Time Warner's Community Relations and Branding

Time Warner is successful in both their consumer relations efforts and brand management. Time Warner has developed long-term relationships with its customers through its consumer relations. The company dedicates itself to offering its customers innovations in technology, products, and services. The “About Me” section of the company website details their pledge to their customers. It states that “We value our customers, putting their needs and interests at the center of everything we do.” (You can check out this statement here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/mission_values.html). Time Warner also dedicates itself to the privacy protection of its consumers. They devote significant resources to privacy protection, and are open about how they collect and use consumer data. I believe this creates a trust in the company amongst consumers because they see the company is taking steps to protecting their privacy. You can read more about each division’s commitment to consumer privacy and the actions they take to ensure consumer privacy here: (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/consumer_privacy/index.html). Every division of Time Warner is at the top of their categories, which demonstrates that the company has been successful in gaining loyal customers that choose the brand for various categories. They have also maintained a positive image in the mind of the consumers as being credible sources of information. A core component of the company’s values is its journalistic integrity. You can read about what each division of Time Warner does in order to ensure its customers can trust the information, products and services delivered to them here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/journalistic_integrity/index.html). The PR people at Time Warner keep track of public opinion to ensure the company is successfully in their consumer relations efforts. Most of the divisions of Time Warner have blogs that allow the consumers to give feedback to the company. Each division also provides many ways in which consumers can contact the company such as telephone and e-mail. I believe the PR people keep track of the questions, complaints, and other comments that consumers make through these methods of contacting the company and use them to improve opinions.

Time Warner has positioned its brand in the mind of consumers as the leading media and entertainment company that offers the latest innovations. When I think of movies, magazines, cable, and other forms of entertainment, Time Warner is the first company that comes to my mind. I believe many other customers feel the same way and instantly associate Time Warner with the industry. Has Time Warner been able to condition us to associate its brand with entertainment??? I believe Ivan Pavlov would say they have! I think the company has done an excellent job at managing the character of its products and services. People know that they can rely on Time Warner to offer products and services that are innovative and excellent quality. I think their brand image is also one of social responsibility to the community. The company addresses business, environmental, and social issues within the community. I think this proves to consumers that the company is devoted to me the well-being of the community and gives them a positive brand image. You can take a look at the company’s social responsibility report here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/.

I think the public relations people at Time Warner help to enhance the brand image of the company by keeping the public informed about events and news. This makes consumers feel like they are a part of the company, which is a great way to gain their loyalty. The public relations efforts to inform the public are also a great way to promote company events and news highlights. The public relations people constantly post news and press releases on their company Web site and the Web site of their divisions to maintain this contact with the public. You can look at the newsroom section of the company Web site here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom. The public relations people also enhance this brand image by hosting events that demonstrate its concern for the community. For example, the company held an awards dinner to honor principals in New York City. This is an excellent way for the public relations people to gain media attention of the company that will show their social responsibility. In addition, the public is more likely to believe a source such as a newspaper rather than a company as being credible so pitching the event to the media will increase the brand image of the company.