Chartered postgraduate diploma in marketing

Supporting the management of corporate reputation Session 8

Learning outcomes
Propose changes to enhance the systems, structure and processes necessary to support the management of corporate reputation:
Communication audits Targeting stakeholder groups Targeting employees Reputation platforms Corporate stories and story telling Corporate positioning

Syllabus ref: 2.2.2

Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 2

Communication audit
a systematic assessment, either formal or informal, of an organisations capacity for, or performance of, essential communication practices. It determines what is working well, what is not, and what might work better if adjustments are made. (Coffman, 2004)

A whitepaper by Julia Coffman (2004) is posted at www.mediaevaluation.org/WorkingPaper1.pdf

Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 3

Planning Launching Observing & evaluating Interviews Focus groups Surveys Reporting
Friday, 29 April 2011

The communication audit process

4

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

Communication audit survey instruments

Organisation communication (OC) scale by Roberts & OReilly (1973) Communication satisfaction questionnaire (CSQ) by Downs & Hazen (1977) Communication audit survey formerly the International Communication Association (ICA) Audit by Goldhaber & Rogers (1979) Organisational Communication Audit (OCA) Questionnaire by Wiio & Helsila (1974) Organisational communication profile by Pace & Peterson (1988)
For a summary of these and more communication audit instruments visit http://www.uwec.edu/sampsow/Measures.htm

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

The Corporate Reputation Chain

Satisfaction Employee view The brand Customer view Satisfaction

Loyalty Retention Identity Image

Source: Gary Davies, Rosa Chun, Rui Vinhas Da Silva and Stuart Roper
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation

Sales

Reputation platform
Is the root positioning that a company adopts when it presents itself to internal and external observers
Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007, p136

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

Reputation platform
A reputation platform brings "The Big Idea" to life by framing and defining the types of activities you will focus on as a company in order to build your reputation. The reputation platform is composed of "pathways to relevance" or "Reputation Platform Pillars". The Platform Pillars allow you to leverage the drivers of your reputation through actions and communications (reputing) that will make you relevant to your stakeholders
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 8

Core positioning themes

The core positioning themes that serve as reputation platforms may be: What the organisation does: the key activities or business areas it is involved in e.g. DHL is in the logistics business; ICE is in training What the organisation offers: the benefits of attractive outcomes offered by or through the organisations activities e.g. M&S is about trust, quality and service. A benefits theme emphasises value, advantage and desirability, in order to inspire allegiance What the organisation represents: the values and emotions the organisation stands for e.g. Volvo focuses on safety. An emotional theme seeks to establish a personal connection or emotional bond with target audiences, through empathy and identification
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 9

Reputational Platforms
Reputational Platforms are the basis upon which an organisation positions itself strategically. From Reputational Platforms organisations can tell stories. These are based around the following three themes:

Activity Themes

Benefit Themes

Emotional Themes

Shell = the energy business

'Eureka' Film

Sony = entertainment
World of Sony : Sony

J&J = family
About Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson

Corporate stories
Is a structured textual description that communicates the essence of the company to all stakeholders, helps strengthen the bonds that bind employees to the company, and successfully positions the company against rivals. It is built up by identifying the unique elements of the company, creating a plot that weaves them together, and presenting them in an appealing fashion (van Riel & Fombrun, 2007, p144)
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 11

Creating a corporate story

1. Position the company 2. Link to corporate identity 3. Link to corporate reputation
Promise (or positioning statement) = distinctive strengths. Check for relevance & realism with stakeholders; proof points = evidence of e.g. CSR as in rankings of Top brands with conscience; tone of voice = humour, modesty, excitement, youthfulness, etc. How does the company come across

4. Plot the corporate story 5. Implement the story 6. Monitor the storys effectiveness
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation

Source: van Riel & Fombrun (op cit, p149-158) 12

Storytelling Categories
Myths and origins - recall how a company started, what its
principles are and how it overcame early difficulties and achieved success eg HP and the garage

Corporate prophecies are predictions about an organisations

future

Hero stories recall people from the organisation who

confronted and overcame a dilemma.
YouTube - US Airways plane crash on the Hudson River

Archived narratives an organisations collection of stories which

trace its history and development.

What is positioning?
While positioning may well involve changes in packaging, product or service name, pricing strategy etc, Positioning is not what you do to a product Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

14

Determining the Positioning Strategy

1. Identifying competitors 2. Assessing consumers' perceptions of competitors 3. Determining competitors' positions 4. Analyzing consumers' preferences 5. Making the positioning decision 6. Monitoring the decision
Irwin/McGraw-Hill

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

Slide 2-6

15

Corporate Perception Gap

Large gap (perceived)
Targeted adjustment Few Stakeholders Information provision and correction Many Stakeholders

Monitoring

Incremental

(Chris Fill, 2002) Friday, 29 April 2011

Small gap (perceived)

Spporting the management of corporate reputation 16

Success Criteria of a Brand

To grow into a strong identity, your brand must incorporate four fundamental building blocks:
1. Legitimacywhat is your key audience's concept of you? Your positioning must be built around a promise on which you can legitimately deliver. In addition, the positioning must be consistent with how audiences think of you. 2. DistinctivenessConsumers are bombarded with hundreds, even thousands, of messages each day. Your name and identity must be distinctive enough to cut through the clutter. The purpose of a brand is not to describe, but to distinguish. 3. Relevancythe messages must be meaningful to key audiences. Many companies spend a lot of time talking to themselves, using their own internal jargon, as opposed to communicating in terms of the benefits that are most meaningful to key audiences. 4. ConsistencyCan you live the message consistently? A consideration is whether you can deliver on all of these messages through all the things you do, from how you train employees to the way you deal with consumers. And can you communicate it consistently through the name, brand structure and design?
Friday, 29 April 2011 Spporting the management of corporate reputation 17

Workshop
Many of the stronger corporate brands are often anchored around a discernable reputational platform, which provides the foundation for a series of corporate stories. Indeed, storytelling and the use of symbols are regarded as critical aspects upon which organisations can develop durable positions. See chapter six of Van Riel & Fombrun; Essentials of Corporate Communication

Task: Identify 5 different well known organisations. Collect basic information of their logo, name, organisational origin that is, how the company got started, the strapline plus any corporate stories and any other aspect of their nomenclature that can be identified.
This workshop activity involves identifying the reputational platform, understand any stories about the organisations that might have been found, and from there identify the position an organisation occupies. The overall goals are to:
Introduce you to the ideas concerning reputational platforms and corporate storytelling as a means of developing positions for corporate brands Confirm the importance of nomenclature in corporate brands and positioning Establish the importance of symbolism and messaging in managing corporate brands.

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

18

Essential reading
Van Riel, C.B.M. and Fombrun, C.J. (2007) Essentials of corporate communications. Abingdon, Routledge. Davies, G. et al (2003) Corporate reputation and competitiveness. London, Routledge.

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

19

Web search
www.brandingasia.com/ www.corporate-marketing.org/ http://www.corebrand.com/ http://www.interbrand.com/ http://www.wolffolins.com/

Friday, 29 April 2011

Spporting the management of corporate reputation

20