5 Minutes with… Imogen Sackey
Imogen Sackey has seen what happens to brands too timid to have a voice in the marketplace. Reputation matters, of course, but so does being remembered. Walking that line is what she has helped brands like Instagram, Primark, EA Games, and Perplexity AI do across earned, owned, and paid channels.
Imogen would like to see brands get braver and not feel “stuck in safety mode,” though she understands the temptation to do so. Extensive experience has shown her that brands and their narratives get stale fast when everyone’s too afraid to leave a mark. She put this strategy into practice for Equinix, one of the world’s largest digital infrastructure companies, through a partnership with a fashion designer to create a couture garment embodying the internet’s connectivity possibilities. It helped Equinix “break out of the tech pages, enter the mainstream and open new doors,” says Imogen. “Which was all made possible by the bravery of our clients to do something no one in the category had ever done before.
Passionate about sustainability, Imogen completed the Business Sustainability Management course with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership in 2022. While she has seen some businesses take a step back on their green promises – a reputational mistake, in Imogen’s view – she believes it’s on communicators “to turn climate reality into cultural currency.”
LBB> For those not in the know, what do we mean when we talk about reputation management at the corporate level?
Imogen> At its core, reputation management is the way in which you build and protect the public perception of your organisation to serve your commercial goals. Genuine good reputations are born from behaviours. How you act matters.
After action, reputation management is then about how you monitor, maintain and influence how others think, feel, act towards you to translate that into competitive advantage.
LBB> You’ve previously spoken about the need for corporations to ‘be braver’ in reputation management. What does bravery look like in practice, especially for legacy brands that are traditionally risk-averse?
Imogen> Too often businesses get stuck in safety mode. It’s understandable, that's human nature, right? To protect our status, we avoid the unfamiliar and stick to what we know. Sometimes, even when we know it brings risk we choose that path because at least the risk is predictable.
In the world of reputation, that instinct is the same – and the evolution of social media into the news landscape has exacerbated that, because we’ve moved from a broadcast model to a back‑and‑forth dialogue where public judgement is immediate, and very keenly felt.
But in reputation management, sticking to ‘tried and tested’ means our stories get stale. Fast. Commercially, you then risk the beige effect; you and every other competitor are saying variations of the same thing, using similar language, in similar tones of voice. That’s not delivering a competitive advantage for anyone.
At the same time, trust in institutions is dropping and demand for transparency is rising. It's important not to allow a vacuum to appear, lest bad actors or competitors fill it.
There was a brilliant quote from The Onion’s CEO, Ben Collins, in Rolling Stone last month that sums it up perfectly. “Get some guts and do something different.”
LBB> How can marketing teams strike a balance between protecting brand reputation and pushing creative boundaries?
Imogen> Culture. Creativity doesn’t happen automatically, neither does it happen on a whim. In corporate communications, I fear too many people still think creativity is synonymous with frivolity or superficiality. Brand reputation and pushing creative boundaries are not mutually exclusive.
Creativity is a discipline – it requires the right structure, practice and culture to get it right – and you need to invite a culture where you can challenge each other without ego or ‘attack’. Because it isn’t about saying ‘yes’ to everything, or making choices ignorant of risk. It’s about finding the opportunity around the risk, stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing where that takes you, without ignoring all the due diligence and rigour you’d apply to any other reputation exercise.
And get to know your stakeholders, what keeps them up at night? What would the world look like if that didn’t exist? What might you do? Those questions won’t give you the answer immediately, but they will likely give you a jumping off point that takes you to totally new possibilities.
LBB> Can you give an example of when a brand you worked with turned a reputational threat into an opportunity for brand growth or increased trust? What made it possible?
Imogen> Most recently, we’ve been working with Equinix (one of the world’s largest digital infrastructure companies) in EMEA. Despite the critical role it plays in the lives of the 5.35 billion people that depend on the internet everyday, not enough people understand what it does or how it works.
Our work is all about making a stand on the cultural map to help more people understand the value they bring, it’s about leaning into the fact they’re misunderstood and using creativity to show up in surprising ways that stick with you, whether you’re a consumer who unknowingly uses their services everyday, or a customer. Most recently, we partnered with British designer Maximilian Raynor to create a high-fashion garment that embodies the physical connectivity of the internet. Creating a really striking piece of art that saw them break out of the tech pages, enter the mainstream and open new doors. All made possible by the bravery of our clients to do something no one in the category had ever done before.
Another brilliant example (that I can take absolutely zero credit for) is KFC’s iconic FCK supply chain apology. The proof is in the pudding: know your values, know your audiences, play with it.
LBB> Social and environmental sustainability is another area of expertise for you. We’re seeing businesses globally taking a step back from environmental and social commitments, overtly and covertly. What’s our view on this?
Imogen> Personally, it’s hugely disappointing. It’s a tough time right now for anyone who works in sustainability – comms or not.
But it’s not all bad news, I try to remind myself that a lot of the drivers for the current ‘rollback’ are cyclical and won’t last forever.
From a reputational perspective, it’s also much bigger than sustainability. Trends will always come and go, yo-yoing between positions on any topic only undermines your overall credibility. I spoke about bravery earlier, this also means having the courage to stay true to your values and your commitments.
There’s a lot of intentional simplification and misunderstanding around the slowdown in climate action. Yes, people are talking about it less and yes, some people are also taking less action. But not everyone. There is still good work happening and businesses need to build a relationship with their audiences where they have permission to speak honestly about when things don’t work. Like any R&D, we’re likely to have a few false starts before we get the result we want and we need to speak openly about that and pivot in order to stay on goal.
LBB> With sustainability narratives becoming so polarising, how can brands communicate their social and environmental commitments without alienating parts of their audience?
Imogen> To start with, we have to ask ourselves: why are we afraid of alienating them? What impact would that have on our business, our growth? Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it’s critical, but sometimes the answer is vanity. We just want everyone to like us, and our integrity is the price.
Segment your audiences, understand why they feel/ think/ act the way they do and show how your action makes their lives easier. Include the critics in that segmentation.
LBB> What role does storytelling play in building trust around sustainability efforts? What types of stories actually resonate in media today?
Imogen> Storytelling is everything. It evokes an emotional response that makes us remember, makes us believe. Sustainability storytelling has typically been driven by risk, it’s focused on the science and the data and as political winds have shifted, we've landed in a world where businesses are too afraid to speak out and audiences are tired of doomsday data telling them it’s all bad news.
It’s on us as communicators to turn climate reality into cultural currency. Take that creative spark that is so prominent in brand comms and apply it to climate outcomes. God knows the world needs it.
LBB> Finally, what advice do you have for marketers trying to embed values-driven messaging into brands that haven’t traditionally operated this way?
Imogen> Demonstrate the commercial value of ‘doing good’ – make it a business problem so your stakeholders sit up and listen. And then act.
Values-driven messaging should never live in isolation from business strategy. Action has to come first and the business benefits are proven from increased innovation and productivity to reputation and market share.
I know increased regulation has made it scarier, but it’s a sign the market is maturing. Our comms have to mature with it.
