Our Areas of Expertise – Reputation and Risk Management

About Corporate Reputation and Risk Management Research

The Ipsos Public Affairs Corporate Reputation and Risk Management research team provides corporate clients and not-for-profit organizations with highly customized research that allows them to manage and build their reputation, plan, manage, and improve strategic and crisis communications, better understand their employees and audiences, and oversee stakeholder relations.

We go beyond the traditional approach of “measure and compare” tests. Instead, we measure both risk and impact, exploring the correlation between your reputation and your ability to market to consumers. We work with our clients to provide and interpret data that will determine how reputation risk can be minimized, and reputation impact can be maximized.

We believe strongly in the present value of corporate reputation – that a good reputation can be used to drive your business performance today, as well as to establish a reservoir of goodwill to draw upon when challenges and difficulties arise in the future.

Download information about Ipsos' Corporate Reputation and Risk Management Research specialization in North America.

What we do

We provide actionable research. We measure and advise our clients not only on their current situation versus competitors, but also on the operating context and the client's ability to shape reputation now and in the future.

Our research provides insight into how you can communicate in order to improve your reputation. Measuring the issue environment allows you to identify problem areas before they arise and pinpoint areas of opportunity before your competitors.

Our measurement tools include:

• Reputation Pyramid: Our reputation pyramid includes awareness, familiarity, favorability, trust, and advocacy.
• Reputation Drivers: Reputation drivers are the individual attributes that affect how your organization is perceived. Drivers vary from organization to organization as does the weighting for each attribute.
• Context or Scenario Variables: Measures of the overall public opinion and stakeholder opinion context. Companies do not operate in a vacuum!
• Message Testing to Construct Future Scenarios: We make extensive use of message testing to measure the efficacy of future initiatives.

What is Reputation Risk

Reputation Risk is the impact of third party pressures and influence on the environment in which a company operates. These are the externally imposed limits to an organization's ability to operate within a particular jurisdiction or regulatory environment.

What is Reputation Impact?

Reputation Impact is the impact of a company's reputation on the probability that the end-consumer will purchase the product. Our research shows that there is a strong correlation between an organization's reputation and its ability to successfully market to consumers. By success, we mean that an organization's marketing communications will be more cost-effective, consumers will be more willing to try products marketed under the company's corporate brand, and the organization will also have a greater ability to charge its customers a premium. Marketing effectiveness is the bridge between corporate reputation and ROI.