PR needs to play a bigger role in a 'reputation economy': Report

Eikona and MSL bring out report to elucidate the need for reputation management in India for long-term brand sustainability

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | September 26, 2013

Click on the image to see the entire report.

MSL Group India and Eikona PR Measurement, a division of TAM India, have launched a co-authored report, 'Reputation: How it is built and maintained, and the role of PR', on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.

According to the report, it is the customers' perception of a company that drives purchases. Therefore, businesses must become more aware of the importance of corporate reputation. The perception also helps in attracting talent and ensuring that one works with the best partners. Through this they can connect with all stakeholders – employees, vendors, community and government included.

"It was difficult to express views till some time ago. But nowadays, with technological advancement, anyone can express their views easily. And express them in a cheaply, be it online or offline. In such a situation, it becomes even more important to have that credibility,” said Olivier Fleurot, CEO, MSL Group.

The report goes on to study and analyse the growing importance of reputation management and its impact on the PR industry. Accordingly, it says, reputation is an intangible asset, but its effects are real. From credit term to employee retention, reputation can have a serious impact. Like gravitational pull, reputation makes it easier or more difficult for a company to get where it needs to go. The report goes on to advice the PR industry to evolve from playing second fiddle to advertising and corporate communications to becoming the leader in the marketing communications ecosystem.

"Reputation is more lasting than branding. Branding helps to shape your reputation. Therefore, it is more a way to an end, not the end in itself. And reputation is something which will take time to build, but once built, if cultivated properly, it will last a long time," said Glenn Osaki, President, MSL Group Asia.

The report further elaborates that in India, offline mediums – print, TV, radio, on-ground activation – are still key. Online activities are yet to become an essential part of the 360-degree brand campaign matrix, though that is changing fast. It elucidates the need for a company to regularly expose itself to all stakeholders to build a healthy reputation. While current and prospective employees are keen to know about the organisation's leadership, products and services, the investment community wants to know about business performance, innovation and governance.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, Senior Vice-President, Eikona PR Measurement, said, "For an organisation to put in place a robust reputation management machinery, aligning to a singular reputation building agenda internally is paramount. All spokespersons must be clear about the distinct messaging charter each has to follow."

The report broadly talks about building and monitoring reputation, the categorisation of reputation management, online reputation management, loss of reputation and its consequence among other topic.

Jaideep Shergill, CEO, MSL Group India, said, “Communicators are calling this the 'Reputation Economy', and rightly so. Reputation management could be the fuel for your business' growth. Through this report, we wish to highlight the importance of reputation in the long-term future of businesses and also that the PR industry in India is uniquely geared to provide the strategic thinking required to build and maintain corporate reputation.”

Mukherjee added, “Till recently, India Inc. was focusing all its energies only towards Brand Visibility and Recall. As a welcome change, however, it is good to see that top management of some of the corporates in India have realised the impact of corporate brand reputation in their business planning and performance. Which is why, they are bringing reputation into their KRA (key responsibility areas) charter by implementing research & measurement matrices. Here is where they are heavily depending on the usage of PR to create and sustain brand reputation.”

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