Ipsos Global Reputation Centre

We believe that an organization's reputation is its most important intangible asset. Managed effectively, it can increase loyalty, commitment and support from a wide range of stakeholders. A strong reputation creates a positive halo around an organisation – generating a reservoir of good will as well as increasing the effectiveness of its marketing and communication activities.

The Ipsos Global Reputation Centre helps its clients to identify the issues and actions that build corporate reputation and deliver corporate brand equity. Together with our clients we identify and engage with their key stakeholders including customers and employees as well as influencers such as government and the media – individuals that can impact business performance, license to operate and market competitiveness.

At the heart of our thinking is the view that corporate reputation isn't just something that you store away for a rainy day. Reputation has present value – it can help you improve your reputation today resulting in reduced headwinds, greater marketing efficiency, and an open dialogue with stakeholders.

It is no longer sufficient for reputation research to be focused exclusively on key influencers or "elite audiences." Our research shows that a company's reputation with consumers, customers, and employees has wide ranging impacts on business success (see POV paper). Consumers and other stakeholders have access to more information than ever before and have more tools than ever before to broadcast their opinions. This situation provides companies with both opportunities for business rewards based on having a good reputation as well as additional exposure to reputational risk.

Our research design, in turn, reflects these basic concepts. In short, it includes indicators which capture the more traditional "save for later" perspective as well as indicators and advanced analytics which ensure that you can impact your reputation today across a variety of stakeholders.

• Reputation Pyramid: Our reputation pyramid includes awareness, familiarity, favourability, and trust (see POV paper). Beyond these "input" variables, we also consider for each client and each audience how to measure the "output" of Trust whether it be purchase intent, advocacy, or propensity to regulate. One of the key tenets in the Ipsos Present Value Approach to reputation is that reputation must mean something – there should be a tangible business impact as a result of a respondent feeling trust toward the organization.
• Reputation Pillars: The pillars are the elements of an organization's reputation on which their overall reputation rests. These pillars provide information on the drivers of reputation. The image attributes on which the drivers are based are designed specifically to reflect the company's values and goals as well as including attributes associated with the particular industry.
• Context or Scenario Variables: Measures of the overall public opinion and stakeholder opinion context. Companies do not operate in a vacuum! The context variables vary greatly by client and sector. Context can include attitudes toward public policy, sector responsibilities, charitable commitments, etc.
• Message Testing to Construct Future Scenarios: We believe that to manage reputation the measurement tool can not be static, capturing only the present. Ipsos makes extensive use of message testing to measure the efficacy of future initiatives so that we can advise our clients on how to improve their reputation. Our approach to message testing allows us to gain a better understanding of which messages to use to pull the levers of reputation. By triangulating the message fit (aligning message, messenger and audience) to the key drivers of an organization's image and the external issue environment, communications plans can be undertaken with a greater certainty about the strategic direction of the messages. Click here for POV paper.

Turning insight into action

Generating business critical insights that will help to create and maintain value in your organisation underlines our strategic approach to reputation research. However insight alone is not enough – without accompanying organisational action it is a job only half done. Using the Alignment and Action Planning Workshop, we help clients to explore the behavioural and communication challenges highlighted by the research. The workshop helps to effectively internalise results and create an environment in which individuals can develop creative solutions to address the reputation issues raised.

The Global Reputation Centre brings Ipsos’ thought leaders on reputation together for the benefit of our clients. In addition, Ipsos has two regional reputation centres in the US and UK We have Ipsos researchers across approximately 24 countries who have both local and international experience in reputation research.

Some of our clients:

Our global offering in the area of Corporate Reputation Research also includes:

• Global@dvisor, a 20+ country, online, semi-annual, syndicated research service tailored to the needs of Corporations, Advertising and PR Agencies, as well as Governments. For more information please contact John.Wright@ipsos.com
• The Key Influencer Tracking program (KIT), a suite of multi-client studies examining the attitudes and opinions of elite, opinion-former audiences.  For more information please contact andrew.nelson@ipsos.com