Some subscribe to the idea that all press is good press or; “there is no such thing as bad press” (of course, some also say, “no news is good news” but that is out of context here).  I never fully understood this belief system, as I cannot think of a situation when it is good for people to speak poorly about you. Sure, you want people to talk, but negative press can put  companies out of business, as quickly as they got in business.

Perhaps it is a generational thing?

I recently turned 32 years old (old man, I know). The web has been around for the larger part of my existence (and all of my adult life). There is an element of permanence that is inherent in the web. This notion is something that moves me to operate in a certain manner, without thinking about it (even though sometimes I fail to proofread my blog posts).

The Web Does Not Forgive

Perhaps there was a time when the media was more merciful. When I think about it, the fact that newspapers are easily discarded, may have contributed to the belief that there is no such thing as bad press. In a world where newspapers play a decreasingly important role, this is no longer the case.

The permanence of the web makes it so, all news is eternal. Furthermore, all news can now be new to various individuals at any given time.

Forgive, but Never Forget

The web is a permanent repository of information. With this fact in mind, reputation management has become more crucial than ever. For every piece of bad press, you (or your brand) require an equal or greater piece of content. Whether it is an explanation of how the mishap occurred, or a promise that it will never happen again-when someone happens upon this negative event, there must be something adjacent that, at the very least, explains what happened.

I recently wrote an article for iMediaconnection which outlines a number of campaigns that I found offensive (I have gotten a lot of feedback that from people saying that some of the cases I presented or simply dumb and boring, not offensive. I will let you be the judge of that).

The article however is, in my opinion, just the beginning of the story. The real story will come a year from now and years after that; when the brands in question have had a chance to make reparations-positive actions greater than the ones that I shot them down for. At that time, I will write another article,

“Brands That Did Wrong, but Made Good”