Personal Reputation Management

Managing the Media

It's not only the world's largest businesses and public sector organisations that need to carefully manage their reputations.

Individuals, whether they are business leaders, celebrities or politicians, find themselves under the media spotlight 24 hours a day - for these high profile figures dealing with journalists and photographers comes as part of their 'job'.

Bell Pottinger North's team of senior consultants eases this pressure, offering coaching and ongoing support to everyone from novices to accomplished media operators.

Our team has supported big names in world politics and sport, ensuring that their reputations have been defended and positive stories and images have developed their profiles in the right way.

One example of this involved Bell Pottinger North's work with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during his ownership of Manchester City Football Club.

Bell Pottinger North helped Thaksin Shinawatra to successfully 'connect' with fans, defend his reputation from allegations being made by the military junta in Thailand and place football-related interviews on key media around the world.

However, while people in public life can expect the media to be following their every move, others can find themselves suddenly and unexpectedly facing intense media interest.

This is what happened to Gillian Gibbons, the teacher imprisoned for allowing her class to name its teddy bear 'Mohammed'.

And it was the same for Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy who left home to buy a loaf of bread and suddenly found herself at the centre of the 2010 election campaign when Prime Minister Gordon Brown referred to her as a 'bigoted woman'.

n both cases Bell Pottinger North relieved the pressure by taking care of the global media interest in their stories.

Our teams gave guidance around the options available and professionally handled negotiations to secure exclusive arrangements with media of the individuals' choice.