Reputation Strategy and Analytics in a Hyper-Connected World

Chapter Ten The Reputation Culture

Executive Summary: Easy access to information about product quality is shifting the balance of power in favor of customers. But that doesn’t mean brands are fighting an uphill battle. Information is a double-edged sword; it can be used by buyers and by sellers to achieve their objectives. The only certainty is that the reputation of a brand is shaped by information. Since customers form opinions about brands based on information generated by other customers, it makes sense for brands to develop capabilities for monitoring and analyzing relevant information, and knowing how to respond when problems seem imminent.

You’ve heard it before: It’s not the product itself that matters, it’s what people say about the product that really counts. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but there’s always more than a grain of truth in the observation that in today’s economy, style often trumps substance.

The made to order example of that phenomenon, of course, is Apple. For the most part, the products created and marketed by Apple are not technologically superior to the products sold by its competitors. But almost everyone seems to agree that Apple products are much cooler. And that perception has driven Apple sales for decades.

The Apple story perfectly illustrates the power of reputation. Apple has built a reputation for creating innovation—and they’ve translated that reputation into a wildly successful business. I think it’s fair to say that in today’s ...