‘Unlocking the value of insights – informing
business choices and positioning your
reputation’
Breakfast Seminar Summary Report
On 24 May 2012, ReputationInc hosted a breakfast seminar on the use of
reputation intelligence in business decision making. The keynote speaker
was John G. Clarke, Global External Communications and Corporate
Relations at HEINEKEN.
ReputationInc presented key points from its latest thinking on the use of
reputation insights. The event was attended by senior communications
and insight directors across a wide range of industries including financial
services, FMCG, retail, consulting and others. We would like to thank all
attendees for joining us and for adding to the conversation.
This document summarises the key points made during the seminar. For
further information please contact Dennis Larsen (dlarsen@reputationinc.com) or Kerstin Liehr (kliehr@reputation-inc.com).
Business Breakfast Synopsis
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1. Unlocking the Value of Insight, Brief Introduction
–Dennis Larsen, ReputationInc
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We live in a communications era with information in ever increasing abundance,
much of it available anytime and anywhere.1
Many business workers underestimate the resources required to navigate this data
rich environment and are not yet fully tapping into the potential. The most effective
businesses take a more strategic approach to the gathering and use of intelligence:
In reputation management this means gathering the right intelligence that aids
business strategy design and implementation. Best practice shows that the most
successful firms are leaps and bounds ahead those that rely simply on reputation
rankings, omnibus surveys and / or media output analysis.
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See for example Thomas Friedman (2006): “We are now connecting all the knowledge centers on the planet together into a single global
network, which – if politics and terrorism do not get in the way – could usher in an amazing era of prosperity, innovation and
collaboration, by companies, communities and individuals” Thomas Friedman, 2006. The World is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Business Breakfast Synopsis
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Leading companies apply the following core principles in their reputation intelligence
and related insights management programmes:
o Strategic: Reputation management is a mind-set that is ingrained at the very
top of the firm in all business decision making. Reputation management is a
long term process requiring on-going and deep rooted intelligence gathering.
Cutting corners costs in the long run.
o Actionable: Intelligence is gathered that can be acted upon crossfunctionally. In most cases there is little point in researching what one’s
reputation is in generic terms amongst the general public. Design your
research programme aligned to the operations and future ambitions of your
business and ensure the key findings are visibly acted upon.
o Embedded: Reputation related indicators are embedded in the organisation’s
scorecards, dashboard, incentive systems etc. Indicators are used actively by
managers and executives.
o MECE: Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive. The intelligence
gathering minimises overlaps and covers the ground of what is required. This
principle saves cost and delivers the right insight to the decision makers.
Requires holistic oversight.
Primary insight is often gathered to measure reputations or gain expert insight into
particular issue for a decision point or thought leadership programme. Organisations
that take the time to listen to their stakeholders through the appropriate
mechanisms are better set for enhanced future performance. The examples from
today will showcase a few examples of how this can be done effectively.
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2. Assessing the materiality of stakeholder expectations
–Dr. Kerstin Liehr, ReputationInc
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Stakeholders increasingly expect corporations to play a bigger role in solving wider
societal and environmental issues. These can no longer be left to governments or
specialist NGOs.
Companies are struggling to work out which topics are most important to address in
the increasingly complex web of stakeholder relations and their expectations.
Differentiating what is significant from what is noise in this context is what
materiality assessment does
Leading companies are applying the concept of materiality assessment – usually in
the context of Sustainability - in working out the crossing point between prioritised
key stakeholder expectations and the organisation’s internal assessment of what is
business-critical.
Applying this concept to reputation measure- and measurement brings the latter to
a next level – by creating shared value with your stakeholder through focusing on
shared priorities.
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Advanced new methodologies are allowing more precise and actionable ‘materiality
metrices’ to be deployed.
At a very topline level, the following key steps are involved:
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The results are used both for business planning and for stakeholder engagement.
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3. Reputation Intelligence at HEINEKEN
– John G. Clarke, Director, Global External Communication
What is HEINEKEN known for:
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The world’s most international brewer, owning more than 250 brands
Enjoyed in 178 countries around the world; operations in 71 countries
Since 1864, four generations of the Heineken family have been actively involved in
the company
Our business priorities:
• Consumer-inspired, consumer-oriented and brand-led
• Capture the opportunities in emerging markets
• Leverage the benefits of HEINEKEN’s global scale
• Grow the HEINEKEN brand
• Drive personal leadership
Reputation is at the heart of our business and incentivised at the very top.
The main ways we manage our reputation:
• Reputation research
• Research among analyst/financial community - to inform our business planning
• Internal Climate Survey – researching employee sentiment, at the moment exploring
ways how to link the results to the reputation research
• Green Gauge – internal tool to show our performance in the area of sustainability, to
help us to identify and track messages/storylines
Our reputation research:
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We apply a tailored reputation model that was developed through a pilot in 2009.
The results are used widely in the business, both at HQ level and in the markets. The
approach is tailored to specific market circumstances.
The results allow us to track our performance and act on the most relevant
stakeholder feedback
Findings are used to enhance local and central strategic plans across functions
involving the management teams.
We see clear value in our reputation intelligence programme as follows:
The approach we apply is a continuous learning model that adapts according to our
environment and business direction.
We are now implementing two further related projects:
o Materiality assessment and
o Reputation Portal:
One-stop shop for insights
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