The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various reputational factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner. MSLGROUP's SVP and Chief Strategy Officer, Pascal Beculer shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of Reputation Management, everywhere in the world, and what it means for our clients and for us.

1. Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP
Athens, October 16, 2014
The Reputation Complex
Helping organizations
navigate the blur in the Liquid Age
t: @pbeucler

2. “When the winds of change blow,
some people build walls and others
build windmills.”

3. I’d like to share - and
discuss! - a few
thoughts with you about
the fast transformation
of Reputation
Management,
everywhere in the
world, and what it
means for our clients,
and for us.

4. Global facts
& trends
Key
learnings
Case
studies
Perspectives Discussion

5. Agenda
The Reputation Content:
What Reputation is about and why it matters
The Reputation Context:
The challenge of Global Distrust &
the devastating impact of Crises in the Social Age
The Reputation Complex:
A New Hybrid System

6. The Reputation Content:
What Reputation is about and why it matters
The Reputation Complex:
A New Hybrid System
The Reputation Context:
The challenge of Global Distrust &
the devastating impact of Crises in the Social Age

7. I trust your clients are
asking you many
questions, these days,
like…

8. What’s the
value of
Corporate
Reputation?
What’s today
the link
between
Business and
Reputation?
Why moving
towards
Business
Citizenship is
a necessity,
from a
Reputation
Management
standpoint?
Why and how
the Digital &
Social turmoil
is changing the
whole game?
How should we
address
reputational
issues vs. all
stakeholders:
shareholders and
customers,
employees and
partners, people
and communities?

9. … Transparency is mandatory
… Social Engagement is required
… Corporate Responsibility is highly expected
… Content is King
…and most importantly: why
Reputation Management is such a
challenge in a world where…

10. a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers…
…which are linked in a close and complicated way…
…with, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities
That’s what The Reputation
Complex is:

11. • It’s a blend (by nature):
a mix of various components, factors and drivers:
nothing chemically pure!
• It’s a composite (by construction):
awareness, image, esteem, beliefs, feelings,
perceptions, evaluations….are part of it,
but part only
• It’s an on-going process (by necessity):
something impermanent, subject to continuous
evolutions
• It’s a fast-changing reality (by all means):
profoundly transformed by the Digital & Social
revolution
What is Corporate Reputation?

12. • It protects the company’s equity
• It plays a growing role in investors’ eyes
• It strengthens customers’ confidence in a firm’s
products and services (checking who’s behind
the brand/the product/the service - who owns
it? - is a fast-growing trend)
• It nurtures key opinion leaders’ appreciation
• It attracts the best partners
• It helps recruit and retain the best talent
Why Corporate Reputation matters, today:

13. • Renown, admiration, esteem, image:
they all have positive effects on Corporate
Reputation, but none of them individually should
be seen as a founding factor
• Corporate Reputation is the complex of
intangible assets that more and more top
executives consider a sustainable competitive
advantage, particularly in the tough times we live
in
• Corporate Reputation is not based only on
analysis, rationale, reason: it’s also linked to
emotional attributes, perceptions
Corporate Reputation is what supports Corporate Equity

14. • Key attributes such as long-term investment
value, quality of products and services, financial
soundness… have been utilized year after year by
various rating systems asking professional panels
to evaluate firms on x-point scales
• That’s essential, but such classical, endogamic
and “coefficient-centric” approaches do not
suffice anymore in a world where the nature and
the level of engagement with people and
communities are cornerstone
• Corporate Reputation needs to be seen through a
different lens, with a much wider focus and
mind-set
A fast-changing ecosystem

15. The Reputation Content:
What Reputation is about and why it matters
The Reputation Complex:
A New Hybrid System
The Reputation Context:
The challenge of Global Distrust &
the devastating impact of Crises in the Social Age

16. Reputation Management has to face
a very unfriendly, suspicious,
negative environment
Trust in all institutions,
including corporations and governments,
is at an all-time low across the world

17. L’air du temps:
Seen in a restaurant
in Berlin
January 23, 2014

18. Few years ago, Reputation was a somewhat
elusive intangible asset, in the hands of a
little number of gatekeepers.
Today, with the explosion of social
media, it can be enhanced or
damaged in the blink of an eye.
We live in tough times, where
every Reputation issue is
potentially Global, Social, Viral.
Photo from untitlism on Flickr

19. Liable to change
rapidly, a Corporate
Reputation is a
composite of
diverse and highly
volatile
perceptions – most
of which being out
of control
In a nutshell, we’re dealing with low predictability
IT’S MOSTLY OUT OF
CONTROL:
Of all communications
that exist about an
organisation, more
are out of direct
control than within
control.
IT’S WHAT IT IS:
Some of it is positive,
some is negative.
The digital & social
world surrounds
reputation completely
and acts as an
accelerator of change
in ability
THE COMMENT IS THE
MESSAGE:
Inside and outside any
organization, people
are creating and sharing
much more content
about it than can be
created or shared
by the organization
itself

20. Low level of public trust
vs.
High level of people’s
empowerment:
=
RISK ZONE

21. Reputation as the #1 risk
The Deloitte-Forbes 2013 Survey

22. • Reputation is now rated as the highest impact
risk area – not just overall, but for most
individual sectors as well.
• Three years ago, reputation was already the top
risk area in financial services – and remains so
today.
• As Sanofi’s Elisabeth Pacaud says:
“The emergence of new communication models
such as mobile, social networks is one of these
key changes which might impact reputation in
different and faster modes than before.”
Reputation as the #1 risk

23. •
Reputation as the #1 risk

24. -Warren Buffett
It takes 20 years to build
A reputation and five
minutes to ruin it.
If you think about that
you’ll do things
differently.

25. • Brokerage based businesses are potentially under
threat, as gatekeepers and barriers are vanishing
• Social media enables instantaneous global interactions
that make it impossible for organizations to “control”
the ongoing conversation about them and the impact
on their reputation
• This is true everywhere and for every organization,
as shown in the following examples where public
authorities are targeted by citizens and forced to
take action
• Such viral initiatives are the “New Normal” today, and
they prove to be very effective
The “post-disintermediation” Age

26. • Leaders – whether politicians or business execs -
are directly put under people’s heavy pressure
through Twitter, Facebook or YouTube
• Within hours, if not minutes, they have to cancel
an initiative, abandon a controversial project or
quickly act to address a pressing public demand
• In this brave new world, neither silence nor
secrecy can be a sustainable strategy:
a silent firm is still defined by others
Now, a couple of examples – projects that we awarded in
Cannes
From Public Affairs to People’s Affairs.

27. The power of
empowered
people.
Metropole Tweetphony,
Metropole Orkest, NL
Video: Metropole Tweetphony

28. Make the Politicians Work,
The power of
empowered
people.
URA.RU City, Russia
Video: Make the Politicians Work

29. FROM LOW
INTENSITY
CONTROVERSIES
TO HIGH
INTENSITY CRISIS:
A shift in control
Reputation is at stake

30. Every issue is potentially global, social, viral.
Corporations need to master three
interplays shaping crisis:
1. The interplay between
mainstream media and social media
2. The interplay between
local and global dynamics
3. The interplay between
crisis planning and response
Photo from Gamma-Ray Productions on Flickr

31. 1. Interplay between mainstream and social
The boundaries between mainstream
media and social media are blurring as:
• online influencers are linking to media stories
• news organizations are quoting online
influencers
Photo by Ben Chau on flickr
“Technology is shifting the power away from the
editors, the publishers, the establishment, the
media elite. Now it’s the people who are in
control.”
- R. MURDOCH, Chairman & CEO, News Corp

32. 2. Interplay between local and global
photo from h.koppdelaney n Flickr
No crisis is purely local today. It’s an interconnected world:
an image, a short video, a quote shared on Internet can
spread globally in seconds on the social web
Yet local considerations must of course be factored into crisis
planning and response
“Sometimes when you come through a
crisis you become better listeners...”
ANN MULCAHY, CEO and Chairman, Xerox Corporation

33. • It’s critical to plan and prepare for
crisis scenarios, but it’s even more
important to respond to emergent
crisis situations rightly,
authentically, transparently: with
integrity
3. Interplay between planning and responding

34. The news curve is
becoming shorter in the
‘breaking news’
and ‘context’ stages,
but longer in the
‘analysis’ and ‘archival’
stages.
The news curve is also
becoming more
fragmented.
The news curve
Shorter head Longer tail
More
fragmented,
but more viral
Attention
Timecrisis.mslgroup.com
1
2 3
4Breaking news
Context Analysis
Archival

35. The four stages in the
crisis curve correspond
to the four stages in the
news curve, and social
media makes it more
difficult to control a
crisis.
The crisis curve
Shorter head Longer tail
More
fragmented,
but more viral
Attention
Timecrisis.mslgroup.com
1
2 3
4Flash Point
Spotlight Blame Game
Resolution
Sharing links via
hashtags
Sharing stories via
retweets
Searching for stories
via Google
Sharing opinions
via blog posts

36. A real world
incident
(oil spill, financial
scam, sex
scandal)
accelerates the
crisis. Mainstream
media puts a
spotlight on
the crisis while
social media
amplifies it.
The ‘real world’ crisis
Triggered by
real world
incident
Driven by
mainstream
media
Newspapers/
Television
Blogs/
YouTube
Twitter/
Facebook
Each circle represents a story on mainstream media or social media. The size of the circle
represents the influence of the story.
Attention
Timecrisis.mslgroup.com
1
2 3
4

37. Example: BP
Gulf of Mexico
oil spill
During the protracted BP Gulf
of Mexico crisis, the flash
point was the oil spill itself,
but social media played a
critical role in the spotlight,
blame game and resolution
stages.

38. Example: BP
Gulf of Mexico
oil spill
Viral Video: BP Spills Coffee: a PARODY by UCB Comedy

39. • A social media meme
(Greenpeace campaign,
anti-brand hashtag, anti-
brand video) creates a
flash mob, turns into a
crisis, and is picked up by
mainstream media.
The ‘flash mob’ crisis
Triggered by social
media meme
Driven by social
media conversations
Newspapers/
Television
Blogs/
YouTube
Twitter/
Facebook
Each circle represents a story on mainstream media or social media. The size of the circle
represents the influence of the story.
Attention
Timecrisis.mslgroup.com
1
2 3
4

40. Example:
Greenpeace vs.
Nestlé KitKat
Greenpeace created a viral
video led campaign to protest
against Nestlé and protestors
hijacked Nestlé’s Facebook
page and filled it with abusive
comments: Social Guerrilla as
the New Norm.

41. Example:
Greenpeace vs.
Nestlé KitKat
Viral Video: Have a Break? by Greenpeace UK

42. CHINA EXAMPLE:
Government
officials
inspecting road
Chinese netizens found a
photo-shopped picture of
Chinese government officials
inspecting road construction
and started sharing photo-
shopped pictures of the
officials in funny situations.

43. Why a Command Center matters today
• Consumer brands (like Dell,
Gatorade L’Oréal and Nestlé),
• Organizations (like Red Cross),
• And Financial institutions (like
National Australia Bank,
MasterCard, Wells Fargo and
Chase)…
…have set up digital command
centers to monitor conversations
and engage with audiences when
needed, in real-time and with a
high level of anticipation and
reactivity – a precious asset these
days

44. The Reputation Content:
What Reputation is about and why it matters
The Reputation Complex:
A New Hybrid System
The Reputation Context:
The challenge of Global Distrust &
the devastating impact of Crises in the Social Age

45. So, what is
it about?

46. It’s mainly about two essential dimensions:
rightly
engaging with
all stakeholders:
content &
relationship
articulating
the key
components
of Reputation
today

47. It’s primarily about articulating the key components
of Reputation today
• What do you stand for as a firm?
What’s your purpose?
• Does your Corporate Governance meet
today’s societal expectations: ethics,
quality of leadership, Citizenship, diversity?
• Is your business performance sustainable?
• What’s the social impact of your business on
people, communities and society at large?
• Are you an Employer of Choice?

48. It’s then about rightly engaging with all stakeholders:
content & relationship
• How Communications can help better shape & share
the story about the brand’s history, legacy and
strategy, internally and externally. The priority is to
craft a narrative architecture to help larger audiences
understand, for instance:
• Where the company comes from and what it stands for
• Why sustainability, value creation and innovation are
key pillars to its success
• How it’s committed to developing close links with
people and communities
• Why building a strong Employer Value is crucial for
today and tomorrow, specially for Millennials

49. Building & managing a reputation today is
firstly building and managing a content
strategy, then rightly engaging ON IT with
ALL RELEVANT AUDIENCES
A few examples…

50. Stakeholders today
care about a variety
of topics which are
directly impacting
firms’ reputation:
• a company’s conduct: faulty
products, misconduct, lack of
leadership and data security
• impact on economy: tax avoidance,
unfair wages, job cuts, bankruptcy
• impact on environment: disaster
management, bad supplier practices
• impact on human rights: hiring bias,
exploitation, discrimination

51. Over the past few
years, some
companies which
happened to be at
stake did better
than others,
because…
• they better managed what they
wanted to focus on (content)
• the way they engaged with
people was superior
(relationship)

52. Amidst fierce competition from Silicon Valley, IBM needed a strong reputation to attract top talent, fuel innovation and stay
relevant. In 2008, the company announced its ambitions to build a smarter planet. Today, the company has embraced
Smarter Planet as its central purpose, organizes many programs around this and involves employees, local governments and
people themselves in various initiatives.
The Power of a Strong Purpose: IBM
Smarter communications using
different platforms, ranging from
billboards to YouTube and
Instagram, to a social curation
platform IBM Voices.
Smarter Planet, a shift to smarter
solutions for the future, centered
around Big Data driven insights, and
more efficient and mobile Cloud
Computing.
Broader Stakeholder
Involvement through the Smarter
Cities Challenge, People for a
Smarter Planet community, World
Community Grid and blog.

53. The Power of a Clear Positioning: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Already known for being one of the Big 4, PwC’s reputation with UK regulators took a dip in 2011, when the House of Lords
criticized the auditor for its role in the financial crisis. The firm responded by acknowledging the lack of trust in the industry,
appointing a head of reputation strategy and positioning itself as a part of the conversation - and the solution.
Building Public Trust Awards. In
its 11th year now, the awards
recognize organizations that excel
in corporate reporting. The awards
were recently expanded to include
an international category.
PwC’s Head of Reputational
Strategy is responsible for engaging
with regulators and managing the
perception of the firm, along with a
small team.
Dialog around trust. Already a
strong content creator and thought
leader, PwC has positioned itself
as an active player in addressing
the lack of trust plaguing its own
industry and its clients.

54. The Power of Consistency: Munich Re
For re-insurers, being good is good business. Munich Re studies sustainable development to identify future risks, devise
products, and to manage its own footprint and social commitment. Strong consistent messaging, a history of being focused
on sustainability and -a celebrity shareholder contribute to the company’s strong reputation.
Industry’s largest internship
contest in China, part of the re-
insurer’s efforts to attract the best
talent in a market poised to see the
greatest increase of premiums
worldwide.
Thought leadership around
Climate Change since 1973, giving
Munich Re a head start on data and
research, and credibility to its
sustainability efforts.
Backing of Warren Buffet.
Through personal holdings and
holdings through Berkshire, Warren
Buffet is the largest single
shareholder in Munich Re.

55. The Power of being an Employer of Choice: Dow Chemical
A historically controversial firm, Dow Chemical has positioned itself as an innovative company that provides solutions for
today’s world – and a top employer. The company is now gearing to climb up the value chain by selling off its commodity
business and moving from chemicals to chemistry.
Employer of Choice. In the last
two years, Dow has emerged as a
global Employer of Choice. Dow has
also been recognized for initiatives
such as the virtual Dow Lab Safety
Academy.
Solutionism, a campaign launched
in early 2012 to highlight stories of
how Dow products & innovations are
contributing to social solutions.
Innovation & sustainability
initiatives, including an open
innovation challenge, an annual
student challenge and partnerships
with the Nature Conservancy Lab
and Haier.

56. The Power of being a Good Corporate Citizen: Tata Group
Tata Group is a family run business with a rich heritage of strong leaders and a strong reputation. It is known for being ethical
and for its commitment to employees and the community. The company welcomed in a new chairman in 2013, with former
chairman Ratan Tata focusing on philanthropy & the well-endowed Tata Trusts.
Philanthropy and community
support. Tata Group is known for
its generous support for academic
institutions, social causes and
programmes for the under-
privileged, and for setting a path
for other corporates.
Strong leadership & ‘Good’
Growth. Ratan Tata’s anti-
corruption approach has contributed
to the company’s international
success and its strong global
reputation.
Employees matter. Tata Group is
known for ‘looking after’ its
employees, especially in times of
crises. Tata also empowers
employees to give back to society
through CSR initiatives.

57. The Power of Cultural Leadership: GE
Within a decade, GE transformed itself from a leading polluter to a leading clean technology provider. Since 2005, GE has
committed large investments to building its ecomagination and Healthymagination range of products. Strong leadership, open
innovation, philanthropy efforts and participatory programs have boosted GE to one of today’s leading global brands.
Visual and social communications.
GE shares stories around its products,
initiatives, and things around us in short
visual content packets, optimized for quick
consumption on social networks. GE has an
audience of 1 million on Facebook.
ecomagination
&Healhymagination. Through
these programs, GE has invested
billions in bringing sustainable eco
products and affordable health
products to market.
Innovation everywhere. GE’s
open innovation challenges and
entrepreneurship programs support
innovation internally and externally
– in the areas of clean tech, smart
products and health (most notably
breast cancer & head health).

58. investors clients public
What the firm
says
it believes, stands
for and what it
actually does
What
external
stakeholders
perceive of
it, and do
with it
What’s the
staff’s take
about that,
and how
employees
build – or
not – on it
The Reputation
Complex
articulates
different levels
and dimensions
which are linked in
a dynamic way:
an ongoing &
iterative process,
with no beginning
and no end,
blending beliefs,
perceptions and
representations

59. Before being
good or bad – and
moving from one
state to the other
can take very little
time – a reputation
firstly is:
A firm’s resistance, and potential resilience, very much depends upon these four
points, when its reputation is at stake
Coherent, or not,
with what a firm
actually is, and stands
for.
Managed, or not,
properly.
Consistent, or not,
with its core
beliefs
and values.
Solidly grounded
into a well-told story.
Corporate
Reputation

60. So, what are the
core pillars?

61. Purpose:
what you stand for as a company, your
core raison d’etre in the business
Corporate Citizenship:
putting your commitment to society at
the heart of your business strategy,
in resonance with your purpose
Employer Value Proposition:
the value your create for your people,
thus for their clients, for the company
and for themselves
Social Openness:
creatively engaging with your audiences,
and making your voice matter

62. Beyond its proven
excellence in its
core business,
each and every
organization
needs to position
itself as…
A Purpose-led
company
A Business
Citizen
An Employer
of
Choice
A well connected/
engaged firm

63. As presented at
the Financial Times/
Coca-Cola Enterprises
Summit on
Sustainability &
Citizenship, Oct 1,
London
See Coca Cola Enterprises:

64. Pascal Beucler
SVP and Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP
pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com
@pbeucler