Topic hub

Reputation

Reputation is what remains after the advertisement. Super, banks, government services and sustainability claims are judged by regulators, staff and a public that has heard the apology before.

5 essays in this hub. See the full archive.

Bondi Beach in Sydney, with the curve of sand and water seen from above the headland.

Reputation/13 May 2026

Sustainability claims after the ACCC’s greenwashing years

The regulator has spent years teaching Australian brands that environmental language is a representation, not a mood. After the cases and the guidance, the only safe claim is one a sceptical customer, a scientist and a lawyer can all read the same way. That is a design problem as much as a legal one.

James Okonkwo · 5 min read · Read the essay

Parliament House in Canberra at dusk, lights on beneath the flag.

Reputation/15 April 2026

Government services branding without the spin

Every machinery-of-government change produces a new logo and a dead URL. Citizens do not need a livelier state. They need the same service to keep its name long enough to be found, and a voice that can give an instruction without sounding like a campaign.

James Okonkwo · 5 min read · Read the essay

Parliament House in Canberra at dusk, with the flag on the hill above the lights.

Reputation/18 March 2026

Super, banks and the trust deficit: branding institutions people cannot leave

Compulsory super and a concentrated banking market create a branding problem consumer textbooks do not cover. The customer is often a member, not a fan. Trust is not love. It is the belief that the institution will be boring in the right ways — and loud only when it has to be.

James Okonkwo · 5 min read · Read the essay

The National Library of Australia in Canberra, its colonnade reflected in still water.

Reputation/25 February 2026

Employer brand is not a careers page

Australian organisations keep buying employer-brand films for roles they cannot roster, pay or manage. The real brand is the shift, the inbox and the story staff tell at a barbecue. If those are ugly, a careers page is an advertisement for a place that does not exist.

James Okonkwo · 5 min read · Read the essay

Office towers in central Sydney seen across Darling Harbour.

Reputation/7 January 2026

When the brand is the apology

Australian institutions have become fluent in the apology film and clumsy at the repair. Reputation is not a tone of voice for the week after a failure. It is the operational sequence that makes the apology true — refunds, rosters, a name on a door, and a silence you can defend.

James Okonkwo · 5 min read · Read the essay