Are brand and reputation the same thing?

Some people use the terms ‘brand’ and ‘reputation’ interchangeably, but that can be costly. The two are related but not identical twins, and here’s why.?

In a very simple nutshell, brand is the name on your shop and reputation is what everyone thinks of it. There are many layers to brand including employer brand, personal brand and the role of employees in personifying your brand but for our purposes here, brand represents your promise. It’s what you say, how you appear, how you behave and the aspirational customer experience you represent, and these are elements under your control.?

Reputation is whether or not others think you’ve kept your promise based on shared perceptions. This you can’t control. Your reputation is earned because it’s the feeling or reaction people have when they come across your brand based on prior experience, research or word-of-mouth.

So, while companies can rebrand, they can’t 're-reputation'. There have been many variations on Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it” and that’s because the sentiment is pretty spot on.

Here’s how it works:

Ideally brand and reputation should hold hands and skip along together on a positive upward trajectory. If your brand recognition and awareness is high, you want your reputation to be up there with it. So, what are the alternative models??

? Low brand awareness, low reputation – these are usually linked because if no one knows anything about your product or service they can’t really develop an opinion. This is where a marketing strategy is used to increase visibility in the marketplace, supported by corporate profile raising through earned media and social channels. Marketing spend helps your brand and earned media’s authenticity helps your reputation.

? Low brand awareness, high reputation – this can exist in companies where the shareholder value and business integrity are based heavily on reputation. For entities like Wesfarmers, the parent brand does not rely on consumer interface or brand awareness. We can go into brand architecture another time.

? High brand awareness, low reputation – this can be a costly space to be in and is often related to an organisational or physical crisis situation, and these come in many forms.?

Think about a strong, well-respected brand like Qantas, around for over 100 years. Covid comes out of nowhere and shunts the direct brand experience into isolation for two years. Then borders re-open, people are excited, flights resume … and then there are baggage delays, call centre queues, ticket price hikes and cancelled flights.?

Suddenly Qantas is on everyone’s lips for all the wrong reasons. Will Qantas survive? Of course. With a cache of strong brand and reputation, businesses have a much better chance of attracting media coverage that is more inclined to consider them favourably, and with smart issues management they can weather the storm, regain credibility and re-build reputation.

Natasha Mutch | Director Corporate Communications