There are brand architects, branding experts, companies that work to reinforce your brand capital or even your digital brand capital. There is personal branding. There is something called brand asset.
On the other hand, there are reputation managers, public relations (or; reputation) offices. The current hype is online reputation management. And even some companies in the US have a CRO, a Chief Reputation Officer.
A brand has a reputation. A reputation can affect brand and brand sales, the power of a brand can make reputation management easier. A strong brand has a “buffer” (or: airbag) to counter reputation damage.
But what, exactly, is the correlation between a brand and a reputation? Roel van der Ven gets this weeks brownie points and whuffie for his take:
A brand is a promise. A reputation is what happened to that promise.
A brand has a promise (or: even better, maybe: a purpose). The way a brand lives up to this promise builds a brand’s reputation.
A brand is a promise. A reputation is what happened to that promise.
What makes it even more awkward: If reputation and branding are so closely related: why are there branding companies AND reputation management companies?
Thanks to @elskamp, @batikk, @elsavb, @faune, @rutgervz and @sytsevliegen for their thoughts on the subject:
