Archive for the ‘Reputation/Brand Mgmt’ Category

• Toyota’s Problems Are Cautionary Tale for Korean, Chinese Manufacturers

• Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
• 

  Toyota Motor Corp.'s President Akio Toyoda bows during a news conference at the Toyota headquarters.

  A few years ago, it would have been considered lunacy to predict that Toyota, long the icon of quality among global automakers, would find itself in a reputational freefall.

  In most of the 15 years I have worked on public relations and marketing programs with various automakers, including Toyota, one thing had always seemed clear: Toyota was an unstoppable manufacturing leader against which all other carmakers would be judged.

  (more…)

• Tags: brand, China, crisis, Korea, Toyota, trust
  Posted in Crisis/Issues Management, Reputation/Brand Mgmt | Comments Off

• Social Media Customer Service

• Thursday, December 17th, 2009

• A recent experience with my bank had me thinking again about the use of social media in customer service.

  The large number of high profile social media customer service disasters experienced by companies such as United, Comcast and HP make it plain that any company whose consumer products could conceivably require customer service issues must have a process in place to identify and address customer service issues in social media.

  While previously a dissatisfied customer might tell ten friends about his experience, a dissatisfied customer using social media can tell thousands. Even worse, the online record of the complaint stays on the Internet eternally for all to see.

  The basic strategy of a social media customer service program should be to: (more…)

• Posted in Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Social Media | Comments Off

• Social Media Aren’t Changing How We Think about Litigation, But They Should

• Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

• The past year has brought an avalanche of stories about the impact social media has had on litigation.

  One Florida lawyer was reprimanded by a state bar association for making statements critical of a judge on his blog.  The phrase “Evil, Unfair Witch” apparently left the judge unamused.

  Another attorney was held in contempt after asking a judge to delay a trial so he could attend an out-of-town funeral.  The judge visited the lawyer’s Facebook page and discovered he was in town and not at a funeral.  This must have made for a very bad day at the office.

  (more…)

• Tags: Facebook, litigation, Social Media, Twitter
  Posted in Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Risk/Litigation, Social Media | Comments Off

• Who Will Defend the Financial Services Industry?

• Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

• The past two years have not been strong ones for the financial services industry’s popularity. Between the fallout from the economic collapse last Fall, the government bailouts, and now public backlash against reports of record profits and bonuses to industry executives, it is hard to pinpoint a time when public opinion on the industry was lower. Just this week, we saw an organized march on Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo in Chicago, while CNN is running an ongoing series called “Nickel & Dimed”, a scathing review of the increased fees the financial services industry is charging consumers. (more…)

• Posted in IR/Financial Communications, Reputation/Brand Mgmt | Comments Off

• In the Reinvention Economy, the 5 Stages of Grief Apply to Senior Execs & Social Media

• Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

• In the Kubler-Ross model, the five stages of grief are outlined as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. In the context of corporate leaders and social media, these five stages of grief still apply, perhaps more directly than one would think. For instance:

  • Denial: “Social media is a fleeting trend” or “Social media doesn’t apply to my business.”
  • Anger: “These crazy bloggers are trashing my brand—MAKE THEM GO AWAY!”
  • Bargaining: “Maybe if I start talking to these online people we could work something out” or “We can start engaging, but only if we disable comments on our corporate blog.”
  • Depression: “Why me? Why now?”
  • Acceptance: “Clearly social media is here to stay, so I guess our business needs to get onboard.”

  (more…)

• Tags: GM, Social Media
  Posted in C-Suite Communications, Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Social Media | Comments Off

• What Does Asymmetric Communications Mean for Strictly Regulated Industries?

• Friday, October 16th, 2009

• Executives of all stripes have been quick to shy away from sincere social media adoption, justifying their resistance with all sorts of excuses—namely, that their stakeholders aren’t active participants in the digital realm, or that they can’t afford to lose control of their brands/reputations.

  While both excuses are … well, inexcusable, the latter held a bit more water for organizations in highly regulated industries, but all bets are off as the age of opt-in participation transitions to that of asymmetric communications. Thanks to emerging Web applications like Google’s Sidewiki, companies’ own online properties—say, their official corporate Web sites—can now be overtaken by comments from external audiences, who can set up cyber-soapboxes without permission. (more…)

• Tags: Asymmetric Communications, fda, google, pharma, sidewiki, Social Media
  Posted in Asymmetric Communications, Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Social Media | Comments Off

• Asymmetric Communications

• Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

• Today MH Group Communications published a new white paper on a profound shift we have observed in the social media environment – a shift that we believe will compel companies to get off of the fence and engage social media with a comprehensive strategy.

  Asymmetric Communications

  We have labeled this new dynamic “asymmetric communications,” because we believe that it completely upends the traditional online communications model and allows individuals outside the company to use the company’s own web presence as a platform to broadcast their own views to the world, with or without the company’s approval. (more…)

• Tags: Asymmetric Communications, brand, reputation, Social Media
  Posted in C-Suite Communications, Crisis/Issues Management, Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Social Media | 4 Comments »

• Luxury Car Brands Enjoy Adoration in Social Media–But For How Long?

• Thursday, October 8th, 2009

• Social media communities are often minefields for companies and their brands. Empowered consumers are sharing their unfiltered thoughts about product usefulness and customer service, and companies are grappling with how to engage and respond. Much of this commentrary is negative, so it was surprising to learn that one business segment, luxury auto brands, enjoys a disproportionately positive relationship within the confines of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like.

  A study released today by MH Group Communications and Forum Strategies found that more than 90% of the discussion and commentary about the nine major luxury brands (Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes and Porsche) was positive. Online consumers, it seems, really like their fancy cars and really like to share their enthusiasm with others.

  Luxury Auto External

  View more presentations from courtneymbarnes.

  The social media engagement takes place largely in Facebook and YouTube, the primary social media tools these brands are using, and this sector enjoys a “privileged admiration” among a growing, but still modest, follower and friend base. (more…)

• Tags: Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, luxury autos, luxury brands, Mercedes
  Posted in Blog, Reputation/Brand Mgmt, Social Media | Comments Off

• Health Insurance Companies Fall Flat with Ineffective PR Strategies

• Friday, August 14th, 2009

• Health insurance companies have never been noted for their public relations savvy. Who doesn’t have a nightmarish tale about an interaction with their insurer over a bill or coverage? The industry’s commitment to customer “disservice” is too widespread to be an accident. These guys want to make it impossible to deal with them, and, as a result, are widely disdained by the American public.

  Their stumbling and mumbling through the current health care debate, though, may set a new standard for communications incompetence.

  With the intense emotion and rhetoric surrounding the debate in Washington and in communities everywhere this August, everyone is pointing fingers and trying to identify the real culprit behind our nation’s broken health-care financial model. The ultimate policy outcome will be driven as much by perception and image as it will be by lobbying and political brokering. And while I have no insight into the deals being hammered out behind closed doors in Washington, there is no doubt that insurance companies are being successfully painted as the bad guys. The consequences for the industry if this stands will be profound. (more…)

• Tags: health care, insurance
  Posted in Crisis/Issues Management, Reputation/Brand Mgmt | Comments Off

• Can TV Resurrect the Image of CEOs?

• Thursday, June 25th, 2009

• How can you not love Teddy Rist, the billionaire corporate executive reborn as a vigilante do-gooder in the new NBC series The Philanthropist.

  

  I, for one, am really tired of the demonization of corporate America and its CEOs in both the news media and popular culture. Network television, a barometer for emerging iconic images, has led the way in drubbing the image of CEOs, recently serving up the likes of Jonas Hodges, the scheming military contractor on season six of 24 who was plotting both presidential assassination and treason. Of course, the behavior of the nation’s banks and other major companies through the current financial crisis hasn’t done anything to convince America that the people who run our big businesses are to be emulated and loved. (more…)

• Tags: C-Suite, philanthropy, reputation
  Posted in C-Suite Communications, Reputation/Brand Mgmt | Comments Off