JML’s affiliate Hill+Knowlton Strategies recently conducted
some research into the difference between brand and reputation which produced
fascinating results. While brand and reputation are strongly correlated, it is
important to understand the difference. Brand was once seen as the be all and
end all of a company, but reputation is becoming increasingly important in a
world saturated with social media.
Brand is essentially what appeals to consumers, and is the
way a company’s products and services are projected to audiences. For example Apple
has a stellar brand, particularly when it comes to iPhones. It has encapsulated
its audience in such a way that includes them in a community, using phrases
such as “if you don’t have an iPhone, well you don’t have an iPhone” in its
campaigns. The brand is the perceptions held by the consumers about Apple’s
products and services.
Reputation however, is the public perception of the
company’s corporate actions which encompasses community relations and corporate
social responsibility. It is what the company is doing to look after its triple
bottom line – the people, the profit and the planet.
In good times, reputation can be the pillar that props up
the company’s brand, but in times of crisis, it can be what erodes a successful
brand. Take the case of the oil company BP. After the 2010 oil-spill in the
Gulf of Mexico, BP’s favourability dropped sharply in the US. No part of BP’s
oil (the brand) had changed, but the reputation of the company was suddenly
very different. This erosion of BP’s reputation meant damage to BP’s brand.
As social media transcends temporal and spatial constraints,
a company’s reputation has become increasingly more important. Access to this
new media landscape demands higher levels of honesty and transparency if a
company’s reputation is to thrive.
In the world of social media, your consumers can be your
biggest fans or your harshest critics, and everyone is going to hear about it. Consumers
are now demanding not only great products and services, but also tangible
socially responsible actions. This means it is just as important to proactively
build and maintain reputation, as it is to create and sustain a successful
brand.
