reputation management and africa · media relations strategy (traditional & digital)...

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT – AND

AFRICA

October 2014

TODAY’S ROADMAP

• What is reputation and why do you have to manage it?

• Who is doing it well?

• How do you build reputation?

• What impacts reputation in Africa?

• A few last thoughts …

Corporate purpose is not created in response to crisis, it needs to be in place before crisis hits

TRUST IS LOW “There is more need than ever for companies to explain why they are here, why they are doing things, and explain the rationale and context” (Statoil) IMD/B-M Corporate Purpose Study, 2013

Corporate purpose is not created in response to crisis, it needs to be in place before crisis hits. “Corporate purpose gave us a story to tell” (Ford) IMD\B-M Corporate Purpose Study, 2013

WHAT IS REPUTATION?

REPUTATION IS …

• How positively, or negatively, an

organisation is perceived by its key stakeholders

• REPUTATION SPRINGS FROM FEELINGS BASED ON PERCEPTIONS

THE KEY DRIVERS OF REPUTATION

BECAUSE IT DRIVES SUPPORT AND BUSINESS RESULTS

• Customers buying your products

• Policy makers and regulators granting you licences to operate

• Financial community investing in you

• Media writing supportive articles about you

• Employees delivering on your strategy

WHY DO COMPANIES NEED TO MANAGE REPUTATION?

HOW POWERFUL ARE PERCEPTIONS?

PRODUCT Perceptions of high quality products and innovation drive only 40% of people’s willingness to buy product

ENTERPRISE Perceptions of company (leadership, citizenship, governance, financial performance, employment) drives 60% of people’s willingness to buy product

40%

I would buy or recommend the

product

I would say something

positive about the company

I would trust them to do the

right thing

I would welcome them into the

local community

I would work for them

I would invest in them

IT IS A CUSHION AGAINST CRISES

SO WHY DOES REPUTATION MATTER?

Could Malaysia Airlines survive the missing MH370 fiasco? And then came

MH17 …

RANKING COMPANY

NO 1

NO 2

NO 5

NO 6

NO 7

NO 8

NO 9

NO 10

TO

P 1

0 2

014

WHO IS DOING IT WELL?

Vodacom 74.17

Old Mutual 69.94

Pick 'n Pay 69.38

Sasol 69.05

MTN 68.93

Sanlam 68.89

Standard Bank 68.50

ABSA 66.22

Nedbank 65.42

Shoprite 64.01

SABMiller 59.97

Bidvest 59.38

Barloworld 53.55

Imperial Holdings 53.02

Anglo American 51.90

AngloGold Ashanti 50.41

BHP Billiton 49.90

British American Tobacco 48.98

Massmart 48.29

Goldfields 48.18

Innovation is increasingly

important

Financial and telecommunications rated higher than their global counterparts

Governance is key in mining

WHO IS DOING IT WELL?

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING AND MANAGING REPUTATION?

The corporate brand is

front and centre of

corporate strategy as a

major differentiator and

asset

OUR APPROACH TO REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Corporate Reputation

Corporate Brand Strategy

Internal Communications Strategy

External Communications Strategy

Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

Media Relations Strategy (Traditional & Digital)

Activation, Event Management & Sponsorship

IT MUST BE HOLISTIC

OUR APPROACH TO REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Manage

(influence)

internal and

external

perceptions of

the

organisation’s

brand

Understand

the

implications of

the

increasingly

global outlook

of

stakeholders

Monitor and

address

increasing

governance

pressures and

ensure

compliance

Build internal

and external

trust and faith

in the brand

and its

sustainable

future

Protect the

organisation’s

reputation

from damage

PROTECT

REPUTATION

MONITOR

PRESSURES

STAKEHOLDER

OUTLOOK

BUILD

TRUST&FAITH MANAGE

PERCEPTIONS

OUR APPROACH TO REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

STAKEHOLDER

PERCEPTIONS

STAKEHOLDER

RESEARCH

ASSESS

REPUTATION RISK

STAKEHOLDER

ENGAGEMENT

ISSUE

MANAGEMENT

Survey stakeholder

audiences to understand

current reputation which

will influence

engagement and brand

communications strategy

Compare stakeholder

perceptions with actual

outputs. This will assist

strategy planning and

identify reputation gaps

Assess reputation risks

linked to major policy

changes,

projects/initiatives to be

mitigated/eliminated

prior

to implementation

Stakeholder

engagement strategy

based on mutual

benefit

. Issues of direct

relevance to the

organisation’s

reputation need to be

proactively planned for

and monitored

HOW WE DO IT

WHAT IMPACTS

REPUTATION IN AFRICA?

RATE OF INVESTMENT IS HIGHER IN AFRICA THAN IN ANY OTHER

DEVELOPING REGION

1 BETTER GOVERNANCE &

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

2 POLITICAL STABILITY

3 DEMAND FOR RESOURCES

4 EXPANDING LABOUR FORCE 5 URBANISATION

6 EMERGING MIDDLE CLASS – NEW CONSUMER

BASE

BETTER GOVERNANCE & REGULATORY ENVIRONMENTS

POLITICAL STABILITY

DEMAND FOR RESOURCES

EXPANDING LABOUR FORCE

URBANISATION

McKinsey forecasts a 35% rise in African consumer spending power through to 2015.

AN EMERGING MIDDLE CLASS

The mobile phone is changing lives in Africa dramatically new mobile phone subscribers in the past decade – more than the total US population

316 MILLION

By 2014, 56% of all Africans will own a mobile phone - more than 600 million people By 2014, Africa will have one of the highest mobile phone usage rates in the world

SURVIVING THE MEDIA

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS

I CANNOT HELP TO BE IMPRESSED BY THE CONTINENT’S RESILIENCE … IN THE FACE OF THE MOST SERIOUS

DISTURBANCES SEEN BY THE WORLD’S ECONOMY SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

Christine Lagarde, January 2013

A FEW LAST THOUGHTS …

75% of companies are not equipped to manage an unfamiliar crisis. Taking the worst scenario,

95% are unprepared. Burson-Marsteller Global Survey 2009

“It t akes 20 years t o b u ild a

rep ut at ion and f ive m inut es

t o ru in it .”

Warren Buf f et t

You get the reputation you deserve. If you don’t manage your reputation, others will do it for you.

To find out more about Burson-Marsteller’s training programmes, please contact Robyn de Villiers on:

Tel: +27 11 480 8557

Email: robyn.devilliers@bm-africa.com