Brandjacking

The term brandjack is a combination of the words brand and hijack. The connection between brand and reputation is an intimate one. They are close to being synonyms, with practitioners and academics in public relations preferring the word reputation while those in marketing prefer brand. The word reputation has an advantage. It is unlikely to be confused with a corporate logo by those outside the field. An organization with a reputation problem is unlikely to think it can be fixed simply by changing the logo. Reputations, after all, exist in other people’s heads. A reputation is the result, as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (n.d.) puts it, “of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.” It starts with what ...