We kick off the New Year in high gear on our online reputation management blog with an exclusive interview with Allison Dean Love, President of Allison Dean Love Consulting, LLC. Allison has more than 20 years experience in public relations, marketing, media relations and communications, including crisis communications. With more than 8,000 interviews and media relationships worldwide, she conducts media relations and crisis communications training for a variety of clients in insurance, engineering, construction, government and nonprofit organizations. [Read more…]
Making Sense of the Petraeus Sex Scandal
December 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
America loves a good sex scandal. It’s almost our national pastime, although I’m still a little more partial to baseball. This Fall we had a little of both. Though it’s hard to imagine anything overshadowing the 2012 Presidential election, one day after President Barack Obama scored a second term, the face on the cover of newspapers and magazines across the country was… General David Petraeus? Let’s run through a quick catch up on this made for TV soap opera that has tarnished the reputation of the individuals involved as well as the U.S. Army, CIA and FBI.
November 7 – No Time for President Obama to Celebrate –CIA Chief David Petraeus Resigns
On November 7, 2012 the Petraeus scandal broke, although it appears the investigation into General Petraeus began long before November 2012 and FBI director, Robert Mueller decided to hold the news of the scandal until after the Presidential election. The news, as expected, riveted the nation and glued people to their laptops, tablets and television screens to watch our most decorated soldier, spymaster and potential future Presidential candidate’s fall from grace. [Read more…]
Global Trust in Advertising Survey Shows the Power of Earned Media
December 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
While advertisers and big businesses slap down millions and billions to pay for glitzy ads in traditional media such as television and print, “earned media” such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from peers, are more believable and appear to be more important factors in buying decisions, “…above all other forms of advertising,” according to a recent report from Nielsen surveying over 28,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries.
The Nielsen study found that trust associated with “word of mouth” and “peer recommendations” have increased 18 percent since 2007, and online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising. This is an interesting state to contrast with results from a recent Gartner study noting a proliferation of fake or paid reviews.
Sites such as Yelp or Angie’s List where customers consistently rate and review their favorite beauty salons, automobile repair shops, plumbers, and more will be essential for small businesses who have not been early adopters of such mediums. [Read more…]
Chipotle Cheating Scandal
November 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Last month, Chipotle was caught with its hands in the proverbial salsa jar when it was discovered that “…the Mexican fast food restaurant has been rounding up bills to the nearest nickel in high-volume locations like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts,” according to news reports.
Chipotle, a national chain of casual Mexican restaurants on both the east and west coasts, has a “quirky” corporate culture with a down-home website that showcases the now popular chain’s humble beginnings. The website also emphasizes that it operates with “integrity,” but some customers did not feel the love or trust at the checkout counter.
One New Jersey-based resident, realized that three of his receipts were rounded “up,” costing him a penny more than what the total should have been. Annoyed, he sent the Newark Star-Ledger the information. The Star Ledger investigated and found that Chipotle registers in the tri-state area were “typically” rounding the bills up or down – a policy that was not shared with the general public.
In today’s challenging economy, where there is a prevailing mood of mistrust for big businesses and franchises, this was not a good time for Chipotle to be charging more – even by a few pennies.
The Star-Ledger quoted Chipotle spokesperson, Chris Arnold: “The idea is simply to limit the possible combinations of change on cash transactions to keep the lines moving quickly in high volume areas,” he said.
In a penny-wise effort at corporate reputation management, Chipotle has changed its policy to round “down” the bills versus “up” — saving customers time and money and helping Chipotle’s media relations team swallow less damaging news coverage along with their fajita.
