Reputation

Jamie Dimon is glad it’s Facebook Friday. After a week where JPMorgan Chase revealed a $2 billion trading loss, saw questions about the reputation of the bank and its CEO mount, experienced a drop in financial value and heightened attacks from the pro-regulation camp, was sued by shareholders, and became the subject of an FBI investigation, the man is probably longing for a day off and a stiff drink. With the IPO happening, he can take a breather.

“For a bank viewed as a strong risk manager that never reported a loss throughout the financial crisis, the errors are embarrassing, especially in light of Dimon’s public criticism of the so-called Volcker rule to ban proprietary trading by big banks, and could lead to more heat from Washington on the sector,” wrote CNBC. Yikes.

The question now is what can be done to turn things around.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

In the world of public perception, a scandal can knock a brand down for weeks. But Wal-Mart, which is currently facing a public relations problem with a bribery scandal in Mexico, has fared better than other brands like Taco Bell and Target, according to data from YouGov BrandIndex, which measures “buzz score” on a point index.

YouGov BrandIndex measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

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Groupon announced today that it has hired Faisal Masud former eBay exec as head of the company’s relatively new and somewhat successful Groupon Goods unit.

Yesterday, the company announced that another eBay exec, Kal Raman, was joining the company “to build out the company’s internal controls and processes, which have come under scrutiny after several recent gaffes.”

This after the company’s CEO Andrew Mason held an employee town hall meeting on Wednesday in which he allowed The Wall Street Journal to sit in via webcast and watch him drink beer. At one point, when his “voice broke,” he apologized for drinking too much, explaining that he usually conducts all company business while doing shots and there’s never a problem. Joking. But no seriously, he was drinking beer. Which prompted AllThingsD to ask Raman the next day if he was being brought in to provide adult supervision.

And I bought a voucher for a $19 mani/pedi today!

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In addition to announcing a new corp comms model, the Arthur W. Page Society is having a spring conference in NYC that wraps up today. Yesterday, I sat in on the “CEO Spotlight,” which was placed on healthcare/pharmaceutical company Novartis.

Novartis faces a dilemma, according to CEO Joe Jimenez. “We’re ranked first as Fortune magazine’s most admired pharmaceutical company, but the whole industry suffers from a poor reputation,” he said. He bemoaned that “public trust of pharma even ranks below oil and tobacco.”

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In gross science news you may have missed, a massive bug thought to be extinct was found, bred, and will now be re-introduced to its more inhabitable island home after being nearly wiped out by a plague of rats some 95 years ago.

NPR beautifully put together the entire saga of the Australian “tree lobster” bug discovery and return to prominence as the heaviest flightless bug on Earth, and its G*d-damned disgusting.  Dryococelus australis was feasted upon (extra crunchy, followed by extra gooey) by black rats accidentally introduced to Lord Howe island, way off the coast of Australia.  Somehow the gnarly stick bugs made their way to Ball’s Pyramid, a spire of rock 10 miles away that looks as if it could only sustain an evil villain’s lair.

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Not satisfied to win a Grammy, perform on the blockbuster awards show, and have millions of fans and a best-selling album, Chris Brown took to Twitter this week to respond to critics with lots of F bombs.

Some music fans, still disgusted by his assault on Rihanna before the 2009 Grammys,  took issue with Brown’s inclusion and eventual win during this year’s ceremony. According to Mashable, a trending phrase during the broadcast was “wife beater.”

Brown lashed out with a series of tweets. However, only one was captured before they were deleted: “HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! That’s the ultimate F–K OFF.”

Today, Us Weekly claims that Brown approached a woman in a Grammy gift suite prior to the show and used the line, “Can I get your number? I promise I won’t beat you!” We know the tabloid mag isn’t always the most reliable news source, but the story is getting picked up because Brown’s reputation makes it seem totally feasible. And, Us Weekly goes on to report that his rep responded to inquiries about the truth of this with, “I’d be surprised if Chris said something that stupid.” No one else would be surprised. Not in the least.

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The most inexplicably controversial singer in the pop world, Lana Del Rey, finally got some positive press. By taking pictures, talking with, and smiling at fans, she has proven herself to be a warm-blooded humanoid and finally people are writing something nice.

The last time we visited with Lana, she was being sucked into the vortex of bad buzz generated by a lifeless and poorly-styled appearance on SNL. One so bad, in fact, that it prompted the guest of our debut episode of “My First Big Break,” Brian Williams, to send a personal note to Gawker asking them to give her the business.
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Raise a pharmaceutical company’s reputation in the public by just a small margin and it can have huge results, according to a new study released by APCO Worldwide.

APCO found that if a company’s corporate reputation is raised by just one point, an additional 28,000 patients ask their doctors about a company’s medicine; sales for the average pharmaceutical company increase by 3.33 percent; and 83,000 more community activists actively and vocally advocate on behalf of the industry, among other positive results.

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Apple is feeling some rare backlash over a New York Times report that working conditions at supplier factories in China are reprehensible and downright dangerous to workers, including those that have been killed in explosions while making those beloved i-products.

PC World has a breakdown of criticism from the media, with calls for boycotts coming from different directions.

The NYT says it contacted Apple with lots of detail about the story it was working on and got a “no comment” from the company. Apple has a reputation for being tight-lipped, but here’s where they should’ve broken with that history to address these issues.

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Burson-Marsteller used last week’s World Economic Forum to reveal results from its Global Reputation Index, research conducted with help from Landor Associates and Penn Schoen Berland.

The Index is based on a point system that evaluates companies and corporations based on performance and citizenship. A big difference in the scores in these two categories show that reputation is suffering from a lack of citizenship and, therefore, trustworthiness.

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