In my recent post about Trendwatching.com’s ‘Flawsome’ trend I explained what being ‘flawsome’ means but didn’t expand on what I believe some of its characteristics might be. So here they are.

Remember, as an organiastion or individual, being ‘flawsome’ is delivering an authentic mixture of being honest about your flaws, being willing to be held accountable and doing so in a way that’s empathetic, generous, humble, flexible, mature and good-natured.

Clients and consumers in 2012 won’t expect brands or companies to be flawless – they know it’s just a matter of time before something goes wrong and they fail in some way. Rather than flawless, they will want to engage with organisations that are clearly ‘flawsome’.

Trendwatching will be providing a trend briefing in March focusing on Flawsome and Human Brands. In the meantime I’d hazard a guess characteristics of being flawsome are likely to include: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Russ Frushtick

Although articles and blog posts in January lend themselves well to the ‘New Year resolutions’ or ‘predictions’ type pieces for the year ahead this year being ‘flawsome’ is a trend I think will come to the fore.

‘Flawsome’ came in at number 8 on Trendwatching.com’s top 12 crucial consumer trends for 2012 and means the more humanly a brand or company behaves – admitting and even showing their flaws – the more awesome they’ll be perceived. Trendwatching notes:

“consumers won’t expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands that are FLAWSOME*, and at large (or at least somewhat) human. Brands that are honest about their flaws, that show some empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and dare we say it, some character and humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

The discussion on National Radio’s ‘Afternoons‘ programme with Jim Mora yesterday regarding celebrity endorsements was interesting.

Panellists Scott Yorke and Michael Deaker had differing opinions as to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) might pursue former news anchor, Richard Long, over his involvement as ‘frontman’ for failed finance company Hanover Finance in terms of lending his reputation and name to the campaign.

Might the FMA have to pursue the copywriter, the ad agency, a voice-over artist as well as Long, for example? And might the perceived risk in terms of loss mitigate involvement if it’s low?

Not only did Yorke feel anyone investing in financial products probably wouldn’t be swayed by a celebrity endorsement, he also noted that even if Long had undertaken extensive ‘due-diligence’ to satisfy himself as to the robustness of the company’s financial performance and status, it’s likely financial advisers at the time may indeed have advised him that it was sound. Fair comment. Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s Christmas advert from UK high-street retailer John Lewis is an out and out reputation winner, which is more than can be said for Littlewoods – another UK retailer.

Both are cute, featuring children under 5 and a focus on presents, but where the Lewis ad hits the nail on the head in terms of positive emotion, and has received more than 3 million views, the Littlewoods’ ad does quite the reverse.

International speaker and confidence coach Eilidh Milnes says “I’d offer that John Lewis truly knows and understands it’s clients, matches the company ethics and ethos to its target market then dares to be different. The company holds its ground and maintains its standards – no questionable implications dubious morals or poor taste; with the advert … focusing on generosity not greed.” Here, here!

Littlewoods’ blatant commercialism and insensitivity won’t have won it many fans – adult or child. The obvious message is unnecessary and the ad’s ability to dispel the supposed myth that Mum, rather than Santa, provides gifts at Christmas will, no doubt, be the cause of tears before bedtime for many a littlie enraptured with Santa and his helpers. Read the rest of this entry »

Pic: 3news.co.nz

NZ Prime Minister John Key is in hot water and it’s not cooling off. The ‘Teapot Tape’ remains a hot topic of conversation, both in the media and amongst the public, given New Zealand is just one week away from a general election.

So why is it still dominating headlines? The apparently inadvertent recording of a supposedly private conversation between Prime Minister John Key and ACT candidate John Banks continues to be a hot topic because of doubts about whether voters are ‘being played‘.

Instead of fronting up and simply saying ‘we look forward to working with ACT as a coalition partner’ National again staged managed the so-called ‘Cup of Tea’ ritual to surreptitiously direct voters in Epsom to vote for Banks, as ACT’s candidate, rather than their own man. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of us will have experienced a time when we consciously caught ourselves thinking ‘I shouldn’t be saying this’. As the words left our lips we wished we could take them back and rephrase them in a more context-appropriate way.

In our increasingly busy lives our mouths often operate faster than our brains. So it’s worth thinking about the impact of what we might say before we need say it so we can minimise the risk of saying something we’ll probably regret. Thinking before we speak is a quick, easy and cost-free way that can preserve, or enhance a reputation rather than damage it. Be aware:

Your role matters – Even if you explicitly state your comments are your personal views and not those of your professional role, or the organisation you represent, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to totally separate the two. At the very least listeners will question your judgement and suitability for the role if you comments seem at odds in any way with your professional role. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a line in the sand for all of us, as individuals and organisations, and crossing it can make us a pariah.

News International’s News of the World became an outcast as soon as it became clear the phone-hacking scandal it’s caught up in wasn’t limited to a very small number of individual journalists and celebrity victims but extensive and widespread in terms of those involved and those they intruded upon.

The News of the World held itself up as being a moral evangelist in many instances yet the way information was gathered was highly unethical. The disclosure of the extent of the phone taps and other highly questionable practices demonstrated that the line in the sand had clearly been crossed to the point of being obliterated altogether. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been mixed responses to the Government’s proposal to change legislation to make ‘celebrities’ liable for claims they make in so-called celebrity endorsements.

The New Zealand Herald’s editor feels celebrities shouldn’t be held accountable for claims they make. Rather, investors should be better-educated about investment decisions and not so easily influenced by prominent people used to endorse products or services.

Others, including Aucklander Glen Stanton, welcome the fact that under the proposed new legislation endorsers will face fines of up to $1 million as well as compensation orders. Stanton was less than 10 days away from receiving $50,000 from an investment in Hanover Finance when the company collapsed.

Former TVOne news anchor Richard Long’s endorsement of Hanover was a primary reason Stanton invested in Hanover in the first place. Commenting in the New Zealand Herald he said “I lost a lot of money in the other finance companies as well, but in most of those companies I [invested] smaller amounts, like $5,000 or $10,000,” he said. “Hanover was the only one that I invested the large amount in … [Mr Long's endorsement] gave you a feeling of false security, definitely.” Read the rest of this entry »

Reputation branding isn’t rocket-science. It’s largely common-sense; but for some reason common-sense isn’t common.

I’m often asked ‘what do I need to do to make sure I can create and maintain a positive reputation?’ Apart from the fact that we can’t actually create a reputation – we can only influence it – there are certain things we can do to ensure we stack the odds in our favour in the reputational stakes and help others to think and speak well of us. I call them…

The 10 commandments of reputation branding:

• Make it easy for others to speak well of you
• Keep abreast of changing values and expectations
• Seek win-win outcomes from every interaction
• Never assume others think as you do Read the rest of this entry »

My live radio interview with Mike Handcock of Rock Your Life earlier today provided a perfect example of how technology, amongst other things, has the potential to damage our reputation, and what we may need to do to recover when things don’t always go according to plan.

BlogTalkRadio’s technology clearly had gremlins running around at the start of the interview which meant Mike had to make an in-the-moment decision about whether to postpone it, restart it, or try and struggle through. He made the call to cancel it and then go ahead with the interivew via Skype in a pre-recorded manner to be posted online at a later date.

So whilst I was speaking with Dave Rogers, Mike went about posting updates on both BlogTalkRadio’s page, Facebook and Twitter to let those listening live know what was going on. Doing so meant they knew what was happening and why the show wasn’t available and also enabled them to go about their day without wasting any extra time. Read the rest of this entry »