Perceptions

"Frenemies" Tim Davie and Richard Sharp might want to have a chat about brand values this week. The CEO and the Chairman of the BBC both have marketing experience - Tim at Pepsi, Richard at burnishing his own reputation. 

Beyond 'editorial standards', the BBC is extraordinarily firm with conflicts of interest for talent, particularly on perceptions. Nick Knowles was made to stand down from DIY SOS after 22 years, for appearing in a Shreddies ad dressed as a builder. 

Here's the BBC basic: A potential conflict of interest arises when there is the possibility that an individual’s external activities or interests may affect, or be reasonably perceived as affecting, the BBC’s impartiality and its integrity, or risk damaging the BBC’s reputation generally or the value of the BBC brand. 

Another chum: In August 2010, ex-Chair of Goldman Sachs, Richard Sharp, was one of four City figures
invited by Osborne to join an “independent challenge group”, with a remit to “question the unquestionable” in the Treasury's austerity drive.