Overview by Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher

Academics and practitioners specializing in corporate reputation offer insights on the topic of "Thinking Through Reputation Management"

Viewpoints II

Three professionals involved in high-profile corporate reputation campaigns share their points of view on "Reputation Management in Action"

Roundtable

Senior Ketchum counselors from around the globe answer the question "What is the most important lesson you've learned about helping corporations protect or improve their reputations?"

Reflections on Reputation

Marketing directors, independent reputation consultants and Ketchum counselors give thoughts on managing corporate reputation

Q&A

Co-editors of the book Reputation Capital: Building and Maintaining Trust in the 21st Century discuss the book's key takeaways for corporate communicators

Street Smarts

Five findings that point to the heightened need for reputation management

Reflections on Reputation

Communications professionals from heads of marketing to independent reputation consultants and counselors from Ketchum attended the reputation symposium. Here are a few of their thoughts on the ideas discussed there and their own reflections on managing corporate reputation.

Amelie Döbele
Communications Specialist
Düsseldorf, Germany

The conference on reputation capital has very clearly shown how important it is for companies to have a credible reputation in times of crisis. Numerous examples illustrate that an organization's reputation can be influenced by the behavior of its employees and other stakeholders and that communications departments can make a significant contribution to reputation management. However, company management must realize that reputation cannot be achieved through the work of a communications department alone.

Reiner Jung
Head of Marketing for Towers Watson in Germany, Switzerland and Austria
Frankfurt, Germany

In an ever more complex world and especially in these times, where our economic system is criticized and sometimes questioned, corporations need to understand their reputation environment and have communication strategies in place. Although this sounds pretty obvious, from a practical standpoint, it's more challenging than it looks because it can be difficult to find the right tactics to influence stakeholders.

Changing or influencing the reputation of a company is a long-term investment and only companies with a long-term communication strategy can succeed. The idea of changing reputation on a quarterly basis doesn't work, although quite often top management and stakeholders, such as financial investors, think that this should happen.

Reputation management is content-driven and more than just an advertising program. Companies need to link corporate strategy with a consistent communication strategy that will be understood by both internal and external publics.

Daniel Künstle
Head of commsLAB
Basel, Switzerland

It is common for a company to declare that reputation is its most valuable corporate asset.

On the other hand, it is much less common to find companies maintaining reputation management consistently as a truly strategic duty and not only as part of the communication department. That's a pity, especially in times of financial crisis. Fostering reputation as an intangible asset, which is not only measurable, but also counts in the balance sheet, would give trustworthiness of a company a new dimension.

Petra Sammer
Partner, Ketchum, and Managing and Creative Director, Ketchum Munich
Munich, Germany

Numerous studies show we live in a "no trust" society, yet it's all about reputation. There is irony there, but it also crystallizes why reputation management is so important and cannot simply be left to chance.

Reflections on Reputation

Perspectives Staff