34 AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER 1 2008
B U S I N E S S
inTexas and itsAlaskanoil spill.
“When BP relaunched, initially it was
lauded, because it was making a very big
promise,” says Thibodeau. “And it was then
seenasuntrue. It turned intoaverybig tar-
get—whenare theygoing todeliver?Itwas
toohard, too far.”
But that’s just the kind of crisis a savvy
CEO canact on.
One day McDonald’s is the chubby cor-
porate poster boy for obesity in America,
losing ground to new competitors like
Starbucks,whosehypertrendy storesboast-
ingWi-Fi are popping up on every corner.
And then the next day, McDonald’s is get-
ting some goodbuzz for offeringNewman’s
Own dressing and fair-trade coffee, giving
Starbucks the jitters.
“Ten years ago, GE was not seen as a
green company,” says Megalli. “In fact, it
was seen as enemy number one. TheHud-
son River dredging was really hounding
themat that point.”
Insteadofdenyingitorhidingfromit,says
Megalli, GE came up with Ecomagination
— complete with its own Ecomagina-
tion website, of course— creating money-
makingproducts that earned their label for
environmental consciousness.
“GE isdoingaverygood jobofmanaging
what people think of the company overall,”
saysThibodeau. “It does that throughmak-
ing the information visible in every single
point of communication. It runs through
ad campaigns, products and services, and
green technology. The company develops
microsites to talk about its mission and
values. Those also come up in speeches, so
if Immelt is speaking at a conference, he’ll
talk about GE’s green initiatives, bring up
GE values.”
“GEhas done it verywell,” agreesGrego-
ry,whosefirm trackscorporate images inan
annual survey. “They’ve been doing it con-
sistently over time. It was a big transition
fromWelch to Immelt. But its image today
is stronger thanwhenJackwas running the
company.”
That just makes Immelt’s job even
bigger.
“You’ve got to be paranoid all the time,”
saysTichyabout imagemaking, paraphras-
ing another of his favoritebusiness sayings.
“Changebefore youhave to.”
JohNCARRoll
is a contributing editor to
AmericanWay.
quick name changewas going to dispel the
smell of tobaccoat that company.
Don’tdiscount the roleof luck—goodor
bad— either.
British Petroleum’s effort to remake its
image around its initials — BP — giving
themanentirelynewmeaning (“beyondpe-
troleum”) ran intoabuzz sawof angry criti-
cism after the company’s refinery explosion
As the corporate image and communi-
cation becomes more personal, it also be-
comesmore demanding. One falsemove is
quickly branded as fakery. Lack of authen-
ticity is the one unforgivable sin ofmarket-
ing in this sphere.
Takethis,forexample:Thibodeauisquick
to label PhilipMorris’s decision to rename
itself Altria in2003 “cheap gimmickry.”No
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