1

Reputation recovery

18 February 2016

Setting out a post-crisis communication strategy

#IpsosRepRecovery

2

KIT Methodology

Members of Parliament

• 129 MPs – weighted on party and

ministerial status

Business & Finance Journalists

• 88 UK journalists – quotas set on

regional, national and online

publications

November-December 2015 Face-to-face interviews

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Firm A Firm B Firm C Firm D Firm E

Base: British Captains of Industry, 1995-2003,

Favourable %

4

What you don't want is stories that are

around for years, maybe decades, which

people feel whenever your name is

mentioned, “that's the business that

didn't respond properly to the crisis,

didn't treat people fairly...”

…you can think of examples like

Thalidomide where that will never go

away, that's an extreme example.

You have to make sure you've

responded fully and comprehensively.

B&F

Journalist

Long memories

5

Once you’ve lost trust,

effectively the company is

finished.

Labour

Shadow Minister

6

Crises destroy reputation value

Engagement

Employer of

choice

Consumers

Voice is

heard Media

Employees

Financial community

Investor

confidence

Fewer

headwinds

License to

operate/self-

regulate

Communities

Policy makers

NGOs

Consideration

& loyalty

7

The five least trusted professions, 2015

Base: 990 British adults aged 15+, 5th December 2015 – 4th January 2016

35%

25%

25%

22%

21%

Business Leaders

Journalists

Estate Agents

Government Ministers

Politicians Generally

% trust to tell the truth

8

Base: All MPs (102) and B&F Journalists (88) asked, Winter 2015

Can you think a company which has in the past had a major reputational crisis but has impressed you in the way it responded to help

restore and recover its reputation?

Companies who have impressed

MPs – top mentions (%) B&F Journalists – top mentions (%)

7%

7%

5%

4%

4%

4%

4%

3%

3%

3%

3%

13%

10%

10%

9%

3%

3%

3%

9

Base: All MPs (102) and B&F Journalists (88) asked, Winter 2015. Coded verbatim responses

What did that company do to help restore or recover its reputation? What impressed you the most in terms of how it reacted?

What was impressive?

MPs & B&F Journalists – top spontaneous mentions (%)

32

31

30

25

23

22

19

18

31

37

22

10

19

24

21

4

Admitted responsibility

Acted with openness & transparency

Straight talking

Made things right with customers / consumers

Changed corporate culture

Fixed the problem

Replaced the CEO / senior execs

Recalled/ revamped product

10

It’s all about…

11

Fix it. Keep showing you’ve fixed it.

In classic Toyota style they

fronted it up, acknowledged

difficulties, said money is no object,

we will make this good and we will

rebuild our reputation and our

reputation is based on being the

best car manufacturer.

They said it was going to be a long

haul and it worked. Most people

have forgotten now that Toyota

have ever had a problem.

Labour

Backbencher

Words are just words – every

company has a PR department,

they can say what they want to and

every company will ultimately say

the same thing.

But the only thing that will win back

people is to have quantifiable

goals and areas that you can

visibly show improvement.

B&F

Journalist

12

Rebuilding trust? Be open & transparent

They were very quick to

acknowledge there has been a

problem and to inform customers.

Even though with hindsight the

problem wasn't as bad as was first

feared, the fact they were honest is

a credit to them. It was swiftness

and openness.

B&F

Journalist

It didn't speculate or attempt to

spin what happened. It was

willing to take short term

share price and reputation

damage in order that it spelt out

the full implications of what had

happened. Conservative

MP

13

Acting with honesty & integrity ‘extremely important’

How important are each of the following factors when

you judge a company or organisation?

Business &

Financial

Journalists

64%

MPs

44%

14

Take responsibility…and show contrition

They seemed to have a genuine

dismay at the impact of what they

had done. I don't think they were

necessarily terribly successful in

convincing people they had got to

the root of the problem, so they are

not a perfect example.

But so many organisations respond

to a crisis by damage limitation and

they didn't go for damage limitation.

They were quite open about the

sheer scale of what was going on

which was reasonably effective.

Labour

Backbencher

15

Be clear about the nature and extent of the issue

Conventionalism will tell you to, and you do have

to speak to your customers and clients straight

away, but you do need to understand exactly what

it is you're saying, otherwise you can make a rod

for your own back.

What you need to do is take that step back,

understand exactly who is involved, get the most

senior person who is available to you to assess

that and if you can get some independent eyes in

there as well to assess the situation and give a

review as quickly as possible, then you're

suddenly on the front foot again as opposed to

responding to the problem.

B&F

Journalist

16

Then communicate clearly, consistently and proactively

Predictability. That means

having a clear and robust plan

emerging from the crisis and to

speak to that plan at regular

intervals, not just to pop up once a

year to say we have achieved XYZ,

but to explain as the plan unfolds

and is implemented, what it is

designed to do, when it is designed

to do it by, what the consequences

of getting it wrong would be.

Labour

Backbencher

We may not get nuance on things

and sometimes we may decide

intentionally to ignore a nuance; so

as a company you have to be clear

what you are saying.

B&F

Journalist

17

MPs – top mentions (%)

What are MPs and journalists looking for?

37%

31%

23%

20%

19%

Face-to-face contact

Constituency-relevantinfo

Succinctness

Email

No info overloads

Base: All MPs (104) and B&F Journalists (88) asked, Winter 2015

B&F Journalists – top mentions (%)

65%

57%

41%

34%

Speedy response toqueries

Access to top execs

Open and honestrelationships

Proactivity

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Building reputation resilience takes time

If you've got a long-term

relationship with a company or the

people that work there, it's about

‘OK – we messed up – but here's

what we're doing to fix it.’

Obviously we build trust faster than

some random guy who hasn't

actually taken the time to meet you

or ever have a conversation with

you, who's now pleading with you

to trust him. It's far too late,

once there's been a crisis, to

then try and establish a

relationship, it's not going to

happen.

B&F

Journalist

It was a company which nobody ever

dreamed would hit a crisis and it did,

but it didn't downgrade its products

and that is how it was able to recover

reputationally.

The consistency and stability of how

the company went forward and clung

to its reputation for quality of product

which everybody was familiar with.

Conservative

Backbencher

19

Communicate your wider purpose and contribution

If a company has a genuine

purpose beyond its bottom line,

beyond shareholder value, then

that is a good long term direction

that pulls the company through.

And also for its customers and for

government and for regulators

gives a clear picture of what that

company is setting out to do within

the wider world.

Labour

Backbencher

Actually rethinking what do they

think the values of the company

are and what they should be doing.

It was a realisation that they had to

have a complete root and branch

change – minor tinkering wasn't

going to be enough.

B&F

Journalist

20

Heads must roll?

Make sure that those who are

responsible for the mistakes are

held accountable.

It is fine to keep the top team in

place while they are dealing with

the issue, on the understanding,

communicated to the public, that

there will be heads rolling once the

issue has been resolved.

Conservative

MP

We purge ourselves in society by

finding somebody to blame and we

need to do that and that works for

companies.

The individuals who might then

suffer as a result of that need to

recognise that's why they've been

paid so much for the previous

years.

B&F

Journalist

21

Deeper forces are at play…

66%

61%

24%

23%

22%

20%

Executive pay and bonuses

Corporate tax avoidance

Employment practices perceived to beunfair (eg. zero hour contracts)

Government bail-outs at the cost of thetax payer

The ongoing financial crisis

Poor management and leadership ofmajor corporations

Thinking about the issues that are affecting public trust in business, which two or three of the following do you think have had the greatest

impact?

Base: All B&F Journalists, Winter 2015 (88)

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If there is a dichotomy between what

you say and what you do, you are

going to come a cropper.

So in the end the messaging has to be

authentic and the stories have to be

authentic and if you are saying one

thing and doing another you will end up

in Private Eye, which is a bad thing.

Ipsos MORI

Reputation

Council member

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Ipsos MORI key influencer surveys

Politicians Business & finance Journalists CR

MPs

MSPs

AMs

MLAs

Captains of

industry

Personal

Finance

journalists

Business &

financial

journalists

Motoring

Journalists

Transport

Journalists

NGOs - UK

Sustainable

Business

Monitor

NGOs - Global

Pharma Sector General

Public

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