Reputation Gurus

The FT ran an interesting short piece this morning (June 19, 2007) about how brands that were once tarnished have been able to turn around their image in consumers’ eyes. It states that Nestle, which was once subject to boycotts for developing world marketing activities, topped some national rankings when a research group asked consumers in five countries to name their most ethical brands.

As someone who grew up in a household that boycotted Nestle, I find this fascinating. In my mind, Nestle will always be linked to poor baby formula … but they’ve been able to resurrect their image by being much more progressive with their marketing practices.

This reinforces my conclusion that most companies’ corporate images can benefit from a progressive stance on an issue important to them — be it the environment, “living wages”, supply chain diversity, etc. The key is to have the first mover advantage — to be the first in their industry to take a leadership position on an issue that’s important to the company, its employees and its consumers/customers.