Formal apologies were all the rage last year. The fashion is wearing a little thin now, not least because, to put it politely, some apologies sound less sincere than others.

Few can doubt, for example, that the public contrition of Akio Toyoda, the President and CEO of Toyota, for the serious lapses in the quality of his company’s products represents a genuine feeling of shame. The Japanese take these things seriously, and in Toyota’s case there is also family honour at stake.

Less credible is Tiger Woods’ forced public apology for his promiscuous adulteries. It had less to do with repentance than with commercial pressure to defend the hugely lucrative Tiger Woods brand image.

Yet he has still lost a number of his most valuable endorsement deals.

Since he can no longer pose as a clean cut family man, it is hardly surprising that he has been suspended by Gillette, but it is interesting to note that he is still wearing the products of another of his sponsors – Nike running shoes

...insert your own obvious joke here.

This leads to the more serious point that there might be a better strategy to rebuild Brand Tiger. Woods has to accept that his former wholesome image is gone for good and no fake apology will ever bring it back. He needs to construct a new image that reflects the changed public perception. Perhaps it might be easier to embrace his “bad boy” status and start targeting different markets, selling to youngsters rather than to more conservative middle-aged men.

The positive reception from the crowd as he practised for the Masters this week, and then a fine opening day, show that there is still life left in his brand – but at the same time the negative comments of the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club shows the need for a repositioning. There is still a game to be played – so long as he accepts that the game has changed.

The lesson for those of us trying to establish and manage less high profile brands is that if Brand Tiger, with big money behind it, must change in response to market perceptions, it is foolish to assume that we can impose our own image of ourselves on the public. We can only make the best of how others see us.