Brand reputation results from the journey that begins with the value-proposition for the market space/place. Reputation affects all the stakeholders of the brand. The importance of achieving a good reputation is what drives brand building and management. Thus, from a strategic perspective, brand reputation promotes stronger brand management construct and mobilizes top management vision for the category.

In marketing parlance, a brand is a `promise' that is made to stakeholders such as customers, investors, public, government, critics, market forces, etc. What finally is actually delivered once this promise has been communicated is the ultimate litmus test of the brand. Reputation is the resultant intangible asset that the corporate entity acquires at the brand contact points during the brand's engagement with its stakeholders. What your stakeholders perceive of your brand (and its promise), vis-à-vis delivery/conformance to your promise, is what is commonly referred to as `reputation'.

All the brands in a marketplace constantly vie to build brand equity on a strong foundation of brand reputation. There is a direct correlation between positive brand reputation and the resultant brand equity commanded by the brand in its product category. One can think of reputed brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Titan, Tanishq, Raymonds, Van Heusen, Himalaya, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Surf Excel, Dove, Lakme, etc., that have successfully overcome the competition and have emerged as stronger, victorious and trustworthy brands. What we need to remember is that competition is ultimately good for consumers at large in the marketplace. Eventually, it is the customer who stands to win amidst the brand battles. The process of building perceptual images of the brands in the minds of the consumers is very crucial and beneficial for the brand.

Brand and brand reputation are like two sides of a coin; each requiring focused perspectives of brand and reputation/image management. A company building a brand also envisions a reputation that it wants to create for the brand. Once the company decides on the reputation, all that is required is the tenacity to stick to it, conduct timely appraisal of the navigation towards the goal while being alert to spot any strategic gap between the reputation that the company aspired to create and the milestones reached on that track. The company also needs to be courageous enough to challenge the existing models of operation while being creatively focused with a solution-centric approach towards meeting any challenges.

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