Yesterday was an oppotunity for me to do something which doesn’t happen enough, read the Sunday paper cover to cover. Whilst I was a little cheesed off that Morrison’s apparently doesn’t stock the Observer at its petrol stations, my second choice, The Indy was available.
Whilst slowly digesting the paper, there were many things to comment upon:
The reported cuts to the Tory lead, a storm in a tea-cup really given every other poll has had them on 6% all week (apart from a Ipsos which said 5% on friday).
The fact that the Olympics are apparently going to come in under budget, an absurd suggestion given that the original budget was forecast at £2.4bn and it is now expected to be between £8.8 and £8.9 billion.
But no, the thing which most caught my eye, perversely, was an advert. A full-page Toyota advert to be specific.
Now everyone will know of the troubles facing Toyota recently and I would be lying if I said that they hadn’t brought any of it on themselves. The Director has already admitted many of the recalls are the result of too fast and aggressive expansion, however, this is not what I want to take issue with.
Toyota have recently recalled millions of their cars
A few weeks ago I was asked (as part of an application form) to analyse what I thought was one of the worst PR failures of 2009, this is what I wrote:
“Toyota, have had a few years of massive ups and downs in terms of their public relations. Over the last half decade they have built up a strong reputation for creating good, environmentally friendly cars. They did this through good advertising and wide media coverage and reviews, as well as encouraging prestige names to drive their cars. With some of the world’s top celebrities endorsing the Toyota Prius as a good but environmentally friendly car, the public’s perception of Toyota was extremely positive. All of this strong brand building and the trusting relationship between the consumer and Toyota was washed away in one swoop in 2009 when Toyota dithered in announcing a recall of millions of its cars which it feared may have technical difficulties.
Whilst being in the situation of having to recall cars was never going to be a positive development for Toyota’s image, it could have been handled much more effectively so to limit the damage done to the companies long-term reputation. Toyota’s phased recall decision, announcing, one at a time, the different models of its cars which were to be withdrawn was a mistake. Even today it is widely believed that tomorrow Toyota intend to recall some of its flagship Prius range. The problem Toyota have created for themselves is that they have prolonged the story. Every time there is a new model recalled it is front page news, serving to remind the public of Toyota’s unreliability. In addition to this there has been very little in the way of a defence of Toyota’s decision. If Toyota really wanted to improve their PR situation I would have encouraged making the point that they are recalling these cars as a precaution and that they didn’t expect many, if any, of the cars to be dangerous, but were withdrawing them because the safety of their customers was paramount. Whilst this may not have stopped all damage to Toyota’s reputation it would have greatly improved the situation which we see now with anyone with any make of Toyota car wondering whether or not it is safe to drive. Unfortunately for them, however, Toyota decided to hide in the bunker and not to address the concerns of the media or of their customers, and for this, their hard-earned reputation now lies in tatters.”
Toyota apologizes for the Recalls
Today I was happy to see that Toyota had finally accepted that they needed to make a mends with their customers and to apologise for the massive failings on their behalf. In all honest they deserve quite a bit of credit, firstly for doing so (even if it is a few months too late) and also for resisting the urge to dress it up instead of dealing with the issues themselves. Whilst not the sexiest advert in the world by a long shot, Toyota have gone a long way in redeeming themselves in my opinion after seeing this apology.
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