Angela Mollard: Reputation managers get stars in a spin out of a jam

Reputation management in the digital era is a whole new ball game, writes Angela Mollard, who reckons she’s a shoo-in for the gig.

If I’m not here next week it’s because I’ve got a new job.

I reckon I can make a motza setting myself up as a reputation management consultant.

All the rich and famous people have them. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni obviously. And Sam Kerr, who hired a team after the video of her in the police station was submitted as evidence during her court case in London this week. Oh and Belle Gibson who, as Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar portrays, engaged the services of a reputation consultant after she was rumbled as a heartless hoaxer by pretending she had cancer.

I’ve been wondering if Hugh Jackman has one since the rollout of his relationship with Sutton Foster seems so orchestrated. And Meghan Markle needs one – or at least a better one – more than anyone else. I’d love to get her out of her current jam. Or at the very least just get out her jam since that fancy raspberry conserve she started spruiking a year ago has spent more time marinating than a Gladiator sequel.

Meghan Markle. Picture: Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP

Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Picture: Nina Westervelt/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

Actually, Prince Andrew would be an excellent client if it weren’t for the sweat issue (where does his sweat actually go if not through his pores?) and his proclivity for pizza. Perhaps I could get him a Domino’s ambassadorship. Rexona too – ironically, of course. The TikTok gen loves ironic. If I do a good job for Megs, perhaps she’ll recommend me.

Of course, reputation management consultants are not new. Once PRs or spin doctors, with the fancy new title comes a fancy new remuneration package. If your career and personal life is about to go down the toilet I doubt you’re going to quibble over a grand or 10. Reputation management is primarily, as we say in the business, the practice of making “shit shine”.

Sam Kerr leaving Kingston Crown Court. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

It’s why Matildas captain Sam Kerr engaged a consultant to attend court once the embarrassing footage of her in a police station was released. When you’ve got a reported $3m in endorsement deals at risk, you want to manage the narrative. Which is why the Rep Con invited journos to “reach out for guidance, background and comment” before reporting on the Kerr case. Call me Machiavellian but if I was advising Kerr I’d have her and partner Kristie Mewis photographed coming out of antenatal classes pronto. Their baby is due shortly and nothing rehabilitates a sullied reputation as quickly as motherhood.

Of course, reputation management in the digital era is a whole new ball game as evidenced by the shenanigans in the Blake Lively v Justin Baldoni case. This is nuclear stuff, Rep Con 1 if you will, where techniques such as “astroturfing” and “darvo” not only shift a narrative but fabricate a new one. As we’ve learned thanks to the New York Times investigation, Baldoni hired consultants to “bury” Lively using astroturfing, the practice of planting false stories and creating an orchestrated campaign to look as if it’s organic social media. When his team was rumbled, Baldoni launched a defamation suit using the “darvo” tactic – “deny, attack, reverse victim and offender”. It’s intricate, conniving stuff around fact and fiction – and why many don’t know who to believe.

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.

I reckon I’m a shoo-in for this gig because I’ve buried more stories than Shane Warne ate pies. Incidentally, don’t we miss Warnie whose crisis management basically involved owning up to his foibles rather than hiring a team to tap dance him out of them? In the olden days, before mobile phones made everyone a paparazzo and social media could see someone cancelled in a flurry of clicks, if a celebrity or a famous sportsperson did something stupid their agent would be on the phone negotiating before the compromising images had been developed.

It wasn’t uncommon for favoured journos to be offered a “full sit-down” or an “at home” interview with the star in return for not running some well-sourced information or destroying pictures depicting cheating or drug-taking.

This served both parties, particularly in Australia where the fame industry is small and media relies on repeat business. The stars kept their reputation intact and the publication knew they’d have great ongoing access to the celebrity which, in turn, drew readers. Remember no one had their own social media mouthpiece to rehabilitate their image or refute what was reported.

Now “orm” – or online reputation management – is a lever open to anyone. Note how Luigi Mangione, who was charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson, became a macabre pin-up thanks to the commentary around his looks. The brilliant novel What Happened to Nina deftly imagines a modern crime where the young rich killer’s parents engage reputation experts to manipulate the online dialogue so it’s the victim’s parents who become the suspects. Frightening stuff.

Anyway, here’s some free advice before I open for business. Don’t be an idiot in the first place.

ANGELA LOVES

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Stylist Penelope Cadzow has fabulous and relatable fashion tips on her Instagram @penelope _styling. This week she suggests the “3B” approach if you’re feeling a bit blah. Add blusher, bling and a blazer to make yourself feel more put together.

Smooth operator

My daughter is trying to eat more protein and came up with this great hack of adding cottage cheese to her morning smoothies. She’s right, you can’t taste it and half a cup adds 14g of protein to your drink.

Originally published as Angela Mollard: Reputation managers get stars in a spin out of a jam