
Disclaimer: I am the proud owner of a leased 2010 RAV4 and am not writing this in a bid to salvage resale value.
Recent News for Toyota has not been good. Their upscale brand Lexus had an issue with the gas pedal being constrained and leading to the deaths of a family in California. It was a tragedy with the 911 call of a terrified family broadcast for us to hear as they sped down the highway in absolute terror.
After a series of announced recalls, Toyota finally suspended the sales of selected models on January 21, 2010.
Suddenly, there is conversation everywhere and the Toyota brand is taking hits on all forms of social media. For those of you that remember the problem (or alleged problem) that Audi had with their gas pedals, it brings back some interesting memories. Local newscasts showed elderly drivers with the look of frustration at their cars that had suddenly sped forward when the car was started thinking they had their foot on the brake. This led to a design change that required the brake to be depressed in order to actually start the car. It was a very difficult time for Audi from a PR perspective in which gaining customer trust was paramount. Audi was lucky, they just had to limit TV exposure and print and hope that a more pressing story or time pushed the focus from the public.
The problems are multiple for Toyota. Word of mouth, Blogs, Tweets bulletin boards, Facebook and comments to these various platform comments are building a vast trend of anger, disdain and concern. Even mother in law told me to take my 4 week old car back to Toyota under the lemon law.
But rather than return my car, I still love my Rav4.
TOYOTA NEEDS TO GET MOVING
This will be a mission of communication and Toyota needs to reach out to their respective audiences immediately and with leadership. These would include existing Toyota owners, potential customers as well as fleet owners/purchasers. Today I received an email from my salesperson which was slightly comforting and genuine in that he made himself available for any questions I may have and he mentioned that an official letter would be coming out with more information in the next week or so. I spoke with him and while he did not have specifics he was adamant that Toyota was working on resolving the issues.
I appreciated the email but Toyota needs to get moving.
Toyota’s Agency of record is potentially working through corporate hurdles that many in public relations have dealt with when communicating for a brand via Social Media.
What is the liability and risk to the brand?
How do you control or trend the conversation?
How do you remain transparent and honest?
How do you win back brand ambassadors?
How do you restore faith in the brand?
How do you communicate effectively to your target audiences?
How do you measure your efforts?
Will it be blogger outreach? Will they host a blog summit discussing vehicle safety? Maybe the creation of safety videos and tagged on YouTube or a Twitter account for streaming Toyota brand information from the Vice President of Product Safety.
Regardless of what campaigns are conceived and approved, Toyota needs to act quickly and with a clear digital strategy. They must also show leniency and give their PR or crisis Public Relations firm the power to implement solutions that can best position it in the eyes of the buying public.
In the not too distant future, we will look back and see just how effective Toyota was at implementing their social media response. In the meantime, I will drive my RAV4, listen carefully to my radio for updates and wait for any sign of social media response.



