Reputation Strategy and Analytics in a Hyper-Connected World

Chapter Nine Reputational Partnering

Executive Summary: Reputation depends on a complex blend of activities and relationships with external parties. One of the best ways to leverage an existing brand reputation (or to rebuild a damaged brand reputation) is through carefully structured partnerships. Having a robust system with clear rules and objective metrics is essential for ensuring partnerships deliver real value for all parties involved.

In this chapter, we’re going to look at the value of partnerships in campaigns and strategies designed to enhance or rebuild corporate brand reputation. As noted previously, we live in a social world. To phrase it more accurately, we live in a world of digitally interconnected multiple social ecosystems. The idea of going it alone when it comes to something as important as your brand’s reputational strategy strikes me as strangely old-fashioned. From our perspective, the likely upside of partnering far outweighs the potential downside.

While the advantages and benefits of partnering seem obvious, what’s not obvious is the level of effort, planning, and hands-on management required to make partnerships work for all parties involved. This chapter dives into the details of reputational partnering, and offers an in-depth look at a company that makes the most of its partnerships. For the purpose of our narrative, let’s just say that it is a large multinational company that’s been operating successfully in the customer products space for more ...