“A Good reputation is more valuable than money.”

- Publilius Syrus (Roman Author, 1st Century BC)

In today’s world, business is still about winning friends and influencing people

When you make the world’s most sustainable, infinitely recyclable food and beverage packaging and you’re New Zealand’s only onshore manufacturer, you’d think business would be pretty easy. But as Kermit said, it isn’t easy being green, especially if you have to work closely and collaboratively with industry, customers, government, local councils, community networks, and you also rely on consumers doing the right thing with your product at the end of its life so you can reuse it again. Reputation Matters worked closely with the company’s leadership team on a strategy for getting these diverse stakeholders onboard and to build political and public support for regulations to achieve great environmental outcomes. Our first steps were to clearly define the problem and to fully understand the commercial realities at play alongside the company’s wider sustainability ambitions. Then it was a straight-forward process to deliver a strategy that was fit-for-purpose and to work closely with the team to execute it over time. This approach made us a trusted partner, helping grow their relationships and reputation, while never losing sight of the needs and goals of their business.

Sharing Success

Floating a major regional infrastructure company doesn’t happen very often in New Zealand. In fact, IPOs don’t happen very often, full stop. In partnership with New Zealand’s most experienced investor relations expert, Reputation Matters supported Hawke’s Bay’s most significant regional infrastructure asset to successfully list on the NZX. Going public is a complicated business, but even more so when the company is already effectively in public ownership. Confused? Owned by the local regional council, this float was different to most and there was huge community interest and expectation in the transaction, especially from potential local investors, including iwi. Growing the company’s strong reputation with the community and establishing its profile with the financial markets were crucial, as was engaging really well with the company’s own workforce. This was new territory for our client, not least because there was a political dimension to the transaction. This meant there were sensitivities to manage and heightened responsibility on the communications and investor relations strategy to manage risk. Comprehensive planning, distinct communication objectives across each phase of the project and close collaboration with the senior leadership and deal teams were critical to success. Setting the business up for life as a listed company was also a big part of our brief – developing systems and processes and building internal capability. A year later, the company made it into the NZX50 and was a finalist in the INFINZ Awards for Equity Market Transaction of the Year.

Tell it all, tell it yourself, tell it early

Utility companies are responsible for delivering some of the everyday services we unconsciously rely on – electricity, water, gas, sewerage. Let’s face it, they aren’t the sexiest brands on the block. In many cases, customers don’t have a lot of choice about their utility service provider. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, paying their bills is a ‘grudge transaction’. So, when our client made a pricing change for particular customers who viewed the change as wholly unfair, they found themselves in hot water. Their call to Reputation Matters opened with “We’re in unfamiliar territory – our customers don’t like us”. In fact, not only did their customers not like them, but neither did some politicians and a number of industry and media commentators. Yikes. Reputation Matters quickly designed an approach to reclaim the conversation and tell a story about fair pricing for all customers. We then made it happen, doing everything from developing content for media and social media, directly engaging with politicians and industry and helping the leadership team prepare for public meetings.Our support meant the company’s side of the story was heard and the reason for the new pricing was understood by customers and the wider community. Threatened protests were avoided and when further price changes were made 12 months later, all went smoothly.

In a crisis, it pays to know when to ask for help

Imagine yourself one of New Zealand’s most iconic and internationally reputable brands in its category. Your relationship with your customers and community seems rock-solid, built over years by consistently delivering a premium product and an exceptional customer experience. Then one day, in what seems a fairly straight-forward move, you step a little outside your core business and launch an innovation that you thought was innocuous enough, albeit something you had little experience in. Overnight you find yourselves on the wrong side of public opinion. You are accused of being culturally insensitive, arrogant, environmental terrorists. Before you know it, you are at the centre of a media and social media storm, and the dark clouds don’t seem to be clearing. In fact, by the day they’re looking more ominous. For one client, when this happened, they simply didn’t know what to do, but they knew they needed help. Reputation Matters stepped in, recognising quickly this was about wrestling back control of the story and making sure the right decisions were made and the business turned to face their detractors with humble honesty and willingness to put the situation right - to calm the storm and retrieve the community’s confidence and trust. We worked closely with the CEO and Marketing Director, helping align their management decisions with an intelligent communications approach, ensuring their team felt confident to manage the business out of the storm, providing an experienced bridge to the media and ultimately winning back the confidence of the community. The approach was simple (and is the only course of action in a self-inflicted crisis): regret, restitution and reform. “We’re sorry this has happened, here’s what we’re going to do to put it right, and here’s what we’re going to do to make sure it never happens again.” In the end, the issue was put right and the business went back to what it does best, but not before earning the respect of some really tough stakeholders along the way and forging some enduring partnerships previously unimaginable.