Managing corporate reputation in the cultural sector
Managing corporate reputation in the cultural sector
By
Nicole Newman
In a connected world, managing your corporate reputation and brand has become more complex. Several short case studies are used to illustrate approaches some organisations are taking - in particular how reputation impacts on our approaches to development and corporate sponsorship.
What you will have gathered from my biography is that I am not a marketer; I am a development director primarily. I am partially responsible for communications at ENO but the reason I am here is that the focus of our discussion today is corporate reputation in relation to partnerships and ethical sponsorship. It does also overlap into other areas like programming and media.
So what is corporate reputation? It’s worth looking at what that might be. What is it we are worried about exactly? Is it the brand, the way we’re seen in the press, how our audiences perceive us, the funders? Is it the expertise and intellectual assets – and that it might be affected in some way? I’ve worked in a lot of museums and the academic reputation can be very important. Or is it the programme or collection?
I think you need a clear understanding of why you exist. It’s also important to know who we are accountable to and identifying that very clearly. If that is clear then the other aspects follow.
