Barbara Kimmel Interviews Jim Gregory, CEO CoreBrand
Barbara Kimmel: Jim- tell us a bit about your background, qualifications and expertise. If you have written a book, please provide the title.
Jim Gregory: I am the CEO of CoreBrand. My company focuses on building corporate brands and we are pioneers in the measurement of corporate brands. We have a proprietary database know as the Corporate Branding Index® that includes 20 years of consistent research of 1000 companies across 54 industries. This allows us the unique ability to connect the corporate brand to market capitalization. I’ve written four books on the subject, the most recent being The Best of Branding.
Barbara Kimmel: Trust Across America’s mission is to rebuild trustworthy business behavior across the globe. How would you generally define trustworthy business behavior?
Jim Gregory: Trust is built through the process of consistently meeting the needs of your key constituencies over time. Each constituency views trust from their own perspective and their own needs. Understanding how trust is built is critical for creating corporate value.
Barbara Kimmel: In your opinion, what are some of the specific components of trustworthy business behavior?
Jim Gregory: There are three elements of trust that can be managed by a corporation.
1) Business Processes must be in alignment with the overall brand strategy.
2) The Culture and Behavior of the company must adhere to the brand guidelines.
3) The Communications, whether planned or unplanned, should consistently reflect the brand over time.
Barbara Kimmel: We all know that the erosion of corporate trust is a big problem. What are companies doing to combat this, and is it enough?
Jim Gregory: We know from our proprietary research and models that trust is directly related to brand power, which is directly connected to market capitalization. Education of management and consistently reinforcing the importance of trust is the best way to rebuild corporate brands.
Barbara Kimmel: Is the global “trust” climate improving or worsening? What actions will turn things around?
Jim Gregory: Trust in corporations has been declining since 2004. CoreBrand’s research of Corporate Brand Equity as a Percentage of Market Capitalization for the average Fortune 1000 company shows a decline from 7.4% in 2004 to 5% in 2012. We believe this decline is leveling off and we are hoping for a rebound in 2013.
Barbara Kimmel: Can you provide a few examples of companies that are doing the “right” thing in your opinion? What steps are being taken by these companies that sets them apart?
Jim Gregory: Google’s brand has been consistently growing for years. Now they are ranked as the number one company to work for, and they have great programs in place to support this ranking — that is consistency.
Barbara Kimmel: Anything else you would like to add as a closing comment?
Jim Gregory: CoreBrand tracks 1000 companies across 54 industries. If your company is one of them we have information to share with you. If it isn’t one of them we will consider adding your company to our research survey. Please let us know more about your corporate brand. Our data can also be combined with Trust Across America’s FACTS® Report to provide further depth and perspective on the trustworthiness of our company.
Barbara Kimmel: Thank you Jim for your ongoing research on the construction and measurement of trustworthy brands.
Jim Gregory can be reached at jgregory@corebrand.com
and more information about CoreBrand can be found at:
Do you have questions or comments? Email Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com
Barbara Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America, global leaders in information, standards, data and Who’s Who in trustworthy business. www.trustacrossamerica.com
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