© Copyright Acquisition International 2025 - All Rights Reserved.

Article Image - 78% of Comms Leaders Say Protecting Their Brand’s Reputation is Unmanageable
Posted 4th May 2021

78% of Comms Leaders Say Protecting Their Brand’s Reputation is Unmanageable

Survey finds threats such as activism, fake news and cancel culture have transformed the reputational risk landscape in the last five years.

Mouse Scroll AnimationScroll to keep reading

Let us help promote your business to a wider following.

78% of Comms Leaders Say Protecting Their Brand’s Reputation is Unmanageable
review

Survey finds threats such as activism, fake news and cancel culture have transformed the reputational risk landscape in the last five years.

New research has found that brand protection is an impossible job for more than three-quarters (78%) of comms leaders due to the increasing number of reputational threats they have to battle, including internal threats from current employees.

The survey of comms leaders at major UK companies, commissioned by crisis simulation platform provider Conducttr, found that employee activism is perceived as the second biggest threat to their organisation’s brand reputation, after cyber attack. In fact, half (50%) of all professionals in the sector say that one of their biggest fears regarding reputation is the potential for an employee to devalue it. These fears are not unfounded, with almost two-thirds (65%) of professionals having to deal with a crisis driven by employee activism previously.

Outsider threats have additionally compounded these fears, with almost all (93%) of comms leaders agreeing that consumers are savvier about the power they wield over brands, revealing that employees and the general public are now more aware of the influence they can have on a brand’s reputation and are subsequently holding them to account on perceived missteps.

Despite cancel culture existing as a newer reputational threat, more than half (52%) admitted having to deal with a crisis around this growing trend, while the emergence of fake news and disinformation via online platforms is facilitating further threat opportunities, with almost a third of comms professionals (31%) regarding them as a challenge.

New avenues for attacks on business reputation are proving to be a barrier to addressing new threats, with 43% noting difficulties managing deep fakes and social media. Additionally, 33% report a lack of understanding of newer threats, impacting on their inability to respond to risks quickly and effectively.

The combination of these factors is having a significant impact on the working lives of comms professionals. Respondents were almost unanimous (95%) in acknowledging that consumer empowerment and activism on social media meant that more time was being spent on managing brand reputation, while 71% said that the pressure and stress on their job role had increased.

Robert Pratten, Founder and CEO of Conducttr, commented, “For comms professionals, there is an urgent need to increase experience of managing these new threats to build confidence and reduce stress. This is best done in a safe, simulated environment that can reproduce these “next generation” reputational threats and their consequences in a realistic way. Far better to do this in a simulation than experience it for the first time in real life.”

Download the full report here.

Categories: Legal, News


You Might Also Like
Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
Health Care M&A Spending Sets New Record in 2015
Innovation
24/11/2015Health Care M&A Spending Sets New Record in 2015

The health care merger and acquisition market has set a new record in 2015, with more than a month left to go to the end of the year.

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
Zillow Group Acquisition of Trulia
M&A
Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
The Role of Class Action Lawsuits in Healthcare: Accountability and Patient Safety
News
04/07/2024The Role of Class Action Lawsuits in Healthcare: Accountability and Patient Safety

Class action lawsuits play a crucial role in holding healthcare companies accountable for their actions. When companies overcharge customers or breach fiduciary duties, these collective legal actions ensure that affected individuals can seek justice without be

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
UK Finance on-the-Go: £12.8 Billion Through Digital Banking by 2020
Finance
20/04/2015UK Finance on-the-Go: £12.8 Billion Through Digital Banking by 2020

The number of mobile banking users is set to almost double from 17.8 million to 32.6 million by 2020, whilst the number of U.K. adults using online banking will increase from 27.7 million to over 35 million, according to a report commissioned by Fiserv, Inc.

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
Five Things to Outsource for Your Business
News
06/01/2023Five Things to Outsource for Your Business

With running a business, there’s a balance between overhead and profit. Your overhead needs to be low enough to maximise profit, but you also need to invest enough back into your company to grow. One method a lot of businesses use to strike this balance is o

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
The rise of petrol prices and the global impact it has
Finance
23/04/2019The rise of petrol prices and the global impact it has

The average price of a litre of petrol at the end of 2018 was £1.21 in the UK, whereas a decade ago the figure was closer to £0.89 per litre. Price surges are reflective of steep inflation at various historical points, but what does 2019 hold for our empty t

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
Financial Inclusion Should Be High on the Conservatives’ Agenda
Finance
01/06/2015Financial Inclusion Should Be High on the Conservatives’ Agenda

Prepaid card industry expert Helen Child believes the re-elected Conservative government should drive change to ensure basic affordable financial services are available to all.

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
Bio-Techne Corporation Agrees to Acquire Zephyrus Biosciences, Inc.
M&A
21/03/2016Bio-Techne Corporation Agrees to Acquire Zephyrus Biosciences, Inc.

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Zephyrus Biosciences.

Read Full PostRead - Eye Icon
International Accounting Day 2023: TFO SOLUTIONS
News
06/11/2023International Accounting Day 2023: TFO SOLUTIONS

Tina O’Banion’s strong understanding of accounting and financial responsibility stems back to her childhood, where her mother, who was an accountant herself, taught her the great importance of managing money responsibly.



Our Trusted Brands

Acquisition International is a flagship brand of AI Global Media. AI Global Media is a B2B enterprise and are committed to creating engaging content allowing businesses to market their services to a larger global audience. We have a number of unique brands, each of which serves a specific industry or region. Each brand covers the latest news in its sector and publishes a digital magazine and newsletter which is read by a global audience.

Arrow