Has your brand or its CEO ever been the tar­get of mean-spir­it­ed and scur­rilous attacks? If not, it could hap­pen at any time.

It hap­pened to Elixir Inter­ac­tive a cou­ple of years ago. The inter­ac­tive mar­ket­ing agency, which pro­vides online rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment and search engine opti­miza­tion ser­vices, and its well-respect­ed CEO and Pres­i­dent, Fionn Down­hill, were both tar­get­ed.

Now, I’ve known Down­hill since 2003, when she found­ed Elixir Inter­ac­tive. She served on the board of the Search Engine Mar­ket­ing Pro­fes­sion­al Orga­ni­za­tion (SEMPO) and was a found­ing mem­ber the SEMPO Insti­tute, which was launched to pro­vide first class train­ing for the search engine mar­ket­ing indus­try world­wide. She is also an adjunct pro­fes­sor at the Thun­der­bird School of Glob­al Man­age­ment.

Down­hill is also a fre­quent speak­er at Ad:Tech, AMA, SES, SMX, Search­nomics, Amer­i­can Mar­ket­ing Asso­ci­a­tion, PRSA, and the Soci­ety for Women Engi­neers. She is a sub­ject mat­ter expert in online rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment and has been inter­viewed by The Wall Street Jour­nal and Com­put­er Week­ly, as well as quot­ed in the book “Rad­i­cal­ly Trans­par­ent: Mon­i­tor­ing and Man­ag­ing Rep­u­ta­tions Online” by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss.

And Down­hill has a delight­ful sense of humor. I still remem­ber when she told me that St. Patrick was the top viral mar­keter of all time while giv­ing me a les­son in the fin­er points of Gael­ic and tra­di­tion­al Irish danc­ing.

Fionn Down­hill Dances to the Beat of Viral Mar­ket­ing

Elixir Inter­ac­tive also has its own YouTube chan­nel, and Down­hill has used video to dis­cuss things you should con­sid­er before look­ing into rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment.

Online Rep­u­ta­tion Man­age­ment — Part 1

Online Rep­u­ta­tion Man­age­ment — Part 2

So, you know there’s some­thing seri­ous­ly wrong when Elixir Inter­ac­tive and its CEO are the tar­gets of a mali­cious smear cam­paign.

As the Elixir Inter­ac­tive Online Rep­u­ta­tion Man­age­ment Case Study said, “You are prob­a­bly aware that cus­tomers and investors tend to research your brand, prod­ucts and asso­ciates before decid­ing to engage with your com­pa­ny. What you may not real­ize is how com­mon it is for good, rep­utable brands to fall vic­tim to a direct attack by com­peti­tors.”

Due to the inten­si­ty of the attack – with new con­tent being cre­at­ed on an almost dai­ly basis – Elixir had to imple­ment a full online rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment pro­gram to pro­tect its own brand. Using best prac­tices steps the top results have remained pos­i­tive so far.

Elixir Inter­ac­tive had thor­ough­ly doc­u­ment­ed the cam­paign against them and the process­es used to com­bat it. The result is an in-depth case study and step-by-step exam­ples on how to take back con­trol of your online rep­u­ta­tion and defend your name and brand when you are the vic­tim of a smear attack.

You should also read the Elixir Inter­ac­tive CEO Online Rep­u­ta­tion Man­age­ment Case Study. It doc­u­ments the aggres­sive attack on Down­hill’s per­son­al rep­u­ta­tion.

Because it’s com­mon for CEOs to fall vic­tim to Inter­net slan­der, Elixir Inter­ac­tive cre­at­ed this sec­ond case study on rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment based on the expe­ri­ences of its CEO. The attack on Down­hill was extreme, but there are still many steps detailed in this case study that you can take if your com­pa­ny’s CEO falls vic­tim to an online smear cam­paign.

In short, both case stud­ies are must-reads. Here are some key rea­sons why you should read them soon­er rather than lat­er:

• This is Elixir’s rebut­tal of the mali­cious attack on its brand. Down­hill and her agency strong­ly encour­age their clients not to rebut direct­ly on the site when deal­ing with an anony­mous detrac­tor. They are prac­tic­ing what they preach by not engag­ing direct­ly with the attack­er.
• The attack on Elixir’s brand was pro­longed and sys­temic. The agency does not expect the attack to stop. This case study high­lights what can be done to negate any fur­ther dis­in­for­ma­tion that is put out. The goal is to tell Elixir’s side of the sto­ry and have its site rank above any­thing the attack­ers cre­ate.
• Elixir’s goal is also to high­light the way the web is used in this way and, in their line of busi­ness, the agency sees it every day. The com­plaint sites use CDA 230 to pro­tect them­selves, the posters are anony­mous, and the legal sys­tem falls short when it comes to online defama­tion. Down­hill and her agency have a voice to tell their side of the sto­ry and they are hop­ing this detailed report on the attack will help oth­ers in the same sit­u­a­tion find their voice and speak out to pro­tect them­selves.
• As Down­hill says, “We have worked very hard to build our name and our brand and will do what it takes to pro­tect it.”

Now, I real­ize that these online rep­u­ta­tion man­age­ment case stud­ies are from a cou­ple of years ago. So, some peo­ple will mis­tak­en­ly think that they are “ipso fac­to” out of date. How­ev­er, CMOs and senior mar­keters can still learn some impor­tant lessons by read­ing them, hope­ful­ly before your brand comes under attack.