Posts Tagged ‘reputation’

The much hyped 5 -star holiday of America’s first lady in a lavish Mediterranean Retreat when the country was reeling under the worst economic meltdown has had a bad influence in the reputation of the first family. Though  the  first lady is paying for her own room, food and transportation, the government will be bearing the security costs  and support staffers, plus most costs associated with her Air Force plane. Many feel that this foreign luxury  holiday came at a bad time as back home Americans are battling with loss jobs and an insecure future.

The webspace has been abuzz with comments on this ill timed get away at the expenses of the tax payer’s money. Politics Daily readers comments like “A little restraint would be appropriate in these tough economic times. It would mean a lot to the American people who pay for all these vacations and outings and would go a long way towards better relations with the people of the U.S. ” are keeping alive the issue as the first lady gets ready for another spell of holiday to Florida and Massachusetts island in the coming days.

The worst thing is that it  has come close to the heels of the frock controversy  that  sparked ‘nude’ race row that spoiled the First Lady’s second state dinner. Michelle Obama’s reputation has been heavily influenced with these controversies that a Google search would come up with results like Spain vacation and state dinner dress in the top slots.

However, Michelle Obama is far too popular and should ride this controversy well but as they say  all things do add up; and a cross check on the reputation chart will do good at this juncture.

As Apple Inc strives to pacify the irate customers over the antennagate fiasco, its shares have tumbled to an all time low and online consumer polls show a swinging brand loyalty among its users. Apple would be wary of the media headlines that talk about the antenna flaws even today as it might result in a dip in its future sale figures. In a Reuters online poll, 56 percent people opined that the controversy made them less likely to buy an iPhone. Ever since the complaints started trickling in, Apple has so far lost about $16 billion in market value.

Meanwhile, an extensive  90-minute news conference held by Apple’s chief executive has helped to fix the public relations damage to some extent, though much remains to be done to resolve the issue . The  press conference of Apple CEO Steve Jobs that came as a surprise to many customers and investors did not touch upon the future course of action that Apple may take to sort out this mess, though it cleared the doubts of the users and  redirected their attention to the positive aspects of this coveted brand.

The company said the media had blown the issue out of proportion, but offered free cases to consumers to help mitigate any signal strength problems.

Industry watchers are betting that  despite all the odds like the pending lawsuits, poor reviews  from Consumer Report and ever increasing user complaints, Apple might not be willing to initiate  an  embarrassing recall, which might be more damaging to its well earned reputation for quality products.

The wrap around antenna  flaws of the hyped iPhone 4 had hit the headlines soon after the model was launched. So, Apple needs to come out with a proactive strategy in identifying and finding a permanent solution to this issue as any delay could prove detrimental to the establishment of iPhone 4 brand in the market. Apple has initiated  quick fix methods like offering free protective cases for the users to offset the signal problem, till it comes up with a permanent solution. It is indeed a race against the clock for Apple as it has to move past the issue quickly to ensure its brand protection before it snowballs into a major scandal.

Related posts:

Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna Fiasco

Does HR (Human Resource) play an effective role to strengthen your reputation? This has been a long debated topic! Well, being the most essential and valued part of any business HR to a large extent plays an active role in shaping the reputation of your firm. HR represents the company’s reputation internally which is most valued and includes answers to what the employees feels for the company, or do they seek a role in the firm, etc. It may seem a passive factor, but it’s a most vulnerable area, where most companies falter.

Building up a good PR and reputation internally in the company reduces more than half the chances for a firm to risk its reputation.

Monitoring the internal reputation is something which most of the companies overlook; HR needs to analyze the feedback from the employees. To act unaware increases the probability for the company to earn a bad name from its own employees, this further spreads like a virus, damaging the bonhomie. To have an effective HR department reduces the risk of such internal unrest and keeps the company’s reputation protected from any employee criticisms in social networks.

Social media too develops a strong link among employees and the company, bringing in a blog or message board helps to know what the employees are looking for or facing or lacking, and gives the company the space to restructure its plans accordingly. Employees’ interest account most for any firm to stand strong, and if the employees lose trust from the firm then nothing can be done. With over 1 billion blogs and other social networking sites it’s really easy to get a bad name, and when such negative stuff comes out from your own employees’ mouth then the damage is even worse.

Reduce the risk of a bad image for your business and keep your reputation high with happy employees and their positive image of the company with effective Human Resource Management.

The race has begun between the Conservatives and the Labour party, with 5 months until the next general, what will be interesting is how much the Internet will play in the two parties campaigns.  As social network sites allow people to find like minded individuals easier than ever before, it can gain momentum and sabotage the message of a politician very easily.

In the past the parties were very focused on spin, nowadays people have had enough of such tactics and will fight back using sites like facebook.  It is very easy now for a party’s manifesto to be hijacked if one or two minor points really trigger a fury of people reacting to them and the bigger picture being lost.

So how it starts is very simple, someone creates a group or page on facebook and starts to invite friends to join, who in turn invite their friends.  Shortly people start bookmarking the page through sites like Digg and attracting even more traffic.  It doesn’t take long for journalists to pick up on the action through things like Google alerts and BINGO you also have the story appearing in the papers etc.

At the moment the Labour and Conservatives seem more determined to pick each others manifesto apart, I wonder how long it will be before more politicians reputations will be tested and what will come out of the closet over the next 5 months.

Unfortunately in today’s world it is often not what you are saying but how you are saying it which counts.

The 12-day strike called by Unite union looms large this holiday season putting hundreds of thousands of people and their travel plans in jeopardy. As British Airways fears the backlash, forums are swamped by passengers venting their anger against the insensitive approach of more than 13000 cabin crew who have voted for the strike.

The strike is planned in protest to the proposed pay and job cuts that BA has planned to ease its pension deficit of £3.7 billion which is likely to more than double to £8 billion this year. Unite union’s 13000 cabin crew are expected to join the strike even though they are paid double that of other airlines like Virgin.

In a bid to get the union to call off the strike and save its reputation, British Airways have resorted to legal action. “The airline called on Unite to call off the industrial action by 2pm today. The union has not done so and BA is now seeking an injunction to prevent the strike from going ahead,” the flag carrier’s chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement last night. The legal action is taken on the grounds that there were irregularities in the strike ballot.

The papers are full of articles citing passenger anger at the strike which is to begin on December 22nd to Jan 2nd 2010.  Would you plan your holiday booking with British Airways after this fiasco? Chances are you will not, if this issue does not resolve well.

It would almost be impossible to recover from this bad reputation for BA. The service industry is constantly dogged by bad reviews, bad press, and negative forums and an internal crisis like this will be nothing short of a disaster for BA’s reputation.

Damage limitation is what is being resorted to and BA plans last-ditch talks to solve the issue.

Like all public figures who decide to re-invent themselves to stay in the spotlight, Sarah Palin is out with her new book ‘Going Rogue.’

She is clearly taking on her party and trying to give her side of things and no one’s buying any of it. From what we can analyse here, it looks like a step towards becoming a celebrity and from then on probably even onto the White House!

However, if she has indeed set her sights upon the White House, she is in serious need of some excellent reputation management.

For one, though the book has succeeded in generating an initial buzz (as it was bound to), the critics  have panned it and derided it,  calling it her version of ‘being wronged.’

We feel she has begun her long road to recovery in reputation re-building and with her grandchild’s dad now a Playgirl model, Palin has not had it easy for long time now.

The book has stayed clear of personal issues like dissing on Levi Johnson and is more focussed on  explaining her wardrobe budget and problems with the McCain campaign mangers. Sarah Palin is back and everywhere – on Oprah and even the Martha Stewart show and book signing sprees.

If there’s anyone who has seen the highs and lows of public life it is this former Vice President candidate. From a well-loved Governor who made great reforms by taking on the oil lobby to being the Republican poster girl who seriously stole some of Obama’s thunder she has come a long way. The highs were really high and the falls were really low.

The lows began with the Katie Couric interview where she was caught with her foot in her mouth several times to the point of looking uncomfortable and even naïve in the big bad world of politics.  She had it all a great husband good looking kids and she herself looked the part. The Republican party splurging on her wardrobe and the repercussions of that and her 16-year-old daughter getting pregnant all came at the wrong time.

Damage control came in the form of coming clean about the teen pregnancy while grappling once more with the effects of her views on abortion. She suddenly seemed regressive despite her ‘soccer mom’ persona that once endeared her to the masses. Modern women turned against her and even as the world were charmed by her including the Pakistan President Sardari praising her looks did not help – Sarah Palin was on the back-foot on home turf. The rest is history – Barack Obama became the President and the McCain camp revealed the rift within the party and before you know there was Palin back in Alaska with a new grandchild.

While we can all assume that she is headed to the White House or trying to get back into politics or attain celebrity status. We suggest that Palin continues on reputation rebuilding with her Tweets, Facebook posts and blogs; and if time is a constraint, why not employ experts like us on Reputation Management.

This is my 2nd post on the online reputation of the worlds top 100 brands, in this post I am looking at number 11 on the list HP brand.

• HP – They have a pretty good presence on the first page of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP), they have their main site, sub domains and also smaller sites they run.  The wikipedia page is quite negative about them, it word be worth seeing if they can push that down the rankings.
• Mercedes-Benz one of the few brands I have come across who seem to have a good handle with on and off line reputation management, maybe the car industry is so used to being scrutinized by motor journalists that they have got good at protecting their brand.  One bad article at the top of a SERP could effect sales dramatically.  What is interesting is if you search one of their products eg Mercedes-Benz c class then Mercedez does not dominate the SERPs as much.  I would focus my efforts as people will tend to search by product rather than just brand.
• Gillette – Have done a great job on their overall brand name, with no negative results on the first page of Google. they have built sites for their products like Gillette fusion, so a big thumbs up, good job.  One thing I spotted though on a quick search there are about 70 user-names still available on social media sites.
• Cisco – have got quite a few websites on the first page but the Wiki page is quite negative in parts.  There are also about 50 user names for Cisco available on the top 120 social sites
• BMW – SERPs show BMW owned sites for most of the results and fan clubs which are positive, and  the wiki page is positive.  The specific products could do with some extra reputation management work as there is scope for negatives to creep up the SERPs.  Also BMW is only 3 characters which causes issue for the social network sites that normally need a minimum of 6 digits.  Suggest using their product names for user names.

Will continue down the list of top 100 brands in forth coming posts and make quick suggestions for brand protection.