Reputation

Communicators at colleges have had anything but a slow summer. None have had to work harder than those at Harvard, where the school is enmeshed in a lawsuit that claims it holds Asian-American applicants to a higher standard than those of other ethnic groups. The results of a trial, set for October, could reverberate around the country.

How long does it take before a crisis is truly over? That’s a question some communicators might be asking after news broke that comedian Louis C.K. performed live for the first time since sexual misconduct allegations against him went public in November.

This could have easily have been a moment of crisis for JUUL Labs, manufacturers of the eponymous JUUL e-cigarette vaporizer, after The New York Times published a lengthy investigative report Monday detailing the company’s history of marketing its sleek, easy-to-use vaporizer to underage consumers. Instead, the fact that nothing nuclear happened to JUUL Labs this morning is a testament to the brand’s “proactive, not reactive” approach to reputation management.

Nabisco’s Barnum’s Animal Crackers now features drawings of animals on the iconic red boxes roaming free, as opposed to being cooped up in cages as they’ve been shown for more than 100 years. The folks at PETA are smiling, having helped effect yet another kinder treatment of animals.

Having an accessible CEO improves a brand’s authenticity, so say an overwhelming majority of media members, according to a recent survey from D S Simon Media. Another important finding is that an average of 83% of media admit to using brand-submitted video as-is, calling into question the authenticity of certain journalistic products.

There is much talk about how jobs and the economy will fare as a result of the continuing advance of AI and automation. As communicators, though, we should also be looking at AI’s impact on reputation and the role PR will play in educating the public about critical issues related to AI, argues Sophie Scott, global managing director of FleishmanHillard’s technology sector practice.

Sacha Baron Cohen recently completed a series of scathing videos where he captures politicians saying questionable things. Then it turned out the videos were both publicity for a new series on Showtime and part of its content. Now it appears statements the politicians made on camera might not be what they seem to be. Perhaps pranking can go too far. Do the ends justify the means in PR?

In a Wall Street Journal article about delays in the production of the Tesla Model 3, Tesla chairman and CEO Elon Musk compared Ford unfavorably to his own company, calling the legacy car maker a “morgue.” Ford’s head of communications took to Twitter and challenged Musk to visit a Ford plant.

ABC’s cancellation of “Roseanne” seems to be a case where a brand takes a moral stand on an issue, in this case racism. Bad behavior is bad business, right? A deeper look at the situation reveals a calculation about corporate reputation and how that influences a brand’s future earning potential. It now falls to the company’s communicators to explain away the issues.

When life gives you lemons, you can cry or make lemonade. So your company is not yet GDPR-compliant and doesn’t seem to be too eager to change its status. That’s a shame because you might be missing a good chance to raise your brand reputation and increase employee advocacy. Most important you might be leaving money on the table.