Jenni Santalo of VTT: It is important to understand the current state of our reputation among key stakeholders
“Reputation management should start with researching your reputation,” says Jenni Santalo, Director of Marketing and Communications at VTT, in an interview with T-Media’s Academy. VTT is one of Finland’s most reputable public sector organizations in 2023. We interviewed Santalo about the keys to success in reputation management.
“T-Media has had the pleasure of serving VTT continuously for over 25 years,” says Harri Leinikka, CEO of T-Media, who begins the interview by expressing his delight that the research institute has made a remarkable comeback to the ranks of the ten most significant public administration organizations.
For VTT, which operates in the fields of science and research, trust and credibility are the foundation of everything we do.
“Earning the trust of organizations is particularly important in today’s world. Intangible assets such as reputation and brand have grown in significance. Together with concrete actions, they build trust and stakeholder support,” says Jenni Santalo.
Santalo also notes that reputation plays a critical role in attracting skilled personnel to one of Europe’s leading research institutions:
“We need the world’s best employees to help us tackle today’s biggest challenges and stay innovative. Reputation plays a particularly important role in this regard.”
VTT reviews its reputation results at the board level annually – the entire organization contributes to its reputation
Santalo explains that reputation is important to VTT: building a reputation is not solely the responsibility of marketing, communications, HR, or customer experience managers; rather, the entire organization is responsible for building it.
Santalon recommends starting strategic reputation management by conducting a reputation analysis:
“It is critical for an organization to understand the current state of its reputation among its key stakeholders. At VTT, we have been systematically monitoring our reputation among companies, policymakers, the media, and the general public for a long time. In addition, in recent years we have expanded the group of respondents to include our own staff and potential employees,” Santalo explains.
At VTT, we are interested in and committed to reputation management: reputation results are reviewed annually, all the way up to the Board of Directors.
“Above all, we want to build on our strengths and carefully assess how effectively we are addressing our areas for improvement. It’s really great to see that our deliberate efforts have made a difference. Our reputation has systematically improved across various dimensions and among our stakeholders year after year.”
“This achievement is thanks to everyone at VTT”
Jenni Santalo has noticed that companies and organizations often discuss reputation, strategy, and corporate culture as separate issues. At VTT, the connection between these elements is understood in such a way that the entire organization builds its reputation collectively.
“Strategy is often seen as the domain of the Chief Strategy Officer, reputation and brand as the responsibility of the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, and culture as an HR matter, but these go hand in hand. Strategy isn’t a PowerPoint presentation; it’s about actions, and the brand must reflect those actions. The cornerstones of VTT’s culture— joy, curiosity, and courage —are our brand attributes. On the other hand, our brand promise— ‘beyond the obvious’—is how we implement our strategy. We have a close connection between these three elements,” says Santalo.
“It’s important to understand that building a reputation isn’t just the job of the communications or marketing departments—it’s the responsibility of every employee. A good reputation, therefore, is a credit to everyone.”
