galen2/10/2010
Hey Toyota…srsly?
You just spent the last 20 news cycles getting dragged through the mud because of your failure to get out in front of a bad story. For the last 70 years you have built one of the best brands in the world and you might have just blown that in two months. This same type of epic PR disaster has played out about 20 times since the dawn of the blogosphere – and each time we hear afterwards how "They failed to get out and control the narrative". How did you let yourselves lose control?
Obviously your number one responsibility is the safety of your customers, but by not publicly addressing the "stuck accelerator" issue in a timely fashion (2 weeks after the accelerator recall we got a half-assed press conference) – you exacerbate peoples fears and draw much more negative attention to the issue. Your CEO dodged the media and was even photographed dodging them in an Audi! How did you really think that would play out? That is red meat for the blogosphere/cable news cycle.
YOU SCREWED UP – NOW WHAT?
Nowadays people can handle brutal honesty more than they could 20 years ago. We get "brutal honesty" pumped into our lives 24 hours a day through the media. And the American consumer is willing to forgive and forget – if it is given the respect it deserves. And in this case, Toyota, that means you should be fixing all of your manufacturing and safety issues ASAP while being very public and transparent about the whole process. You should also be ready to implement some kind of "Sorry we f****ed up" consolation prize (warranty extensions?).
And of course you are going to have to spend millions (actually more like billions) on "The New Toyota" marketing campaign that is sure to come. Oh yeah, and you should probably abandon the "Moving Forward" campaign as well – too much bad-internet-meme potential. But to be fair you are approaching the Prius brake recall (a software update to fix the brakes???) in a much more pro-active, transparent way. Heck, Toyota was even getting Digg involved (although I would have used reddit – it's users are more likely to actually own a Toyota) :
"Doug Frisbie, national marketing manager at Toyota USA, said that within a few hours well over 500 questions were posted. "It's important to fully understand the issues" when dealing with social media, said Frisbie, in addressing why it took some time to respond online. "Our top priorities are, No. 1, to listen to consumers and No. 2, getting them the information they need." (from Adweek)
MOVING FORWARD
Oh yeah – Toyota, the American car companies are just about done licking their wounds, Ford is even making a profit. These guys have been reborn and are ready to pounce on your market share. Are you going to give up all that ground?
I only say all this because I drive a Toyota, and most of the people in my family drive Toyotas – and we have had very, very few issues considering all of the road miles driven between us. I would even go so far as to label my in-laws "Toyota Fanboys." Toyota is a very forward thinking company that provides thousands of jobs in America – the kind of company I don't mind giving my money too. Hopefully that doesn't change.
So next time (and there will be a next time) bad news strikes, Toyota please promise we won't have to relearn these lessons. Timeliness, honesty and transparency – while painful at first they will save you much more suffering (and money) in the long term.
Classic case of paralysis through analysis. They knew they had to act, but there were probably too many people involved in devising a PR strategy, and now they have missed the window.
The glass-half-full perspective is that they’ve recognized their epic PR blunder and are attempting to remedy it with their approach to the Prius recall, and this is bringing $ to the struggling American car companies. Not that that makes up for the hurt American Toyota dealers and factories are going to feel, but hey, I’m trying to be optimistic.
Margaux’s right — there’s a silver lining here for American car companies. I also think Hyundai is well poised to take advantage of this. They’ve been slowly, steadily building a world-class brand for the past couple decades from what started as a cheap laughingstock on the order of Yugo (check out the scene in Glengarry Glen Ross where Alec Baldwin rips into one of his real-estate agents by saying his watch is worth more than the Hyundai his weak sales guy drove to work). Hyundai has carefully developed a reputation for quality and customer focus. I think they did this by becoming a challenger brand (look for their Gazelle vs. Lion spot on the web) and by taking a calculating risk to put their money where their mouth is. A 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty was unheard of when they did it. It’s a bold move that says you’re proud of your product. The “Hyundai Advantage” says if you lose your job after you buy a Hyundai, just bring it back. This says they’re a brand that cares about its consumers. Toyota could probably learn a thing or two from them. In the meantime, Hyundai sales and market share continue to skyrocket.
Two words – Honda Fit.
this seems like one of those things that would be a no-brainer. sit down, sort out a message, make it public. i know it’s hard to fess up to a mistake, but you lose a lot less face if you do…
i agree with margaux and jack that the silver lining is how this will help american (and potentially other foreign) car companies…the real question is, how long will it take toyota to recover from this?
