Reputation Management Online

BBC’s Top Gear has featured in the news recently due to their very public, and very unsuccessful, court battle with publishing company HarperCollins over rights to publish the autobiography of the former ‘Stig’.

Claiming that Ben Collins, former Formula 3 racing driver, was in breach of a confidentiality clause in his contract with the show, the BBC demanded that the book not be published so that the anonymity of their Top Gear character remain intact. They said that the character’s mystery was a key contributing factor to the ongoing success of the show, and that HarperCollins shouldn’t be allowed to publish the book, entitled ‘The Man in the White Suit’.

And now, as TV bosses at the BBC and Jeremy Clarkson try to decide whether or not to continue the Stig as a feature of the show, news of Collins’ replacement is already lighting up the internet. It’s reported that young driver Phil Keen, having already stood in as the Stig for the show in the past, is set to take over the role – ensuring that the mystery surrounding the character will forever be that little bit harder to achieve.

The internet is a hot medium for the spreading of gossip and breaking news, and if this ongoing headache for the producers of Top Gear shows anything at all; it’s that you don’t have to have done anything wrong to attract the wrong kind of attention.

Online reputation management cant protect your business and help keep your secrets out of the spotlight. Act now, or risk your own Stig leaving you with a bitter taste in your mouth and skidmarks over your… reputation.