Toyota Strikes Back With Ad Campaign
Dealer group punishes ABC affiliates via ad removal
The Toyota Motor Corporation is in a world of hurt, feeling the effects of a massive recall, the halt in sale of eight models, and uncustomary criticism from some of its most loyal fans. Still trying to get ahead of the news curve, the company recently killed off its “Portfolio” ad campaign where Toyota stressed in TV ads its safety, reliability, and quality.
Social Disaster
Toyota gets a big “F” in the area of social media and networking as Twitter and other sites have been flooded with updates from critics and concerned owners while the company comes across defensive, off message, or simply out of touch. Unlike rivals GM and Ford who are accustomed to taking the heat, Toyota’s online representatives have built their collective presence on the back of good news.
But Toyota hasn’t lost touch with what is going in major media outlets including ABC News who has been running successive and some would argue excessive stories about runaway Toyotas and other issues. According to ABC News, that fact has upset a group of 173 Toyota dealers in the southeast who have decided to punish ABC News for their focus on Toyota.
Regain Trust
Instead of showing its new campaign designed to “regain the trust” of customers on ABC affiliates, the dealer group shifted those ads to competing stations in the same market. 22Squared, the Atlanta advertising firm responsible for managing the dealer account, was told to make the change despite their opinion that the move was not a wise one.
ABC News has come under fire for their coverage of problems with Toyotas dating back to at least last August when the runaway Lexus ES350 story made headlines. In that incident, a California Highway Patrol officer and his family were in a loaner Lexus when it suddenly surged out of control. Unable to stop the car, calls were made to 9-1-1 shortly before the Lexus hit the back of another car, crashed, and tumbled down an embankment. All four people in the Lexus died as a result of a fiery crash.
Pressing In
Follow up reports by ABC News were led by Brian Ross whose team interviewed Toyota and Lexus owners, spoke with government officials, contacted consumer advocates, and pressed hard on Toyota to respond. Even when the issue appeared as if the federal government would allow it to fade away, ABC News, the Los Angeles Times, and a handful of other media outlets pressed on. Likely, their collective efforts resulted in the massive recall and subsequent shut down of sales for eight affected models.
The move by the Toyota dealer group has been designed to hurt ABC at least in the short run, but it does underscore the anxiety the company is feeling in light of the massive media attention and customer fall out. Don’t count on ABC News or anyone else for that matter backing away from one of the top news stories of our day. Instead, the focus is on Toyota who finds itself under one spotlight it desperately wants to have turned off.
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February 9th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Do you think there is an outright assault to take down Toyota going on here? It almost appears to me as if people are smelling blood and moving in for the kill. They know Toyota suddenly has a weak spot and they are desperately trying to knock the company out of the top tier.
I realize this is serious but should Toyota be given the opportunity to resolve this since they have had a stellar record up to this point?
Lastly, Do you think that the fact that parts of Toyota are now being built in America has something to do with the quality issue problem?
February 9th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
There may be some desire for people to pile it on, but if you followed the story as it has unfolded over the past several months, you would discover that both Toyota and the NHTSA dragged their feet until the recalls were ordered and the sale stoppage put in place.
Toyota’s legendary quality is to be admired, but in recent years they have done this at the expense of quality. Back in 2007, Consumer Reports dropped their customary recommendation of Toyota models after discovering that problems were emerging. Most of those problems were rather small, but the company has had issues with engine sludge in Camrys and rusted out Tacomas over the years.
Toyota should be required to resolve the issue, but the investigation must mean that unsafe cars are pulled from the road. If they are not, then the legal beagles will be out sniffing up litigation which could be more costly in the long run.
Regarding the pedal made by CTS Corp., Toyota says that the company is not to be blamed for the problem. Personally, I am thinking that the acceleration issue is deeper than what has been thought so far, perhaps electronic in nature.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
After Toyota’s social media fail, I wonder if Honda will have learned any lessons with regard to their recall.
It’s very strange how two manufacturers with such excellent reliability records should both be hit by problems in such a short time frame.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Kazza, car manufacturers get lazy or complacent (or both) which leads to problems later. Both Toyota and Honda have achieved significant gains in recent years which means that cutting corners is the easiest way to push out more product.
February 20th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Hi MattK; Toyota, Honda etc. have always had problems. I believe Owners who buy foreign are reluctant to report typical problems when they fill out the surveys. i.e. The NUMMI plant in california made identical cars with all the same parts (except emblens) and people. Toyota corolla and the GEO PRISM. When the JDPOWERS surveys came out, the geo prism had 100% more defects per 1000 vehicles than the corolla. I am starting to see people being more up front as i read comments in different blogs etc. I still buy American and love it. What i like is i don’t have to spend 400 dollars every 60,000 miles to replace timing belts or face engine failure. I usuall keep my cars about 150000 before i tire of it and want a new one.
February 20th, 2010 at 9:22 am
To MattK: I would also like to note that the three worst cars in the world in all five categories are the VW, MAZDA and the stupid looking little english car. This is according to jdpowers.com not me. Why do people buy these cars if they are interested in quality and reliability? Make you wonder!
March 9th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Right out of Carl Rove’s playbook, the best defense is a good offense – deflect guilt by misdirection. Anyone that doesn’t realize that Toyota’s safety recalls wouldn’t be equal or EXCEED the recall numbers of the Big 3, if they had not sat on defects, blamed them on the consumer, or even replaced defective parts without the owners knowledge while vehicles were in for service — hasn’t been paying attention.
What is there, something to the order of 8.5 million vehicles under this current recall and yet Toyota knew about this SUA problem and was fixing some going back to 2001- but they just never issued a recall (until they were forced to)?
They still haven’t issue a recall on all of the Tacoma and Tundra’s compromised (corrosion) frames going back to model year 1995, have they? How many Taco & Tundra owners are driving around in trucks with weak frames?
Remember the CHIP officer whose family perished in the Calif crash? How many Lexus’ have been recalled?
When one does a little research and realizes the extent of recalls that Toyota failed to issue over the last decade or so, and that are just now coming back to bite them in the rear. . . one ought to realize just how gullible the American public/media/gov’t officials have been and how calculating Toyota has been.
It’s going to be interesting to see whether this big load of poo in Toyota’s pants actually stinks them up . . . or whether we keep playing the part of the stupid American consumer.
If you drive a Toyota and ever have the occasion to be driving behind me in my American vehicle . . . please stay back at least 500 ft.