Reputation Management
Have solid sales or a soaring stock price? It doesn't much matter if your stakeholders have a lousy perception of your company. The latest piece of evidence comes in the form
of the sixth annual Reputation Quotient study conducted by Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive, a market research firm, and the Reputation Institute, a research
organization based in New York City.
The study, which took the pulse of 22,166 people nationwide and was released last week, showed an improved image for some battered industries, such as energy and utilities,
but "the larger picture is that corporate America hasn't recovered from the scandals," says Joy Marie Sever, SVP - Director, The Reputation Practice, Harris Interactive, adding
that less than half of the respondents gave industries (across the board) a positive rating (see table).
For senior PR pros grappling with issues concerning corporate reputation, the study holds many valuable lessons. For starters, PR execs have to take pains to talk about the
company with people who are outside of the four walls. "You have to talk to the average person about your company and from that you can get a general perspective on how the
public feels about it," Sever says. She listed four main components PR execs need to heed if they are to get their hands around reputation management:
- Recognize there are multiple interpretations of your company
- Identify what those perceptions are through extensive research
- Learn what the pathways were to those perceptions
- Anticipate likely outcomes to reputation from any new PR projects
With even the best of companies now being lumped together with organizations that have been behaving badly, it is more crucial than ever that PR execs stay on top of their
competitors. For instance, the study says that perception of the insurance industry has improved, but that was before scandal engulfed financial services/insurance firm Marsh
& McLennan Cos. (see PR News, Nov. 10, 2004). Now, "at the very least people are going to start asking questions" about their insurers, Sever says.
| Top Five Companies |
Ratings
|
|---|---|
| 1. Johnson & Johnson |
59%
|
| 2. United Parcel Service |
58%
|
| 3. The Coca-Cola Company |
56%
|
| 4. FedEx Corporation |
55%
|
| 5. General Mills |
54%
|
| Bottom Five |
Ratings
|
| 56. Altria Group |
15%
|
| 57. Alticor |
13%
|
| 58 MCI (formerly WorldCom) |
13%
|
| 59. Halliburton Company |
12%
|
| 60. Enron |
2%
|