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How to Salvage Toyota's Brand Reputation

How to Salvage Toyota’s Brand Reputation

Trust of Toyota’s brand … of the safety and reliability of its vehicles … is on life support. The giant car maker is suffering from self-inflicted wounds, the worst of which is not monitoring, not listening to warning signs of trouble.

Toyota's PR: Like a Bent Fender

Toyota’s PR: Like a Bent Fender

While Toyota’s leaders have been parading to Capitol Hill, offering little to say except apologies, what is really curious is the company’s lack of outreach to consumers.

Tiger's Brand: 80 Days Past Its Sell-By Date

Tiger’s Brand: 80 Days Past Its Sell-By Date

Tiger Woods has finally spoken in public, 80 days after going into seclusion when it was dramatically disclosed that he was cheating on his wife. I cannot help but compare how the brand and reputation of a public corporation might have faired had it remained completely silent and unresponsive for 80 days following a major crisis.

Southwest: Too Fat to Fly

Southwest: Too Fat to Fly

Here’s where Southwest Airlines really fumbled in handling its customer and social media crisis caused when filmmaker Kevin Smith was kicked off one of its flights because he was deemed to be too fat for one seat.

Driving Toyota's Reputation into the Wall

Driving Toyota’s Reputation into the Wall

All of the problems, the issues, the crisis, the severe damage to brand reputation currently facing Toyota are self-inflicted by the company. And, there are revelations each day that Toyota has been aware of safety issues.

How to Damage a Good Brand Image

How to Damage a Good Brand Image

Wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard an in-house marketing person exclaim, “We’ve got to work on improving our brand!” And, then, they’d go on to talk about a catchy new slogan, changing corporate colors or (groan) updating the mission statement. An organization’s brand is its heart and spirit.

Ethics of Web Site Funding

Ethics of Web Site Funding

A friend, who is the new head of an international not-for-profit organization in Europe, contacted me a few months ago to get my opinion about the propriety and ethics of funding a new Web site for the organization. Enough time has passed that I can now write about it here and solicit your opinions because I believe it is a valid issue.

The Passion and Inspiration of Video

The Passion and Inspiration of Video

The latest popular thing to do among many organizations and PR firms is to create videos that they believe will deliver some “killer” message, and put it on YouTube. There are hopes the videos will be viewed by millions, and somehow make the earth stop dead in its tracks while people are thrilled by what [...]

A Remarkable View of the World

A Remarkable View of the World

During a trip to Houston recently, I had the pleasure of visiting with an old and treasured friend, Ed Lallo. Ed is a professional photographer, and we have worked together on client projects for many years, from Kansas City to St. Petersburg, Russia.

In a world filled with many talented photographers, Ed is ranked at the [...]

Jane Told Claire, Claire Told Me

Jane Told Claire, Claire Told Me

Word of mouth marketing is like third party endorsement. It’s the most influential and powerful form of social media. It’s the original social media. Here’s an example -

Jane Paznik-Bondarin, a writer and professor in New York City, told our daughter Claire about a small coffee shop that she found to be remarkable. Claire loved it, [...]

Nobody Ever Kicked in the Door

Nobody Ever Kicked in the Door

Back when I was an on-air correspondent for CBS News, I witnessed how many organizations reacted in crisis. It was usually a fumbling manner that fell into into one of three different yet predictable styles:

Pull down the shades, turn out the lights, say nothing, pretend it will go away, and discuss changing the name of [...]

World Wide Rave

World Wide Rave

Let me just begin this review of David Meerman Scott’s “World Wide Rave” by saying that I admire and respect the innovative concepts that David teaches.

If you are in marketing or communications or public relations or, especially, the leader of an organization, today’s world has gotten to be too competitive, too fast-moving, and too smart [...]