FaceTime Follow-Up: Toyota

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Time to follow up with Toyota.  The favorite, least favorite, most controversial car company in the United States.  It’s been almost three weeks since the previous Toyota post, and there have been several developments in their post-recall efforts.

The first and most obvious effort is Toyota’s new ad campaign.  They have come out with several ads, including “Commitment” and “Restore” to try and offset the 12.4% sales decline in February.  While their Twitter-based social media strategy is working behind the scenes, these ads are the approach Toyota has taken to be the face of their rebuilding efforts.

Toyota is also running ads focused on satisfied customers.  For example, the Murphy family was quite satisfied with their Toyotas (purchased February 20th) and feel “exceptionally safe.”  These ads do a good job focusing on their loyal customers,  and fit with Toyota’s “Moving Forward” slogan, but they do little to address a critical issue.

Companies make mistakes, recalls have happened countless times, but there is almost always a sincere apology.  Toyota’s new campaigns fail to simply say “Sorry.”  They talk about “fixing recalls” and stopping production to focus on customers, but they don’t actually say sorry.  These mellow and somber ads could easily come off as Toyota trying to smooth talk and sell cars, and ignoring their mistake.

Whether or not the ads will be successful in mending the wrongs has yet to be seen, but Toyota is on a slippery slope.  If the ads are perceived as fake or misleading, further damage to the brand and company will likely follow.  For example, the “Commitment” ad claims Toyota is customer focused, yet the company internally celebrated saving $100 million at the expense of its consumers.

I hope US consumers focus on the quality of the company, not the quality of the cars, when following the Toyota proceedings.  I believe the internal document celebrating their limited recall (only 55,000 of the faulty vehicles were originally recalled in 2007 as opposed to the 8.5 million recalled in January) should be highlighted and used as a true example of Toyota’s priorities.  Toyota intentionally negotiated a smaller recall, to make money, and knowingly left faulty cars in circulation.   Doesn’t exactly fit into their current campaign.

Toyota’s ads are an attempt to “quick fix” the brand and return to business as usual.  While they ads are well done and “touching” I hope consumers are reluctant to do so.  Have you been following the Toyota story?  Do you feel they owe an explanation for the internal document?

Toyota’s Social Media Bodyguard?

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Toyota has recently recalled several different models, including the Corolla, Matrix, Camry, Avalon, RAV4, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequoia, including models dating back to 2007.  The recall has been a PR disaster for the Japanese automaker, and the rumors continue to swirl regarding when the company gained knowledge of the accelerator defaults.  While Toyota continues to feel the heat in Congress, their loyal followers have come to their aid online.

The saying “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” might have something to it in this case.  When the news of the recall broke towards the end of January, Toyota had about 71,500 fans on Facebook.  That number has jumped to almost 82,000 fans today.  Their fan page has had near constant support pouring in for the company, including links to petitions to prevent the “opportunists” from taking advantage.  The petition site states its goal as 100,000 signatures.

Toyota has also used its Twitter account as a method of damage control.  By keeping the account fully staffed (Social Media Response Team) around the clock, Toyota has been able to answer their consumers’ questions directly.  This 1-1 interaction, made possible by social media, has allowed Toyota to gain some measure of control over the information that is being shared.  This control and influence could result in Toyota preserving its brand in the United States.

Prior to the recall, Toyota had not been very active in social media relative to its competitors, but it looks like that will change moving forward.  Can you think of any other brand “crisis” situations where social media could have helped?  What are other social media strategies Toyota could use?