Protect your brand with good deeds

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Trackback URL

Evidently it was Benjamin Franklin who said, ‘ It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it’. The same applies to a brand.

For many people, the meaning of this quote would have come to mind when the Tiger Woods sex saga first came to light. Almost overnight, old Tigger’s reputation was shredded. He went from being seen as a loving family man to a cad of the first order. Not surprisingly, his corporate sponsors suddenly found themselves in the midst of programs to ‘reassess their involvement’ with the golf superstar.

The bad publicity has forced Woods to go deep underground, although like Elvis he has been spotted variously on his yacht, at nightclubs, and checking in at a sex addiction clinic. Clearly, his minders have advised him to stay out of sight and not say boo, in the hope that the storm would blow over and Tiger can slowly make a comeback. Whether this is a good move remains to be seen. I reckon the damage has been done and no matter how well Tiger redeems himself, he’ll never regain the reputation he had before things went pear-shaped.

Companies could do well to once again heed this age-old lesson. Yet almost on a daily basis you see and experience companies doing exactly as Tiger did, using mindless bad deeds to dent their hard won and expensively built reputation and brand.

Banks are notorious for doing this. Here in Australia we had a recent case where one of our biggest banks fell over itself in its rush to raise home lending interest rates by a margin above what was deemed appropriate. In the process this bank earned the ire of politicians and consumers alike. That one ‘bad’ deed probably undid dozens of good deeds and did nothing to combat a general consumer perception that banks care little for their customers. The rights and wrongs of this perception are irrelevant. In marketing, perception is reality.

Ironically, at the same time this bank was raising interest rates it was running a major advertising campaign with a warm and fuzzy message. Makes me wonder. What’s the point of running a major advertising campaign extolling your virtues as a caring and sharing entity when to the average person the reality indicates otherwise?