Reputation building = Self advertising?
As Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett once noted, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it” (as cited in the textbook, p. 112). Thus, we need to work step by step and observe the law sincerely to achieve a higher reputation.
A corporation’s identity and image are the most critical communication function in a company. A company’s identity is the visual manifestation of the company’s reality as conveyed through tangible pieces of evidence, such as the organization’s name, logo, and products. Image is the organization as seen from the viewpoint of its constituencies. Depending on which constituency is involved, an organization can have many different images. No matter how marvelous the strategy or tactics the company has, it is worthless if we cannot build proper images. Therefore, we need corporate advertising to communicate their identities effectively.
The fine relationship between identity and image generates a strong reputation. However, reputation will collapse in an instant once companies betray stakeholder’s trust. Reputation is a product of both internal and external constituencies, so companies should pay attention to not only external stakeholders but also employees. Also, managers should grasp the value of identity image and reputation that are integral to an organization’s success and credibility. The proverb “
How inappropriate message ruins a company?
I still clearly remember a scandal that occurred ten years ago. One of the biggest food companies in Japan, Snow Brand Milk Products Company, caused food poisoning with their milk due to the crude quality of product control in 2000. What was worse still, the president of the company made a mistake by responding to this incident. At the press conference, the mass media requested him to continue his interview, but he refused by saying “I didn’t sleep last night!!” This comment provoked a customer’s rage. I was also filled with anger when I heard his utterance. It was an unrelated matter to customers; he should have explained what was happening now and sent messages to the stakeholders to recover confidence in the company. After that, the brand image and reputation of the company suddenly fell; the operation of all the factory production of Snow Brand corporate groups was obliged to stop overall, and almost all retail stores removed all commodities of the Snow Brand corporate group. The management of the whole group company turns worse, and finally the company dissolved and reorganized the group, including the change of the brand name.
What will you expect the company to react if you are the victim of a product defect? For example, do you think that
Is there a “one stone kills two birds” strategy to satisfy the company’s stakeholders?
As the company that I worked for before had attained their 100th anniversary a few years ago, the company selected the logo above to celebrate it. The design of the logo imaged "100" powerful letters and sunrise. (The company produces steel products, so this logo also means coils.) This logo also expresses with a feeling of thankfulness of 100 years to all people related to the company and an opening in the next 100 years. We used this logo in various ways, such as business cards, and we could make a fresh resolve to progress further when we saw this logo.Companies sometimes need to build logos as a symbol to motivate employees and show their policies. Also, companies change their logo when they desire to break down stereotyped image or make a progress more. The logo should be one that employees can be proud of and other stakeholders can understand the meanings intuitively. It is similar to a national flag at the Olympic Games. Players wrap a flag round themselves when they get a gold medal and TV viewers can see the nationality of the players. It is no exaggeration to say that the logo influences companies’ business results. Therefore, it is important for companies to decide a meaningful logo.
References:
http://dogopus.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/logotypes.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo
Related link:
We can learn how to design a company logo and the difference between a logo and a logotype from the design expert in this free video clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEYNYubXRyI&NR=1
I thought you made some very interesting points. I feel like the image and reputation of a company can also be effected by the employees working for the company. The company may be doing very well as a whole but if an employee working for the company does something wrong or does not treat a customer with respect, that employee can harm the reputation of the company. People can spread information very quickly, by word of mouth, or even through Facebook, My Space, etc. Companies need to be very cautious about the employees they choose, and make sure they are following the proper rules and procedures.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the logo is very important to a company. The logo is what helps distinguish that company from its competitors. I am a very observant person and notice logos a lot, especially when it comes to clothing. If I see someone wearing something I like and it has a well known logo on it, I wouldn't have to ask the person where they got it because I would already know. For example, if a clothing company has a logo that is well known, people that purchase their products are like walking advertisements. Therefore, I feel that it is extremely important to have a great logo that people can recognize, in order to help increase profitability.
I also agree that brand name is very crucial to a company. It helps to distinguish that particular company from its competitors. For e.g. Nike's identity and corporate image is the Nike Swoosh. In today’s world of competition, almost everyone knows when they see swoosh, even if the word Nike is not mentioned, they believe that the advertisement is done by Nike. By advertising their product with the help of big celebrities, Nike has established a good reputation as the leader in today’s generation of sportswear and other products.
ReplyDeleteBut image, identity and reputations cannot be created in one day. It is a very slow process and builds over time. Any company or corporations needs to work hard to build them. In this process, there are many complex and hard works that are needed to be performed in order to create a successful image and identity. Keeping this in mind, today there are many corporations and companies, which use specific sign as logo or brand name. With the help of this they can distinguish themselves amongst the crowd.
Therefore in today’s context of changing business environment, image, reputation and identity is the key for survival. Any company or a corporation that has a very detailed understanding of these factors can successfully create the best reputation in their field of business.
I believe that they is a lot at risk for a company that does not try to keep negative press out. The majority of investors and potential investors are looking at the press to see what is going with the company. If they see that things are not going well and they comapny is getting a bad reputation they will withdrawl their investement and place it within another company.
ReplyDeleteOwning a successful business in Indiana is a tough task. The population grows from around 15,000 when classes are not in session to around 30,000 when classes are in session. During the nine months that students are in town a business could make a nice impact on the market, but its trying to maintain that revenue in those tough months when students are away. Changing the identity of the business could help them in the tough months, limiting the business hours to just night time hours could hurt the business. They should really consider offering more hours.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that company image and identity are very important in its communication to the Stakeholders. It identifies the company uniquely. Also i would like to add that company's logo and their business liness express their attitude. If done correctly company can do wonders with it, like the example gave by Ankur of Nike.
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