How does an organisation recover its reputation after a crisis? Research by the Ipsos MORI Reputation Centre has just been released. What should companies focus on, to help them rebuild and restore their reputation after a crisis? The research was conducted among British MPs and British business and financial journalists.

1. 1
Reputation recovery
18 February 2016
Setting out a post-crisis communication strategy
#IpsosRepRecovery

2. 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. 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. 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. 5
Once you’ve lost trust,
effectively the company is
finished.
Labour
Shadow Minister

6. 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. 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. 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. 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. 10
It’s all about…

11. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 17
MPs – top mentions (%)
What are MPs and journalists looking for?
37%
31%
23%
20%
19%
Face-to-face contact
Constituency-relevant
info
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 to
queries
Access to top execs
Open and honest
relationships
Proactivity

18. 18
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. 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. 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. 21
Deeper forces are at play…
66%
61%
24%
23%
22%
20%
Executive pay and bonuses
Corporate tax avoidance
Employment practices perceived to be
unfair (eg. zero hour contracts)
Government bail-outs at the cost of the
tax payer
The ongoing financial crisis
Poor management and leadership of
major 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)

22. 22
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

23. 23
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 SectorGeneral
Public
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