by Kevin Windorf, CEO, FCS; CMO, 2112 Communications

In today’s hyper-transparent world, corporate reputation and brand equity are parallel tracks that are quickly converging. Brand equity is the value consumers place on your product or service based on their experiences and perceptions. Corporate reputation is how the broader public—customers, investors, employees, regulators—perceives your company as a whole. One is built through marketing; the other through behavior. And yet, both live or die in the court of public opinion.

For CMOs, this means the old playbook isn’t enough. You can’t just steward the brand; you must now co-own the company’s reputation. That requires more than a creative brief. It demands a seat at the table for ESG, DEI, crisis response, and corporate communications. Consumers don’t draw a line between what your ad says and how your company behaves. If the brand promises “innovation” but your company is known for internal stagnation or external lawsuits, your equity erodes—fast.

That’s why the modern CMO must be a cross-functional connector. You need to align brand strategy with corporate conduct. Influence the employer brand as much as the consumer-facing one. And ensure that what you say externally reflects what’s happening internally.

Here’s the call to action: Stop treating brand equity and corporate reputation as separate mandates. Start treating them as two sides of the same trust coin. That means expanding your remit beyond marketing metrics and into stakeholder perception, social impact, and business ethics. Because in the end, people don’t just buy what you sell—people buy what you stand for.