Leger Marketing (), in partnership with the Consulate of Canada in Philadelphia presented at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia this morning, groundbreaking new research into what drives reputation and discussed why reputation is absolutely critical to the success of companies.

Did you know that today it is estimated that over 85% of a company's value is intangibles, such as Reputation?

Did you know that a 5 point increase in Reputation leads to a 3% increase in market value?

Did you know that there are 8 key drivers of Reputation, with some far and away more important than the rest?

Are you wondering which of America's top companies ranked high in reputation and which ones ranked low?

Dr. Terry Flynn, an accomplished reputation management practitioner, DeGroote School of Business Professor, innovator, researcher and member of Leger Marketing's Academic Advisory committee discussed all of these questions and more at the latest Leger Marketing Executive Presentation in Philadelphia, presenting: Driving the Reputation of America's Leading Brands: A New Look at the Components of Reputation. Please find the presentation available at:

The session provided an intensive and practical examination of the drivers of corporate reputation. Principles discussed were thought provoking and sometimes surprising, presented by one of the leaders in the field of reputation management. Dr. Flynn included a discussion of results of a new Leger Marketing research project which uncovered a unique understanding of drivers of America's top companies using a unique suite of driver analyses which Leger Marketing believes to offer robust, reliable results. Aron Galonsky, Vice President of Research at Leger Marketing remarked, "With an increasing value placed on intangibles such as Reputation, it is absolutely critical to the success of a business to take a methodical, scientific approach to Reputation Management. Leger Marketing does that with our suite of analyses and a comparison of what people say to what our models reveal is actually driving their opinions of companies."

Some Key Findings:

Critical for the holiday season is the conclusion that providing good service to the consumer is by far the leading driver of reputation. People want good service first, with a company they feel is innovative and which is an industry leader and which also provides a positive contribution to society. The positive contribution to society is distinct from corporate citizenship (which actually is revealed to have little impact on Reputation) in that it is offering products that make the world better, easier, more useful, etc.

Dr. Flynn pointed out, "Good service depends on happy employees. The link is well established in the reputation management literature. This is one more reason that managing Reputation is not simply the job of a marketing department but touches all parts of a company."

We learned that while reputation and the desire to do business with companies is quite related (higher reputation leads to greater desire to do business with) this did not hold for Wal-Mart, who is suffering on reputation (just 62%) but whom 75% many people still want to do business with. That 13 point gap was the largest in the study, which included: Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Sony, Dell, IBM, Amazon.com, Costco, Philip Morris, Honda, General Electric, General Motors, ExxonMobil, FedEx and Southwest Airlines.

FedEx (76 out of 100) and Sony (74 out of 100) have very strong Reputations leading the 14 companies we examined in this research.

About the Presenter:

Innovator, teacher and researcher: Three simple words that best describe the talent and experience of Dr. Terry Flynn. Over the last two decades, he has practiced and taught public relations management, crisis communications and reputation management and branding.

Terry obtained his Ph.D., and M.S. in Communications Management from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Dr. Flynn's practical expertise has also assisted him in developing a theoretical model of organizational crisis preparedness based on his research of nearly 500 organizations in Canada and the United States. He is a much sought after trainer and speaker and continues to present his research findings at academic and professional conferences across North America.

In 1993 Terry started his own public relations agency, Frontline Corporate Communications, and has had the pleasure of providing counsel to countless clients in Canada and the United States. He has created and implemented professional training programs that have been used by multi-national corporations, governmental agencies, and not-for-profit organizations, throughout the world.

About Leger Marketing:

Founded in 1986, Leger Marketing is an independent research firm with over 650 employees spread over its offices in Philadelphia and New York and the Canadian cities of Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City as well as the Moroccan city of Casablanca.

Leger Marketing distinguishes itself from its competitors through its "QUAD E" approach: Expertise, Efficiency, Excellence and Economy.

EXPERTISE: With its team of 115 professionals, which includes 30 senior consultants, Leger Marketing offers solid expertise, unique research approaches (Global Reputation Index, Effipub, Must) and rigorous offerings (panels, Web panels, Omnibus, syndicated studies). Leger Marketing is recognized for its expertise in the communications, e-commerce, financial, IT, media, pharmaceuticals, public affairs, retail, and the telecommunications sectors.

EFFICIENCY: Leger Marketing has an impressive operational capacity with three call centers and 200 state-of-the-art CATI stations in North America, and can conduct telephone surveys across the US and Canada within very short timeframes. In addition, we offer seven focus-group rooms in Canada and a 40- seat auditorium especially designed for advertising tests. As well, we have a patented LegerWeb platform which offers state of the art flexibility and power for web surveys.

EXCELLENCE: Our accuracy stems from our reliable processes, attention to the detail and the strict quality control, which surpasses quality standards required by North American professional associations and industry standards.

ECONOMY: Being established in the US and in Canada, Leger Marketing is able to offer competitive American services but at Canadian-dollar prices, that is, at about 70% of the value of American-dollar prices.

Prestigious Customers. "Quad E" is the main reason for Leger Marketing's rapid growth and for which it can count prestigious companies such as Alcan, Alimentation Couche-Tard, American Express, Bombardier, Eckerd/Brook's Pharmacy, Capital City Savings, Circle K, EPCOR, FedEx Canada, Group Jean Coutu, Harris Bank, Michelin, Pfizer, Samsung, Sony, Sun Media, United Nations and Wyeth among its regular customers.

About The Consulate of Canada in Philadelphia:

The Consulate of Canada in Philadelphia is engaged in promoting Canadian interests in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Consulate helps Canadian companies establish a foothold in the local market and also provides free assistance to American companies seeking to establish a presence in Canada. Canada is the United State's largest trading partner. More than one third of Pennsylvania's total exports go to Canada and exports to Canada sustain 219 thousand Pennsylvania jobs.

Release link: 

Related:  Agwatch - Web Perform - Advertising - Research - Sondage - Survey - Publicite - Recherche - Marketing - Omnibus - Sémiométrie - Build-up - Must - Léger - Indicateurs Municipaux - Internet