One of the people that Steve and I interviewed when we were researching Brand Anarchy (due out 1 March) was Alastair Campbell

Tonight Alastair will talk at a Speed sales event about the end of the age of spin and the need for a more authentic style of communication in the future.

The fragmentation of traditional media over the last two decades and the rapid rise of social media has brought brand reputation into sharp focus like never before.

Disaffected shareholders, customers and staff are noisily voicing their opinions to a global audience via the Internet. Meanwhile the established media is shared in new ways.

No one knows whether it’s going to get even worse. Will conventional media find a sustainable business model as attention continues to move online? Will new social forms of media over power brands?

Speed’s view is that you will never have complete control over your brand’s reputation. You never have.

But you might be able to get more control over your reputation than you’ve had in the past if you are willing to engage directly with your markets rather than via the proxy of traditional media.

That starts with a whole new approach to planning – because of the changed media – and a degree of organisational change for communications teams.

We believe that the future of organisational communication, and therefore the future of reputation management, lies in participation of a brand with its audience.

It’s a return to public relations in its purist form and it’s a huge opportunity for corporate communicators.