Major corporations take hits to their reputation all the time, but the problem has rarely seemed as pervasive as during the recent pileup of business scandals. Alsop, a marketing columnist and editor at the Wall Street Journal
, studies companies from a broad range of industries to show how a corporation can make a name for itself, then maintain that reputation or fix it when things go wrong. Harris Interactive supplies plenty of poll data to gauge public perception, but the real meat of this book lies in the stories Alsop tells about specific companies. His examples are detailed and immediate, from Coca-Cola's use of its Web site to debunk persistent urban legends to the disastrously slow corporate response when a flustered Starbucks employee made World Trade Center rescue workers pay for bottled water. Some companies come in for particularly close scrutiny, such as Phillip Morris, for trying to shed its big tobacco image by renaming itself the Altria Group. And Alsop's not afraid to call things as he sees them. He criticizes Martha Stewart's attempts to spin her bad publicity and declares McDonald's "had better hurry up and give people more reasons to love it," suggesting a new ad campaign won't make up for poor customer service. That feistiness permeates much of his advice, as when he suggests to business owners that "most activists are your enemy," but the tone is combative without being offensive. And though some of the conclusions may seem obvious, executives will likely find the book an effective basic primer for dealing with public image. (Apr.)
