What do companies with bulletproof reputations have that others don’t?

If you said it’s crisis response preparedness, you’d only be partly right.

Crisis response is the fallback plan you can’t afford not to have. It’s the emergency medical service for reputation.

Companies that trust Kith with their reputations

In today’s 24/7 media cycle, where rumors and corporate missteps are circulated at warp speed…

Most companies can’t respond quickly enough to neutralize a story before a crisis goes public. And when it does, reputation takes a hit.

Customers, investors, partners and talent quietly slip to the competition and you’re left with a scarlet letter on your CV as the executive on whose watch the company’s reputation was eroded.

All while you apply the expensive band-aid of crisis response…

For too many companies, a PR crisis is the wake-up call

It triggers critical questions: “What could we have done to prevent this damage? How can we be less reactionary?”

But it shouldn’t take a 6 am emergency executive meeting to galvanize your best reputation defence.

The time to avoid reputation damage is before the next crisis strikes.

From 25 years of defending reputations for Fortune 500 companies and political campaigns, we know this:

Crises are inevitable

It’s why Kith has a crisis response client roster including some of the most respected global companies.

But no bulletproof firm ever built a profitable reputation based on crisis response alone.

The ones that manage to step out of crisis reactivity still face the potential for crises every day…

Businesses like Home Depot, Cargill and Walmart operate in some of the riskiest, highest-profile industries, yet nevertheless enjoy incredible reputation equity.

What differentiates these companies?

It’s not just how they manage reputation in the moment of crisis. It’s what they do before, between and after crises.

Here’s the truth about what makes some corporate reputations bulletproof

Companies that survive and thrive despite crises have what we call Reputation Resilience^TM. Reputation Resilience^TM means having the risk acuity to ‘see around corners’ and avoid preventable risks. It means embedding sophisticated crisis readiness throughout your organization. And it means true, earned credibility with the public stakeholders who own your reputation. When your reputation is crisis resilient, you have the public licence to expand your impact, grow, and achieve far greater things.

People make mistakes. Companies make mistakes. But your reputation can help you retain your license to operate and move into new areas. If and when something bad happens, you can respond quickly and draw on the reservoir of goodwill you’ve built up

Kith CEO, Bill Coletti,

Critical Moments,
the “invaluable modern primer on reputation management”

Build your company’s Reputation Resilience^TM with Kith’s Reputation Management Consulting

Before the next crisis hits, you can uncover and address the fissures in your risk acuity and crisis readiness.

But you do need a proven approach for addressing reputational risks. And you need guidance from battle-tested crisis experts.

Here’s how Kith Reputation Management Consulting works

Kith’s Reputation Management Consulting is for leaders who want guidance creating a bulletproof reputation from senior crisis and reputation management experts.

It starts with a diagnostic.

How crisis ready are you really? How resilient is your reputation?

The first phase of Reputation Management is measuring your baseline.

In the first 30 days,

we run a crisis simulation to pressure-test your crisis response and debrief your team on the state of your readiness.

In the next 60 days,

we run a deep-dive assessment of your organization-wide reputation risks. Kith runs analysis with our software, interviews and surveys key players to get a 360 diagnostic.

In 90 days

you get a clear picture of your true reputation risks. You’ll have expert, data-based insight on your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, so you know what priority gaps to close.

There’s no better way to accurately assess your team’s readiness to defend your reputation.

Take action to create Reputation Resilience™.

If you’re ready to go beyond the diagnostic and it’s a good fit with Kith, we move into action.

Your Kith Action Plan is a set of concrete steps to achieve Reputation Resilience^TM by solving structural, cultural and capability issues.

Your team learns how to understand reputation risks, head them off and turn risks into opportunities on your path to becoming reputation resilient.

With expert guidance, we evolve your organization to be nimbler in a time of crisis. You develop a clear chain of crisis communications command. And you actively grow your authority with critical stakeholders.

Kith Reputation Management Consulting is executed with your key players over a series of months. It’s a highly-tailored process that can include:

When you are securely on route to Reputation Resilience^TM, you won’t need Kith intensively — but we will be here for ongoing advice and guidance.

Every Kith Reputation Management Consulting engagement starts with a diagnostic. Talk to us about taking the first step.

Kith Reputation Management Consulting is based on Kith’s proven framework

Across each phase of the consulting engagement, Kith will counsel your decision-makers to:

The 4A Framework from Kith CEO, Bill Coletti has been called “a clear roadmap for C-Suite executives to take control of their company’s reputation and stop lurching from crisis to crisis.” It’s the readiness system Kith developed from working with some of the world’s most reputationally-sensitive companies. And it’s the playbook we use with clients to create bulletproof corporate reputations. Learn how Kith Reputation Management Consulting can help your company transform from a state of reputationally at-risk to Reputation Resilience^TM.

With reputational capital in the bank, you reap the benefits of the reputational “halo effect”…

The goodwill that makes your positive reputation durable, even when tested by crisis.

So you can side-step avoidable crises and transcend the full-force of damage from those you can’t prevent.

The value in measurable terms?

As of 2020, global executives on average attribute 63 percent of their company’s market value to their overall reputation¹

That’s because companies with better reputations:

While most companies don’t know how to create a reputation that generates that kind of value, you can. With Kith Reputation Management Consulting, you can achieve Reputation Resilience^TM.

Learn more about Kith Reputation Management Consulting.

You can't put a price on your company's reputation. It takes years to develop it and hard work (and money!) to maintain it. Bill is a recognized expert on building, maintaining and rebuilding corporate reputation.

Crisis readiness is the insurance policy you hope you never have to use, but when you use it, you're darn glad you have it.

Your company has a choice: dodge reputational bullets or create a bulletproof reputation

Most companies will rely on crisis response, gambling on the strength of untested reputation.

Many will face overwhelming crises that take a toll on everyone exposed.

A select few will see that crisis response isn’t enough; that to take the risks required to innovate and expand, you must build a state of readiness and resilience.

You may be ready for Kith Reputation Management Consulting if you…

Have already experienced a crisis wake-up call; you’re still standing but realize the next crisis could be one you can’t afford
Operate in a highly-regulated industry with crisis readiness and reputation risk concerns
Are on the hook for your company’s reputation or answer to a Board of Directors with a reputation agenda
See your competitive advantage in building the reservoir of goodwill that will stand your company in a crisis
Know that to expand, you need to grow your reputation — expertly
And are ready to step out of crisis reactivity with the guidance and expertise of a seasoned team of reputation experts

The time to bring in Kith is in those moments where you can learn and listen, and prepare for the crisis. Then, when you're in the middle of the storm, Kith has taught you how to use the muscle. Because crisis communication is like running. No one can run the race for me, for the company. They can help you. And so bringing Kith in early to be prepared will make getting through any crisis a lot easier. It may even prevent the crisis.”

Companies live and die by their reputations. But how to manage reputation? Bill brings much-needed structure to this critical issue.

Crisis hits you when you least expect it. Bill's years of experience and calming disposition truly helped us through a crisis, and his thought process on reputation management is second to none.

I've had the opportunity to work side by side with Bill during high-stakes crises of all stripes. I can say unequivocally, if you're in a fox hole, you will want Bill by your side.

I still quote Bill today about the difference between a campaign and a journey. We were often trying to look at reputation as a campaign, like an election. And on election day, someone is going to win, someone’s going to lose, and then everybody goes about their business. But when you think of reputation as an ongoing journey, you realize it’s that constant reinforcement, constant leadership that you need to keep your position as a leader and retain your customer trust.

Bill has a deep grasp of the dynamics in our new "reputation economy," and his insight and experience are invaluable to any executive navigating it.

For any organization today, reputation has never been more critical or less stable. Bill Coletti offers deep experience and plain-spoken wisdom that will help you understand the stakes, navigate the challenges, and make smart decisions while everyone is watching.

¹ Weber Shandwick, January 2020, The State of Corporate Reputation in 2020: Everything Matters Now