The crisis we are facing as a result of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 has decisively and unexpectedly affected the different social subjects. In the area of reputation management, it is convenient to distinguish two types of crises: individual crises, which are those in which a company makes a mistake or has a problem and needs to have a strategy for responding to and recovering its reputation; and general or collective crises, in which the problems do not come from the company but from society, which is affected by economic, political or health impacts, such as a pandemic. 

And in these general crises, the response strategies must be different from those of individual crises, because the intangible value of a company cannot “go into pandemic”. These values must remain above pandemics, since they affect consumption and operations but we cannot allow them to do so with our intangibles.

It may be more difficult to communicate when the media is unwilling to listen, as they are focused on the pandemic; and when there is not much marketing budget but it is essential to make ourselves heard in those moments.

The first step is to give a response of commitment and openness: you have to 'speak' to the media. We believe that this position of transparency and communication is essential to reinforce reputation and to show that the company is at the service of society, that it is part of it and that it plays it like the rest of the actors. It is time for leading companies to show that they are leaders in their reputation and in their social commitment. And that is where the extraordinary opportunity lies. 

José María San SegundoCEO de Merco