Using Social Media Tools in Crisis PR?

Following on from the previous post about the Toyota issue recently, an interesting element to come from their PR Blitz / apology was the use of their social media tools and using You Tube to post their public apology to customers. Their commercial director Jon Williams used the social media tool to issue their brand apology, he hasn't been the first company to use You Tube for this purpose and he probably wont be the last!

The Toyota Brand Disaster

Well everybody in the industry has been talking about the Toyota Brand disaster in recent weeks, so here is a great post from IBA on the affair!

The cardinal rule – In crisis management: assume the worst

Faced with an unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles and rivals swooping in on its customers, the public relations machine at Toyota Motor Corp – one of the most savvy brand-creators in Asia – is floundering.

As fear, uncertainly and doubt spreads – Is it just the accelerators? Maybe the brakes too? And is the sainted Prius now tainted forever? – the company has failed to convince its public that it is seriously dealing with the problem and that safety is paramount.

The 911 call of 28 August along with the sounds of the caller's Lexus crashing, killing its driver and three members of his family are fresher in the public's memory than any statements from Toyota. And now on 2 February 2010, seven months after that fateful call, Toyota held a news conference in Nagoya – the first appearance by an executive from headquarters since the recent expanded recall – there was no deep bow, a standard fixture in Japan when a firm declares it is responsible for its mistakes, and no apology. Just a little-known Toyota executive in charge of quality, Shinichi Sasaki, explaining part of the reason Toyota decided to use U.S. autoparts maker CTS's accelerators was to help contribute to the local U.S. Economy. Trying to pass the buck?

At last, this Friday, 7 February, Toyota put together a press conference with, at last, President Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, who previously had only had the courtesy to give a very brief public statement in Davos. He began the news conference with a customary Japanese bow and announced that he will lead a global quality control task force with independent experts acting as extra quality advisers.

Toyota broke the cardinal rule in crisis management: assume the worst. Then take full responsibility, be empathic to the victims and their families and be in control by outlining the problem and how they intend to solve it. And in a crisis such as this, lead from the top.

I recall a similar PR bungle at Coca-Cola just over ten years ago that started in Belgium where sales were banned because of reported cases of poisoning ('where the f*** is Belgium' snarled a dismissive Coca-Cola exec, who took no action), spread to France, Germany then went Europe-wide even to Saudi Arabia. And remember Perrier, whose handling of benzene contamination cost it market leadership and brand value.

Here is another take on the story from USA Today:


By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
Toyota, in the midst of three major safety recalls, is apologizing to customers by way of television, print, radio and the Internet even as the crisis cascades.
But experts are divided on whether that media strategy will be effective in helping the automaker through multiple vehicle recalls and federal safety investigations.

Instead of a single problem, Toyota, long known for quality and reliability, has seen its troubles unfold over three months. It started with floor mats jamming accelerators; morphed into a recall of the accelerator mechanism on eight models and a halt to sales; and now includes a recall of the Prius hybrid for brake issues.

"You can't rebuild a house in a hurricane," says Eric Dezenhall, a public relations crisis expert in Washington. And Toyota is dealing with the equivalent of a Category 5 storm, he says.

To try to limit fallout, Toyota is emphasizing its:

•Commitment to the U.S. Last weekend, Toyota launched a special television ad specifically created for the crisis.

The spot acknowledges that the automaker has let down customers when it comes to safety, but emphasizes Toyota's half-century of selling cars in the USA. Toyota is running radio ads, too. There's also a Spanish-language version of the ad campaign.

•Blueprint for fixes. Newspaper ads talk about how Toyota is sending letters to owners and working around-the-clock at dealers to make repairs. Like the TV campaign, it underscores Toyota's large footprint in the U.S., with 172,000 employees in factories and dealerships.

•Focus on customers.Toyota is posting updates at Toyota.com and leveraging social media. On Monday, for instance, Toyota's U.S. sales chief, Jim Lentz, held a live chat at Digg.com, a news site that attracts younger customers.

"We're making sure we're reaching all our customers to make sure they know they are a priority for us," said Toyota spokeswoman Celeste Migliore.

But the effort may be whistling in the wind as more reports of problem vehicles surface, some experts say.

"The ads don't mean anything (if) the actions don't correspond," says Michael Gordon, a crisis public relations specialist in New York.

Jeffrey Liker, a University of Michigan professor who wrote the best-selling book The Toyota Way about the automaker's management philosophy, says Toyota is in a tight spot. If Toyota tries to deny any of the criticism leveled at it, "It would come across as defensive."

But he thinks the automaker is making the right moves — admitting to mistakes and trying to follow through to fix every car involved in the recalls quickly.

"In a crisis, all you can do is solve the problems you know about," Liker says.