Is Oprah Winfrey the cure for Goldman Sachs’ ills?
Beset by civil fraud charges, a criminal investigation, a sagging stock price and a severely tarnished image, Wall Street’s most profitable firm has weighed putting its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, on the famed talker’s couch in an attempt to humanize the company and buff its image.
The out-of-left-field idea — which was considered months ago but now deemed unlikely — would have been part of the 141-year-old partnership’s first-ever mass advertising campaign.
“There are [Goldman executives] who think we should go on ‘Oprah,'” Goldman Sachs European media chief Fiona Laffan told a meeting of communications industry professionals in London. “I’m not one of them.”
Sources inside Goldman told The Post that the idea of Blankfein being interviewed on Oprah wasn’t a serious one but added that the bank has been intensely focused on restoring its credibility on both Wall Street and on Main Street.
Goldman has its work cut out for it.
According to YouGov’s BrandIndex, which tracks daily changes in the public perception of well-known brands, the “buzz” surrounding Goldman has been steadily negative since at least September. Indeed, Goldman ranks alongside oil giant BP in terms of negative “buzz,” according to BrandIndex.
“We’re very conscious of our public image and of our reputation with our clients,” one Goldman source told The Post.
A Goldman spokesman declined to comment on Goldman’s p.r. efforts.
Goldman’s attempts to polish its reputation come as the investment bank is fighting fraud charges leveled against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman has been facing a withering public assault since the start of the Wall Street credit crisis reflected by a Rolling Stone article referred to the firm as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.”
Formed as a private partnership, Goldman has only been a public company for the past decade and its recent image meltdown has pushed the insular firm, which caters almost entirely to institutional clients, to become much more “retail” minded, Laffan said.
Some of that retail-oriented focus has been evidenced in how Goldman now addresses average folk because, as Laffan has put it: “perceptions of the firm directly affect our license to operate.”
However, a Goldman source said that the firm is not expected to mount a full-blown advertising blitz but instead may trickle out new ads and target a broader public than is typical for the Wall Street powerhouse.
Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communications at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, said Goldman should try to repair its reputation by explaining to consumers that the bank serves a purpose beyond lining its own pockets. “Focus on explaining to people what you do because your value to society is being questioned,” he said.
That’s something perhaps Oprah could support.