, morality and beliefs than a billionaire with the goal of influencing an American presidential election.  And no smear campaigns are as devious, effective and below the belt as those in politics – regardless of which side you favor.

So alongside thousands of other reputation industry experts, public relations professionals and image-fixers, we were engrossed by “Koch Brothers Brave Spotlight to Try to Alter Their Image.”  The New York Times article provides a rare inside look at how such political powerhouses manage their reputations.

Reputation-Building on a Global Scale

Preparing for maximum resistance is a critical factor in winning both public sentiment and political support. By creating a new reputation portfolio consisting of everything from new photographs and television commercials to a groundswell of philanthropic organizations and sponsorships, the Kochs are positioning themselves to win the largest number of supporters possible. They have timed the rollout of their campaign to span several months, taking us right up to the 2016 election.

This is reputation-building on a global scale—the stakes involve deciding the next leader of the free world. It is an excellent look at what can be accomplished with a massive cross-media campaign, and how it is done.

 
 
Online reputation management, , ,

In this week’s Reputation Reboot advice column, a representative for VIP clients and their organizations in the Middle East poses a question about Wikipedia editing and online reputation management. How important are new websites in an ORM campaign?

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , , ,
Internet law

High-profile defense attorney and former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz defends his reputation in this New York Times interview. For followers of reputation management, law and public relations, it is an interesting strategic move: he is telling his side of the story on a public platform.

Mr. Dershowitz’s reputational crisis has been produced by a case against him related to sexual impropriety, which has roots in another sexual impropriety case he defended. He confirms in the Times article that it is his association with that client that has led to this crisis.

Before the digital age, it was far easier to make such allegations “go away” by destroying the credibility and reputation of their source, who is typically younger and has few resources. But this story began years ago and has only gained traction since then—and it will continue to as long as his opponent perseveres. That his opponent is represented by another legal superstar, David Boies, helps ensure that. It is a match-up that experts and laypeople alike will follow closely.

 
 
Branding, ,

Video is an ideal tool to promote personal brands. It gives you more control over your image and it is an excellent way to establish a new image for yourself (and your organization) as you pursue new initiatives, build new audiences and seek investment capital. As an added benefit, the video will function as a portfolio piece to interest producers of broadcast media in featuring you as a guest expert on their programs.

In this week’s Reputation Reboot, we provide tips for a start-up CEO who is concerned his youthful appearance may be a drawback as he seeks out investors.

 
 
Online reputation management, , , , ,

Our CEO offers a few tips for rebooting a damaged reputation in “Repairing a Tarnished Personal Brand,” an article in Dice Insights, the online magazine from recruitment agency DHI.

Along with those tips, Ms. Wilkinson reminds us that “Even people with stellar careers need to rebrand themselves every once in a while,” and, “Setbacks are opportunities in disguise.”

 
 
Online reviews, , , , , , , ,

Negative employee reviews are a growing problem for many companies. According to a survey published today in The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance section:

A survey of 1,012 U.S. adults by Corporate Responsibility Magazine and Cielo Healthcare found 86% of women who responded said they wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation, compared with 65% of men. And 92% of men and women said they would consider leaving their present jobs to join a company with an excellent reputation.

That makes this week’s Reputation Reboot  topic a timely one. It addresses one of the most frequently asked questions we receive: how to improve employee reviews.

 
 
Online reputation management, , , , ,

I’m pleased to introduce Reputation Reboot, our new weekly advice column.

Reputation Reboot is the result of years of being asked for advice, counsel and services regarding online reputation issues by CEOs, leadership teams, VIPs, rising stars and many other types of people and their organizations. Their questions have come up through business channels and networking events as well as other settings ranging from dinner parties to airports.

Our main goal with the column is simply to educate readers. Online reputation management (ORM) has a best-practices playbook that ORM providers customize with their own secret sauce. But the game changes when you are a high-profile or high net worth individual. There is already so much content about you online that the standard approaches will fail to rebrand your image. Templates that work for many won’t work for you. That, in a nutshell, is why we publish You(Online).

With Reputation Reboot, we also want to contribute to the greater understanding of this fast-growing industry. There is much confusion over how ORM differs from branding, public relations and digital marketing. (The quick explanation: It addresses the core goal of restructuring the order of content that appears on Google and other search engines.)

Lastly, working in this field provides us with a bird’s eye view of digital culture. The Internet sphere and all of the issues that come with it — crises, privacy, endless conversations, freedom of speech, social upheaval and the ability to connect with anyone in the world — are very now. It is a fascinating place to be. We hope that by sharing our front-row view with you we will help you shape your digital image. That’s because we want the world to see you the way you want to be seen. Enter Reputation Reboot.

 
 
Google, , , , , ,
Privacy risks facing high net worth families

The New York Times today published “‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Online Could Spread,” an article discussing the imminent proliferation of ‘right to be forgotten’ laws and the problems they could cause.

So far, the law has been overwhelmingly used in ways most people would support—mostly removing links to private personal information. But individual nations have demanded that Google remove access to information worldwide, and other countries are considering more aggressive laws.

This will be a battle between advocates of privacy and of free speech, vastly complicated by notions of sovereignty. How it develops is critical to practitioners of ORM, but it could impact how the Internet is experienced by everyone.