Super-injunctions, the end of privacy and learning with Wayne.

Tiger Woods. John Terry. Peter Crouch. Wayne Rooney. The ‘Pakistan Four’. The scandals keep on coming. Something is clearly in the air. Indeed with news of other ‘super-injunctions’ in the balance, we can expect more revelations.

And it’s not going to stop. The blogosphere’s ability to evade the law and spread news and gossip and ISP reluctance to act as ‘internet police’ means that we can only expect more. More speculation. More privacy invasion. More ruined reputations.

Indeed, the more they try to hide the more relentlessly they will be pursued by the media, by the blogosphere and by the twitterverse. And this isn’t just true for errant sportsmen, or politicians (Mr Coulson, Mr Hague?) or any other individual for that matter – it’s also true for businesses and brands.

Brands who try to hide stuff are equally vilified. Nike’s use of ‘sweatshops’ was uncovered 10 years ago and people STILL remember: http://bit.ly/RF89O. More recently Trafigura’s super-injunction against the Guardian failed to hold due to a combination of Twitter and parliament (http://bit.ly/3QQnZY). Just two examples, but two which show the hostility which the online environment can inflict on businesses who slip up.

But what can marketers learn from the experiences of our fallen sporting, political and other heroes in this new world of Blogger Activists?

Five rules spring to mind:

1. Don’t think you’re invincible: it’s getting increasingly hard to cover things up – be aware that anything you do that might be deemed ‘ethically dubious’ is more likely to be exposed than not (no one is immune).

2. Know your audience: we expect, nay, admire rock stars who sleep with 10,000 groupies and snort their bodyweight in coke every month but we expect more from our sportsmen and women (and also from our brands).

3. Be authentic: obviously, if this means sleeping with prostitutes and poisoning Africans you should first put your house in order, but brands, businesses (and individuals) who know and live their values are more likely to endure.

4. Be honest: years of witnessing slippery politicians and businessmen trying to hold on to their jobs with tenuous arguments has hardened people, but it has also made them very receptive to the ‘mea culpa’ and the cold, hard truth.

5. Manage expectations: don’t set yourself up for a fall by putting yourself on a pedestal Tiger-style – having flaws is not a bad thing, hiding them to make more money most definitely is.

These 5 rules will not save you if you have a habit of breaking the law or breaking your vows. They will not help you if your moral compass is off kilter. And they will not help if your company gut instinct is to first fire off a ‘Cease and Desist Order'.

But they will help you build a strong reputation and avoid the fury of an instinctively hostile and cynical new media environment.

I leave you with this fantastic drubbing of brands who don’t quite get it (especially on points 2,3 and 5 above), as penned by the great Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker).

Sometimes the old (media) ones are still the best: http://bit.ly/5cqVJd.