1. Today, being a good corporate citizen is the best
and correct line of behaviour, of existence in the
world of businesses and brands. It’s much more
than CSR, since CSR is still viewed as an addition
to business, an obligation to return to the society
what has been received from it, to treat stakehold-
ers well, while the real objective should be to do
things well, in the broad sense of this expression.
Such is the key argument of the book titled Citizen
Brands, written by Michael Willmott, the British
expert on new trends and consumer behaviour. The
book argues that companies need to put interests
of the society at the heart of their business – not
as a way to whitewash their activities, but as a way
to respond to the needs of the society. The focus
implies understanding social concerns and attempts
to resolve them by offering new solutions in the form
of companies, businesses, products and services.
Consumers and the Butterfly Economy
New communication technologies together with
the growing consumer confidence and requirements
driven by extensive personal and collective
consumer experience accumulated in the last
few decades result in consumers’ greater power,
independence and capacity to take decisions. They
use these opportunity to defend their legitimate
interests and make their voice heard. In this sense,
we can speak about certain volatility and chaotic
distribution of information and power.
Other phenomena such as declining brand
loyalty and a growing role of “word of mouth”
both physically and virtually, intensify the trend
described above. These factors make it difficult
for companies to structure their activities,
leading them to retire traditional theories of
strategic medium- and long-term planning and
to adjust to the ever-changing environment that
If a company understands and shares the concerns and aspirations of its
stakeholders, it may be able to develop brands that would be competitive on
the markets and sustainable over time. How to do it? Be more proactive and
effective in communication with the stakeholders than before, and know their
concerns as citizens.
L04/2014
Becoming a Citizen
Brand is the Best Way
of Building an Excellent
Reputation
Public Affairs
Book Summary
This document was prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership, among other sources, and contains quotes
from Citizen Brands by Michael Willmott first published by Wiley in 2003 and reprinted in 2012.

2. Book Summary 2
Becoming a Citizen
Brand is the Best
Way of Building an
Excellent Reputation
requires immediate responses, embracing what
came to be called management of complexity or
chaos management.
That’s why, in the context of brands, today we
can speak about the “butterfly consumer”, i.e.
a consumer who makes choices in accordance
with his or her needs, interests and values which
become increasingly important in the decision-
making process. It means that the choices are
the result of these needs, interests and values –
this is manifested in such trends as ethical and
responsible consumption.
Existing uncertainty has a clear advantage: it
offers more possibilities and opportunities for new
businessesandatthesametimefavoursthoseexisting
businesses that decidedly stake on innovation,
enabling them to achieve a competitive advantage
unthinkable in the past, when everything was more
predictable, planned and closed.
Butterfly consumers, in turn, are part of the
superior biological ecosystem called “the butterfly
economy” – an economy where information
spreads at breathtaking speed, where a minor cause
may lead to a major effect, where all parts of the
globe are interconnected and where reputation is
essential. Today the quality of products and services
is important as never before, but reputation and
ethical behaviour are becoming key as well.
The Power of Choice
Is our society of choice undergoing a boom?
Can companies compete with a power like this?
Liberalization of trade and internationalization of
markets that started in the 1980s, led to a significant
increase of consumers’ power in the last few years,
not only in the area of food production, but also in
such sectors as telecommunications, the mass media
or power generation.
Only between 1982 and 2000, the number of
products available in large retail stores multiplied
by eight thanks to imports from other countries and
new varieties developed not only to satisfy different
tastes but also to meet different needs resulting from
greater sophistication of people’s everyday life.
But choice has limits, and this limit is set or
determined by consumers themselves when they
demand simplification and rational structuring of the
offer, a trend that is currently gaining popularity with
many companies, starting with those operating in the
distribution sector. And in this respect, citizen brands
have a lot to say, for such dimensions as ethics and
citizenship are becoming more and more important
at the moment of making a purchasing decision,
both on the side of the company, because it should
try to comply with these criteria, and on the side of
the consumer, at the moment of making the decision.
A range of environmentally friendly solutions and
products is a good illustration of this trend.
In this context, brands acts as consultants
to decision-makers, in the sense that they
incorporate the criteria that are considered by
consumers as part of the value proposition. In
the past, by incorporating other criteria that
were not in line with social responsibility values,
brands engendered cynicism still perceptible
in the consumer-brand relationship. And by
staking on ethical values brands may recover their
relationship with the consumers.
A Model for Citizen Brands
There are some characteristics and initiatives that
highlight the citizen profile of brands and thus
“In the new
butterfly
economy,
ethical and
responsible
behaviour
plays an
essential role
in building
reputation”
Graph 1: Increasing choice in supermarkets. Number of different products available
Source: IDG Account Management series
45.000
40.000
35.000
30.000
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000
0
Sainsbur’s
average lines
per store
Tesco (total
lines across
all stores
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

3. Book Summary 3
Becoming a Citizen
Brand is the Best
Way of Building an
Excellent Reputation
constitute a specific management model: on the
one hand, it includes direct effects, such as specific
labour, environmental and social policies; and on
the other hand, indirect effects which highlight
the brand’s socially responsible character from the
business viewpoint and ultimately result in trust
and reputation.
There are five types of direct effects:
1. Environmental initiatives: increased efficiency
of processes thanks to awareness of the
business’s impact on the environment.
2. Labour conditions: measures aimed at educating
a motivated and committed workforce united
by corporate culture and project objectives.
3. Relations with suppliers: greater trust and
cooperation resulting in mutual benefits.
4. Involvement with the local community:
investment in the local area and cooperation
with associations and local entities.
5. Ethical focus: helps to reduce protests
organised by activists and secure
more active and loyal customers.
At the same time, indirect effects lead to an
improvement of perceived quality and a generation
of the so-called trust reserve that translates
into higher brand loyalty and contributes to an
improvement of reputation.
The citizen brand model emphasises company
values and consumers’ desire to connect to a brand
as a result of daily work related to the topics that
are truly relevant for them. That’s why corporate
citizenship is becoming the foundation for corporate
brand management. Citizenship, together with trust
and transparency, is an essential part of brand value,
and according to Citizen Brands author Michael
Willmott, its role will keep growing. Therefore,
instead of trying to persuade, brands should aim to
engage and fulfil their promise.
Conclusion: 10 key features
of a citizen brand
A citizen brand is a proactive brand that
increases the chances for commercial and
business success. So what are the characteristic
features of citizen brands?
1. A focus on social issues: business action is
developed around a social cause, which becomes
the centre of the strategy and positioning.
2. Global vision: attention to the problems
of a general and global nature.
3. Local focus: cooperation with the
local communities in order to
create value from the start.
“A brand’s
citizenship
attitude
results in an
improvement
of perceived
quality and
a generation
of the so-
called trust
reserve that
translates
into higher
brand
loyalty and
contributes
to an
improvement
of
reputation”
Graph 2: A coherent model of citizen brands. Schematic representation
Source: Michael Willmott/Future Foundation
Citizen brands
Direct impacts
More motivated
workforce
Better/more
trusted supplier
relationshps
Improved
market/business
intelligence
Increases
perceived quality
Greater loyalty =
higher value
customers
All aiding greater
innovation
Creates ‘goodwill’
bank
Active purchasers/
fewer boycotts
More efficient
processes
Builds
reputationviruse
Indirect impacts

4. Book Summary 4
Becoming a Citizen
Brand is the Best
Way of Building an
Excellent Reputation
4. Reputational value: embracing values that
have a citizenship component and turning
them into reputational objectives.
5. Total transparency: being completely
open and honest as demanded by
the company’s stakeholders.
6. Intellectual capital: special focus the
relational and human aspect, such as talent,
opens great opportunities for a company.
7. Salary control: control of excessive
remuneration of directors, one
of the most sensitive topics for
a company’s reputation.
8. Maintaining healthy competition: avoid
monopolies and oligopolies which lead to
reputational losses even after their disintegration.
9. Business leadership: culture and vision should
be powerful enough to guide the CEO.
10. Crucial condition: being a citizen
brand is necessary but insufficient. It
is critical to continue improving the
quality of products and services.

5. Leading by
reputation
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