Brian Williams and Bill O’Reilly were recently unmasked as phonies and any trust they had established with the public quickly vanished.
Williams and O’Reilly worked exhaustively to build positive personal brands and gain credibility within their respective target markets.
Unfortunately for the notorious fibbers, the public is fickle and Williams and O’Reilly undermined their own decades of diligence, devalued their individual reputations, and setback their employers.
While Fox News hasn’t badly suffered from O’Reilly’s alleged transgressions, in excess of 700,000 viewers reportedly abandoned “NBC Nightly News” last week after Williams was suspended.
The public clearly feels betrayed and misled and blames NBC for enabling Williams to manipulate facts on their platform.
Brand loyalty is predicated upon perception and, with the nation’s top-rated nightly news program, many Americans clearly considered “NBC Nightly News” to be the superior product among the choices available.
NBC has a strong corporate identity and the network should eventually rebound from the public relations migraine that Williams caused.
In the interim, while CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight benefit from Williams’ fraudulence, NBC will struggle to restore their brand’s integrity and regain their ratings.
The biggest takeaway from the Williams and, to a lesser degree, O’Reilly fiascos is that maintaining trust and credibility is equally as important as creating it.
Williams and O’Reilly deceived their target audiences and many viewers will not forget or forgive their fraudulent “styles” of reporting.
Without unbending trust and credibility, consumers will not reward you financially!
Conversely, with trust and credibility, consumers will become committed to your brand and make repeat purchases.
For economic, ethical and moral reasons, always remain trustworthy and credible and never jeopardize your company’s integrity!
Colin Linneweber
