Brands.  Any company has one, whether it be great or not so great.  Even if the company doesn’t want to admit it, they are responsible for what their brand portrays to their customers.

Today I heard about an up and coming internet reality tv show which was dirtied (in my opinion) by one of the coaches.  I won’t go into detail with that, you can do your own research, but it just goes to show you that if you don’t keep tabs on what your employees are doing, you will likely suffer to some extent.

Here are some things that might help keep the people who don’t know any better from doing something stupid:

• Flat out tell them that they are not allowed to discuss the project, business, or whatever with other people.
• If something does get out, then publicly address it.  If you have to, then reprimand your employee.
• Along the same lines as discussion, don’t allow them to release any media without your approval.

In business your brand is your image.  It is often your customer’s first impression of you.  No matter what you do, you brand will at some point get tainted.  How you deal with it is up to you.