brand
relevaNce & reputation

Protecting, shaping and growing brand relevance and reputation in a digital-first environment

know where
you stand.

We’re living through a global experiment that is challenging the status quo and prompting businesses, societies and governments to move fast, but purposefully. Brands and their leaders need to shatter conventional thinking and reimagine how they protect and grow their relevance in this new world.

read our latest thinking

For brands, COVID-19 and our reckoning with racial inequality have presented the ultimate tests of character.

Business have the chance to adapt their tone, take a stand in becoming better corporate citizens, pivot their marketing and social strategies, take better care of their employees and earn attention and affection in new ways.

building relevance

We sat down with 20 senior-level communications executives to understand how they are adapting and transforming to remain relevant and protect the reputations of their brands and business leaders. Among the key insights:
CEOs must get comfortable being vulnerable
Authentic human connections, inspired communications and respect emanate from, and are earned by, leaders who embrace vulnerability. But in today’s “cancel-culture” ecosystem, leading with vulnerability comes with risk and does not come naturally for most seasoned business leaders.
The experience is as important as the message
Communications professionals must master technology platforms and tools that deliver superior digital experiences, increase the consumption of content and foster engagement among their employees and customers. Developing the story is only half the battle; where you tell it and how you serve it up can make or break its impact and influence. 
Maintaining the competitive edge is tough
Brand and business leader relevance is fleeting in a world where the next competitor or disruptor does not yet exist. Maintaining or creating relevance is an imperfect science but it does require that communications pros embrace data -- how to collect it, assess it, and use it in real-time in order to understand the impact -- or lack thereof -- of your words and actions.
Accenture
Relevance—The Beating Heart of a Business

 $1 TRILLION IS LOST IN POTENTIAL REVENUE ANNUALLY DUE TO BRAND SWITCHING IN
THE U.S. ALONE. 

hpl can protect & Grow your brand

HPL combines strategy, content creation and technology to architect the reputation of brands and business leaders in a digitally-charged ecosystem:
strategy & planning
Assessing where you stand today and developing a plan for tomorrow.
‍
Services
• Cross-channel audit and analysis
• Messaging strategy and testing
• 24/7 news and social media monitoring and analysis
• Stakeholder audience mapping and analysis
• Executive coaching and training
• Crisis and scenario planning and simulations
• Sentiment monitoring
• Perception studies
content
Compelling content that resonates and prompts action among key stakeholder audiences.
‍Services
• Content audit
• Content strategy
• Content management
• Content development
• Earned media strategy and execution
• Social media strategy and execution


digital & technology
Infrastructure designed to support brand reputation management goals.
Services
• Web maintenance and support
• Website, app and portal development 
• Custom integrations
• Experience applications
•Digital strategy and execution
•SEO optimization and analysis
•Platform and audience analytics


THE CHALLENGES and Responses

VISIBILITY
PERCEPTION
TRAJECTORY
Missteps, such as tone-deaf communications or promoting a purpose without meaningful action, during crisis can create negative perceptions and have long-term financial implications.
Companies that lagged behind competitors in building an online presence or digital capabilities will need to catch up quickly (with potentially fewer resources).
In the wake of COVID-19, many organizations, especially those with business models focused on in-person interactions, will seem irrelevant.
FORM RELATIONSHIPS
MAKE IT MEANINGFUL
HAVE A PLAN
Presence is about more than visibility. It means identifying your customers’ needs and figuring out how your brand and product can play a meaningful role to address them. This allows you to deliver value consistently. As consumers pare down their consumption, brands who identify their purpose and use it to form true relationships with their customers will emerge from “there for you” to the much more powerful “there with you.”
Make your purpose meaningful through action. Companies can only compete on purpose
when that purpose permeates the entire organization and leads to meaningful measures. Moreover, the meaning must be present in every product, service, image and word. More than half (60 percent) of customers find it critical that a brand demonstrates its values with authenticity in everything it does.
Have a multistep crisis response plan. Address how your team will deal with external crisis, so you can take meaningful action quickly. Since mistakes can happen, however, have a plan to handle internal crisis or crises that come from miscommunication. Quickly own up to your mistakes and create a clear path for moving forward, consulting with voices of the people affected by your actions. Don’t be afraid to take extreme measures to demonstrate long- term accountability.
get the blueprint

Download  "Adapt and Transform" now.

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