Ask The Best And Brightest: Could The Toyota Recall Prove That There's No Such Thing As Bad Publicity?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The social media blog Mashable has an interesting theory: Toyota’s recall woes might actually be good (gasp) good for the brand. To back up this astonishing claim, they offer two premises, based on online social media data:

The first is that the increased number of conversations about Toyota are building greater awareness for the brand even though many of the mentions may be negative. While this may seem unusual, the fact that people are talking about the brand a lot more and sometimes in a neutral light (not just negatively) is increasing its exposure. More people are talking about Toyota than any other brand these days. And they’re talking about the recalls, but also the fixes being provided by the dealerships too. And some of the consumers are probably coming to the defense of the brand too. Maybe there is some truth to the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity after all.

The second answer comes via Jeremy Anwyl, the CEO of Edmunds.com in an interview with CNN on February 5th. He explained that people have sensed an opportunity to pick up a bargain and are moving towards some of the Toyota models. Edmunds research showed that before the recall, 7.4% of the consumers in the market for compact cars were considering a Toyota Prius, and after the news broke, the number moved up to 8.7%. Edmunds’ research measures online purchase behavior against conversations on the social web.

What does this tell us? Firstly, that the SIM Score fluctuations and the related Edmunds user intent analysis have unearthed a counterintuitive trend with regard to Toyota; increased buyer interest even though there’s a lot of bad news about the brand. It also shows that there hasn’t been significant short-term damage to the Toyota brand on the social web, at least relative to its direct competitors. This of course is likely to change, as more news about Toyota’s troubles have broken since January, and more people are talking about it online today. I fully expect the Toyota SIM Score to start dropping again when the February numbers are computed. It is worth pointing out the SIM Score is a measure of a brand’s health on the social web and not always a leading indicator of sales, though it can be for certain product categories.

My take is that losing a halo of invincibility on the issues of quality and reliability is never good, although in Toyota’s case it was probably unavoidable. One point on which I have little doubt: Toyota’s fall from grace will probably help consumers make more informed car-buying decisions. Unfortunately for Toyota, that shouldn’t help them keep their sales numbers up. Ultimately, the available social media data doesn’t seem reliable enough to discard the conventional wisdom that most consumers buy on reputation… and with congressional hearings and federal investigations looming, there’s still reputational damage to be done. What say you?


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Telegraph Road Telegraph Road on Feb 23, 2010

    In Sept 2000, as the Firestone debacle unfolded, Explorer sales rose. (source: http://articles.latimes.com/2000/oct/04/business/fi-30997 )

    • See 2 previous
    • Runfromcheney Runfromcheney on Feb 25, 2010

      Ford CEO Jacques Nasser had to testify in front of congress because of the Firestone Tire problem. In fact, his pathetic showing was a PR disaster for the company and it played a big part in the Ford family's decision to can him.

  • VanillaDude VanillaDude on Feb 23, 2010

    Back to the "bad publicity is good" question originally posted. If Toyota handled this well, then it could have been good publicity. If they displayed transparency, customer support, and surprised everyone with a well thought out and considerate response - then it would have been a good thing in the long run. Buyers depend upon their dealers and vehicles more than they did when cars were simpler to maintain. As a result, an issue such as this one can be used to enhance Toyota's other marketing strengths with a level of assurance satisfying both customers and future buyers. But they didn't do that here. Consequentially, Toyota's image is damaged. It is no longer the brain-dead default auto purchase and joins the ranks with GM as once-darlings that had it all. Honda, Hyundai and Ford will end up the winners this decade as a result. Toyotas have been losing their "cool" factor for several years. Their own internal studies showing that Toyota is the Oldsmobile of the 1970s with gray haired senior Boomers tooling around in them and giving the brand a smell of moth balls and marijuana, like a nursing home in the 21st Century. With this failure, the grandkids of the Boomers will look elsewhere to buy a car. After all, this is why Toyota launched Scion.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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