ABSTRACT
The aura around a brand, whether this be for a product, service, experience, a consumer group or even an individual, is an important part of connecting with others. Reputations are about social status, perceptions and appeal. Consumer’s trust brands with strong and consistent reputations. They are more likely to enter into relationships with these. Illustrating this are the ice cream brand Halo Top, and those of social media megastars Angelababy and Fan Bingbing. The divergent experiences of these three brands demonstrate the importance of digital influences on reputations. Explored in this chapter are marketing practices for managing reputations and the various underlying components of these. This includes brand narratives and social media marketing. With reputations often made and unmade online, the notion of surveillance is considered. Increasingly, both brands and consumers are subject to offline and online monitoring. This raises issues of consent, convenience and empowerment.
