Management of intangibles should create new corporate brands, integrate media analysis into the reputation management process and adjust reputation strategies to the new digital reality. It is also important to take into account how important social networks, recommendations and experience are to demonstrate the value of a company. Agbar Group, for example, a company based in Spain and operating in many other countries, had to launch a new strategy to improve its reputation and recognition in the water supply sector, which has lots of reputational risks due to the different conflicts related to water: poverty, diseases, mortality, privatization, water saving, technologies and the environment. Thus, Agbar decided to face the challenge by launching a new strategy, adjusting the business model, monitoring risks related to the sector and creating a new brand, Aqualogy, able to unite reputational value created by different stakeholders: customers, employees, citizens, companies and institutions. The company launched a communication plan aiming to strengthen the brand and position itself as an infrastructure manager but also as a developer of innovations in the area of water management and solutions to the global water problems. In line with this plan, the company launched several projects to promote a new corporate culture and turn its employees into brand ambassadors. These projects aim to achieve the following objectives: Penetration/recognition Esteem/emotion Leadership/international exposure Relevance/differentiation Another important trend in the area of Corporate Reputation is to find out the feelings of stakeholders and to ensure that they identify themselves with companies on the Internet. TNS consulting firm carried out a research to map the scope of stakeholders’ interests that create the reputation of a brand. To do so, it is important to take into account the following three aspects: Topics and opinions about the company on the Internet Strengths and weaknesses of its reputation Communication channels and networks The scale of the impact on reputation depends on whether the opinion about the brand is positive or negative, and on the number of channels that discuss an issue related to the company. The most effective tool of strengthening corporate reputation is developing a permanent strategy of differentiation, creating shared value and implementing on-going performance measurement, both offline and online.

1. Three trends are on the reputation agenda today:
strategy, the Internet and measurement. They
are equally important and highlight the three
goals that the reputation science is still trying to
hit: reputation’s close ties with business results,
projection of reputation into social networks,
recommendations and direct experience, the need
to demonstrate the value of reputation and the
urge to measure it using the standards adopted
by all professionals and companies around the
world.
When reputation guides the brand
Agbar Group is a water supply company based in
Spain and operating in countries like Chile, the UK,
China, Colombia, Algeria, Cuba and Mexico. The
group was founded 150 year ago and brings together
128 companies and more than 26 mn customers. In
order to face the new challenges in the water supply
sector, Agbar had to launch a new strategy.
Provider of the full cycle of water supply services,
Agbar is recognized in all these countries on the
institutional level as a holder of public concession
licenses and on the technical level as the employer
of the best industrial engineers specializing in
collection, transportation, purification and
distribution of water.
However, recognition of the company among its
own customers is low (although this does not affect
its reputation. The brand is not familiar to the users
- direct beneficiaries of the company’s activity in the
water supply sector. At the same time, the issue of
access to water as well as the scarcity and increasing
price of water enjoy high level of exposure and
attention now and will do so in the next few decades
and in the course of the entire 21st
century.
How can one respond to a challenge of such
magnitude and successfully face it, leading the
Creation of new corporate brands, integration of media analysis into the reputation
management process, adjustment of reputation strategies to the new reality driven
by digital technologies – these are just a few of the current trends that determine
intangibles management globally
Strategy Documents
I58/2015
Best examples of
reputation management:
international experience
Communication
Insights & Trends
This document was prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership, and among other sources contains references
to the statements made by Ignasi Fainé, Agbar’s Director for Communication and Corporate Responsibility, Eduardo Cicuéndez and
Jesús Javier Sánchez, responsible for the Social Media and E-Commerce respectively at Correos, Joaquín de Ena, Global Director for
Sustainability at Santander Bank and Steffen Hermann, Senior Consultant at TNS Germany, made during the 17th International
Conference on Corporate Reputation, Identity and Brand Competitiveness: The Reputation Journey held by Reputation Institute in
Barcelona on June 5 – 7, 2013.

2. Insights & Trends 2
Best examples
of reputation
management:
international
experience
whole sector and making the most of the reputation
capital gained so far? Facing this challenge requires
awareness of the reputational risks associated with
such a sensitive, timeless and relevant issue for the
humanity as water and its unequal distribution.
IgnasiFainé, Agbar’s Director for Communication
and Corporate Responsibility, believes that the
company came up with an optimal solution: face
the challenge by launching a new strategy that
involves such aspects as necessary adjustment of
the business model, thorough risk monitoring in
the context of on-going changes in the global
water discourse and creation of a new framework
able to unite reputational value created by
different stakeholders.
Customers, employees, citizens, companies and
institutions are equally important at the time of
facing the global water challenge: the fact that only
3 % of the planet’s water is potable.
The UN announced 2013 the International Year of
Water Cooperation. Agbar took this opportunity
to launch its new corporate brand, Aqualogy, and
raise awareness about numerous conflicts related
to water: poverty, diseases, mortality, privatization,
water saving, technologies and the environment.
Facing the global challenge
In the West, access to water is as easy as opening the
tap and paying a monthly bill sent by the companies
– this monthly bill, habitual and normal for all
citizens, being their only point of contact with
the company. However, this reality is a dream for
thousands of millions of people on the planet.
Aqualogy is a brand designed to bring together
different stakeholders, different countries and
continents, to face different problems and different
integrated solutions. It is a new brand for a new
reality that attempts to develop new technology
and share information on water and sustainability.
Aqualogy’s philosophy is that educating citizens on
responsibility is equally important and challenging
as the company’s engineering activity.
A qualitative research aiming to evaluate the
positioning of Agbar and its new project, Aqualogy,
shows that Aqualogy is associated with modernity
and proximity and demonstrates a good recognition
result, even though it is still lower than the one
enjoyed by Agbar, recognized for its professionalism
and solvency.
That’s why the company launched a communication
plan aiming to strengthen the brand. It uses
the slogan Where water lives and positions the
company not only as an infrastructure manager
but also as a developer of innovations in the area
of water management and solutions to the global
water problems.
In line with this plan, the company launched several
projects to promote a new corporate culture, turn
its employees into brand ambassadors, and use all
new techniques, such as dramanagement (movies
and documentaries for companies) or gamification
(corporate games). These projects aim to achieve
the following objectives:
1. Penetration/recognition: ensure that the brand
is increasingly recognized and accepted.
2. Esteem/emotion: ensure that the essence of
the brand evokes emotions in stakeholders.
3. Leadership/international exposure:
ensure that the brand becomes truely
global and absorbs its local brands.
4. Relevance/differentiation: convince
stakeholders that the brand’s differential
value is integrated in its promise.
“Being
humane,
humble,
transparent
and coherent
are the four
rules that
should lay the
foundation
for the
strategy that
companies
should
implement
online and
offline”
Graph 1: Aqualogy Communication Plan
Source: Ignasi Fainé, 17th International Conference on Corporate Reputation, Identity and Brand Competitiveness, 2013.
Penetration
–
Knowledge
The brand is
gradually assumed
and well
Perception of
the “soul” of
the company
Consolidation as
a global brand
who embraces
all local brands
The integrated
offer is its
differential value
Esteem
–
Emotion
Leadership
–
Internationality
Relevance
–
Differentation
New
corporate
culture
Aqualogy
Brand
Ambassadors
Program
Transmedia plan:
Dramanagement
Games
Comic
...

3. Insights & Trends 3
Best examples
of reputation
management:
international
experience
The role of the Internet
Another important trend in the area of Corporate
Reputation is to find out the feelings of stakeholders
and to ensure that they identify themselves with
companies on the Internet. TNS consulting firm
carried out a research to map the scope of interests
that stakeholders of a firm may have at a given
moment. These include high quality at a low price,
highly remunerated and committed employees,
loyal customers, low remuneration for the top
management and a strong competitive position. The
combination of these interests creates an opinion
about a brand, which is defined as its reputation.
According to Steffen Hermann, TNS’s Senior
Consultant in Germany, the key is to integrate
reputation vision into the analysis of different
media, especially the digital media. In order to
organize such monitoring, it is important to take
into account the following three aspects:
1. Topics and opinions about the
company on the Internet.
2. Strengths and weaknesses of its reputation.
3. Communication channels and networks.
The scale of the impact on reputation depends on
whether the opinion about the brand is positive
or negative, and on the number of channels that
discuss an issue related to the company.
Conclusion: differentiation
and measurement
The most effective tool of strengthening corporate
reputation is developing a permanent strategy
of differentiation, creating shared value and
implementing on-going performance measurement
– both offline and online. Joaquín de Ena, Santander
Bank’s Global Director for Sustainability says that
Santander’s way to achieve differentiation is by
focusing its CSR strategy on sports, especially youth
and University sports.
Other companies, such as Correos, improve their
positions by transforming their business to adjust to
the new telecom technologies, the Internet boom
and digital opportunities, making the most of the
new technologies and using the social media to
communicate to their customers directly in real
time – listening, talking and resolving problems.
Being humane, humble, transparent and coherent
are the four rules that should lay the foundation for
the strategy that companies should implement
online and offline to make progress in the
reputation journey in such competitive and
aggressive context as the global economy with its
new rules and no boundaries.
“The scale
of the impact
on reputation
depends on
whether
the opinion
about a brand
is positive
or negative
and on the
number of
channels
that discuss
an issue
related to the
company”
Graph 2: Links between internal stakeholder
relationships amd competitive advantage
Source: Steffen Hermann, TNS Germany, 17th International
Conference on Corporate Reputation, Identity and Brand
Competitiveness, 2013.
Strong Internal
Service Quality
Competitive
Market
Advantage
High
Employee
Comitment
High
Customer
Retention

4. Leading by
reputation
©2015, Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership
Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership is a foundation established by major companies aiming to excel in the management
of intangible assets and facilitate promotion of strong brands with a good reputation and a capacity to compete on the global markets.
Our objective is to become the driving force, which would lead and consolidate professional reputation management as a strategic asset,
fundamental for building value of companies around the world.
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