A woke culture, flying the aboriginal flag over the Australian flag, price gouging and the dumping of Australia Day across their store network, has seen Woolworths the owner of Big W whose sales are currently under pressure has seen the reputation of the brand slump and executives are now going to have to pay for it

Then there is the issue of their CEO Brad Banducci who hated answering tough questions about the mess he had got the business into.
It now appears that the business is seriously on the nose with consumers let alone suppliers.

Back in 2022 they were ranked the 7th most reputable brand in Australia, now according to the latest RepTrak research, the business has slumped to 47th, with questions now looming over the overall management of the business that rewards management with bonuses based on their reputation performance.

The slump comes after Woolworths boss Brad Banducci recently sparred with Senator Nick McKim during a Senate Inquiry, and his refusal to answer a piece of simple arithmetic demanded by the Greens senator.

The South African CEO is now set to pay dearly for his questionable actions, with other executives who supported his radical moves at the big retailer are also expected to pay dearly when it comes to bonuses and exit packages.

The Australian Financial Review claims the numbers are a disastrous result for the company that only recently decided to elevate reputation as a key performance metric.

Doing so will probably cost Banducci the better part of $1 million, given the RepTrak figures will decimate some 20 per cent of his long-term incentive grant, which in FY23 was worth $3 million (and could have earned him up to $4.4 million).

Ironically the just finished financial year was the first year that Woolworths’ entire executive team was being judged, in part, on the reputation of the supermarket giant.

Disgruntled Woolworths staff have hit out at the supermarket’s divisive Australia Day stance, calling it ‘unbelievable’ and ‘disgusting’.

The RepTrak, baseline figures are sent only to major corporate subscribers and not usually widely bandied about with the AFR getting hold of the leaked confidential documents from insiders.

As for arch rival Coles they have only slipped from 16 in 2022 to number 25.

The AFR Claims that when Woolworths first revealed its intention to tie reputation to corporate bonuses in 2021, investors were sceptical of elevating a “soft metric” over the more traditional sales-per-metre measure it replaced, in part because they feared it would be easier to satisfy.

Now the entire Woolworths management are getting whacked.

Woolworths CEO CEO Brad Banducci

And that includes incoming boss Amanda Bardwell, the managing director of innovation arm WooliesX.

She takes over in September and will surely make quick work of assessing her reputation team, presently led by brand and marketing director Peter O’Sullivan who could also be in the firing line for supporting the moves that bought Woolworths unstuck.

Beginning in 2020, he has every year since made a ranking of the 100 most influential in-house communicators in the world.

As part of the festivities, O’Sullivan was asked by trade rag Provoke Media what he’d do if he wasn’t working in marketing.

“Working in aviation,” he mused, “or trying my luck in theatre!”