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A Reputation Institute study into the worlds’ most reputable companies found that a five-point improvement in reputation increases consumer recommendations by seven per cent.

The survey of business leaders found that 60 per cent of respondents see a direct link between their company’s reputation and customer loyalty, revenue, and market share.

‘Yet only 20 per cent are ready to leverage this opportunity and protect their company against reputation risks with current processes and tools,’ the report found.

Nicolas Georges Trad, an executive partner at Reputation Institute, said: ‘Companies have recognised the value of reputation, but they are facing new challenges that a majority are not prepared to meet.’

The report added: ‘With 56 per cent of business leaders saying that reputation is a high priority to executive management and [the] board of directors, and 63 per cent expecting reputation management to be a higher priority for their company in the next two to three years there is a need to act now.’

The report identified BMW, Walt Disney, Rolex and Google as the world’ most reputable companies. ‘Reputation is an integrated part of their company strategy and they are seeing the business benefits,’ said Kasper Ulf Nielsen, another executive partner at the firm.

A recognised leader in each of the seven main business areas in which it operates: Property & Special Lines, Marine & Special Risks, Reinsurance, Accident and Health, Aviation, Life and Enterprise Risk, Kiln is a part of the AA- Tokio Marine Group. Its UK operating company, R J Kiln & Co Limited, currently manages five syndicates at Lloyd’s and is one of the largest agencies trading in the Lloyd’s (re)insurance market in terms of capacity. With gross written premium of more than £1bn each year, Kiln employs nearly 400 people in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Germany, China, Belgium and Brazil. The company was named one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For in 2012 and 2013. Kiln syndicates benefit from a security rating of ‘A+’ (Strong) assigned to Lloyd’s by Standard & Poor’s.

The Cultural traction 2013 report, released yesterday (20 March), warned that Apple’s ‘VIBE index score’– which measures brands on how visionary, inspiring, bold and exciting they are – declined by ten per cent in the US last year.

‘Where it once embodied all that was creative and progressive, over time Apple has become the establishment it set out to over-turn’, the report said.

Over 60,000 respondents rated 160 brands across 15 sectors to find those with the most powerful connection to consumers.

Headed by Google, the rest of the top ten was populated, in order, by: Apple, Samsung, Ikea, Microsoft, Sony, BMW, Audi, Coco-Cola, and eBay.

‘While the top brand, Google, is less than 20 years old, Coca-Cola is clocking almost 130. Its successful ranking at number nine indicates that age is no barrier to being a brand icon when culture is used effectively and well to connect with consumers’, a spokesman for Added Value said.

Of the brands surveyed, Facebook suffered the biggest fall in VIBE score, down by 20 per cent, for reasons ascribed by the report to ‘its troubled flotation and [the public] outcry over privacy concerns’.

‘As the world shrinks and our connectivity to one another grows, brands need to stay true to their roots, and do so in ways that are visionary, inspiring, bold and exciting, regardless of where they play,’ the report added.

Brand and reputation are the key themes for this year’s IRM Forum, taking place on 20-21 May in Ashford, UK.

we have always counselled that “PR is the truth told well.”

Recent high profile cases of celebrities allegedly caught tarnishing their reputations has pushed ‘Reputation Management’ up the agenda yet again.

From highly paid professional footballers being accused of racism, to Tory politicians accused of upper class snobbery and probably the most heinous accusation of all, the recently departed, Knight of the Realm and seemingly all-round do-gooder, Sir Jimmy Savile, alleged child molester amongst other accusations.

The tabloids sell millions of copies on the back of destroying reputations, or as they would have us believe ‘holding the powerful to account.’

Not all are guilty, and some survive the onslaught, but usually once the damage has been done, it’s impossible to repair.

Andy Gray and Richard Keys sudden departures from Sky Sports Premier League’s most influential slots started with what seem innocuous ‘tittle tattle,’ within a week, the whispers had become shrill screaming of the ugliest kind.

Nobody’s perfect, we will all at some stage do something we will live to regret.  In our world of 24/7 media scrutiny, where everyone with a Smartphone is a potential Paparazzi, and the ubiquitous CCTV camera sees all and no matter how ‘grainy’ the image, it will be reported – what should you do when it’s your turn on the most ‘candid of cameras,’ or cracking that totally over the top joke in what you thought was a very private gathering, or simply ‘caught in a lie?’

Perhaps turn to the spin doctors, publicists, PR experts or maybe get a Lord Lucan one-way ticket out of here?

Remember, in our world of growing cynicism and trial by the faceless online jury, only three things really count; Reputation, Reputation & Reputation

The ghosts of corporate malpractice, the lag effect of reality and the future of organisations implicated in the horsemeat scandal will be discussed by brand and reputation guru Rita Clifton at IRM’s Forum.

Clifton, a non-executive director at Nationwide, president of the Market Research Society and former chairman of Interbrand, is just one of the keynote speakers at our Mind the Brand event on 20-21 May in Ashford, UK.

“It’s no use being generically good any more”, says Clifton, “brands now have to be super-good.” Her speech promises to shine a light on the misbehaviour of bankers, the implications of social media, the hero-to-zero effect and why some companies are doomed to fail.

Clifton will also discuss how risk management brands itself and the need to prove that the profession is more than “just a grudge process”.

According to YouGov’s BrandIndex brand perception measure, 46% of users saw on the social media site that horse meat was found in Tesco’s spaghetti Bolognese, weakening the perception of its brand from a year-high ranking of +24 to just +9.

Tesco’s lowest ranking during the supply chain saga – when it was “dragged back by association” with food manufacturer Findus, who were found to supply frozen meals with horsemeat – has been +8.

The issue was, if anything, only exacerbated when a bright spark from Tesco’s customer care department decided to tweet that they were tired and ‘off to hit the hay’ – a colloquial term for going to sleep. The company later apologised, claiming that the tweet had been pre-scheduled before the scandal emerged.

YouGov commented: “Tesco responded quickly to the first crisis and looked like it would shore-up perceptions of the brand. However, the past [mid-February] days have shown that Tesco is becoming the face of the horsemeat scandal and they need to react just as fast to deal with that perception, even if it is one that they have gained somewhat unfairly.”

These issues and similar will be tackled by a range of expert speakers and workshops at the IRM Forum on 20-21 May in Ashford, Kent.

Asking if you dare risk your brand reputation, Forum will examine why brand protection is now the big issue for every organisation, and how firms can protect their reputation in an age where facts, misinformation and gossip can quickly spread across the globe in minutes.

Oxfam’s Behind the brands report said that some of the top ten food and beverage manufacturers believe “doing well by doing good” makes good business sense and helps to protect their brands.

“Consumers, investors and governments are increasingly demanding better sustainability and social responsibility and are pushing companies to implement significant and far-reaching reforms”, the report said.

It scrutinised the efforts of the big ten food and beverage companies as they attempt to increase supply chain transparency and reassure consumers that they are acting ethically.

Oxfam produced a scorecard rating the brands on how they handled several issues: women, small-scale farmers, farm workers, water, land, climate change, and transparency.

But Oxfam found that the big ten “have neglected to use their enormous power to help create a more just food system”. Policy gaps were said to include:

• being overly secretive about their supply chains
• failing to curb greenhouse gas emissions
• not addressing the exploitation of women small-scale farmers and workers

The charity warned that organisations should respond to these concerns to safeguard their brands, adding: “Shifts in both social technology and consumer behaviour mean that companies are increasingly vulnerable to consumer opinion and must respond to consumer pressure faster than ever.”

Reputation and brand will be the theme of IRM’s forthcoming Forum on 20-21 May in Ashford, Kent, UK. The Forum will bring together leading experts on branding, including former chair of Interbrand, Rita Clifton.

To view the Oxfam report in more detail, click here.

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10.00 – 10.10     Welcome from IRM Chairman, Richard Anderson
10.00 – 10.10     Opening address by Forum Chairman, Michael Jackson

10.10 – 11.00     Keynote 1:  René Carayol

11.00 – 11.45     Seminar sessions A1-A5

11.45 – 12.15     Coffee break

12.15 – 13.00     Seminar sessions A1 – A5 repeated

13.00 – 14.00     Lunch

14.00 – 14.45     Keynote 2:  Rita Clifton

14.45 – 15.30     Seminar sessions B1 – B5

15.30 – 16.00     Tea break

16.00 – 16.45     Seminar sessions B1 – B5 repeated

16.45 – 17.15     Keynote – Dan Murphy, IBM

17.15 – 17.20     Conference Chairman’s summary

19.00 – 00.00     Evening reception (Canterbury Suite)