Burson-Marsteller Africa expands reputation management in Africa
“Today clients are more conscientious about their reputation, especially with the growth of social media and easier access to information,” said Robyn de Villiers, chair and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Africa.
“There has been a real shift towards reputation building and crisis management, and putting in place strategic long-term plans. At Burson-Marsteller we pursue a single objective – to provide an effective communications service which makes a significant contribution to our clients’ business success.
“We believe strongly that clients receive the highest return on their communications and stakeholder engagement investment when they are all part of a carefully planned, holistic reputation management programme. Our partnership with Reputation Matters will help us to ensure that our communications are built on a solid, evidence-based foundation.”
Commenting in turn, Reputation Matters managing director and founder, Regine le Roux, said they looked forward to working with the Burson-Marsteller team in providing strategic reputation research to their clients across Africa.
“This partnership links with our vision at Reputation Matters of expanding our established operations from South Africa, right across the continent, and aligning with the best in the business. Respect, growth and authenticity are the three core values that drive us and we see these principles at work in the way Burson-Marsteller conduct its business as well.
“The potential for increased economic growth within Africa is endless and with that comes the need for trusted research results that help build business reputation. Our established operation in South Africa makes us perfectly positioned to easily link with clients further north and to engage with many of the multi-national and global firms that have major headquarters here.”
According to De Villiers, much has been spoken about dwindling levels of consumer trust in organisations in the past 10 years. “The global environment is fast-paced and in the digital age, companies have nowhere to hide. Instead of being willing recipients of big company messaging, disgruntled audiences can disrupt business in an instance.
“It is increasingly evident that global and national businesses, organisations and governments have realised the growing importance of managing reputation across the continent,” she concludes.
Burson-Marsteller Africa’s reputation management offering now includes the Repudometer research tool, created by Reputation Matters, which enables companies to quantify their reputation and better understand and communicate with all their stakeholders.
