• home
  • comms2point0 interims
  • find a job
  • toolbox
  • events and training
  • mentoring
  • how i can help you
  • get in touch
  • the unawards
Menu

comms2point0

Street Address
City, State, Zip
07739 41 23 77
comms2point0.co.uk is a shared learning space, created by – and written for – creative communications professionals

Your Custom Text Here

comms2point0

  • home
  • comms2point0 interims
  • find a job
  • toolbox
  • events and training
  • mentoring
  • how i can help you
  • get in touch
  • the unawards

losing the reputation battle, but winning the war

June 6, 2014 Darren Caveney

 

Reputation. It's a key element of any communications campaign. But as an outcome, reputation enhancement alone is not going to cut the mustard with residents.

by GUEST EDITOR Julie Waddicor

As foot soldiers and officers, we stand surveying the battlefield. Through no fault of our own, we seem to have lost the fight for reputation.

Our successful campaigns lie strewn in the mud, some effective in their time but forgotten now. The war around us has moved on, focusing on changing how residents relate to us and the relationship we have with them.

The language we use is telling, and we (of all people) should see the insinuations of it. For years we have waged 'campaigns' for (and against?)  local people. We've been at war with a shifting field of enemies: sometimes against residents in order to get them to accept things they don't like,  sometimes with them to tackle a collective foe like litter, poor health or low skills.

After years of battle, the evolution that local government is going through is now seeing our theatre of war change utterly. We've realised that we don't have the resources to fight anyone anymore: we need to work with every faction of every persuasion to achieve any worthwhile results at all.

In my opinion, this change leaves the notion of the 'campaign' dead in the water. We're no longer selling the product of our local authority brand, and we've realised that, as an entity, the local authority is morphing into a wholly different beast: it is becoming a set of collaborations, seeking to fundamentally change the way it does business with residents, stakeholders and partners.

There is little place for the reputation campaign within that model. As communicators, our challenge is to work out how to shift away from positioning our organisations as a big brother, an all- seeing eye that takes charge and does to residents, rather than does with them. It's about encouraging local people to work with us as true equals, and we'll only be successful when they actually care about the topics we are communicating about, and can see how their efforts actually deliver something concrete. In many cases, we'll need to break down the walls of cynicism, apathy and reliance before we get there.

Perhaps that's where we need to focus our military experience now: the war may not be over, but suddenly we have no traditional enemy to fight. The new style of warfare demands new battle tactics, and the traditional campaign won't cut it.

Julie Waddicor is Senior Campaigns Officer at Staffordshire County Council 

pic via WikiMedia Commons

Print Friendly and PDF
In campaigns + media, digital + social Tags Julie Waddicor, but winning the war, caampaign, campaigns, comms, communications, local gov, local government, losing in the battle, pr, staffordshire county council, www.comms2point0
← survey launch: the death of organic reach on social mediausing pinterest in the public sector →
comms files promo block.jpg
image.jpg

sign up to receive our new e-mag

great articles and excellent resources keeping you up-to-date with the latest in the world of creative communications. straight in your inbox. on the regular.

comms2point0 will *always* respect your privacy.

Thank you!

Want to write a post for comms2point0?  Email us a brief outline of your post idea or specialist subject and we'll be in touch!

Name *

Thank you, Darren or Dan will be in touch with you soon!

latest jobs...

Featured
Jul 17, 2025
*JOB OF THE WEEK* communications and campaigns officer, merton council
Jul 17, 2025
Read More →
Jul 17, 2025
Jul 17, 2025
*JOB OF THE WEEK* communications officer, north herts council
Jul 17, 2025
Read More →
Jul 17, 2025
Jul 16, 2025
communications and marketing coordinator, health and care research wales
Jul 16, 2025
Read More →
Jul 16, 2025

• sign up to receive the comms2point0 e-mag •

comms2point0.co.uk is a free shared learning space, created by – and written for – creative communications professionals.  Home to fresh comment, informed opinion, in depth analysis and expert feature articles, comms2point.co.uk inspires and supports communications professionals in the UK, Europe and beyond.

©2011 - 2025 Darren Caveney, Creative Communicators Ltd.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...