Brand Failures

PR failures 147
Be sensitive. By squabbling with Ford instead of offering sympathy to the
car-crash victims, Firestone appeared insensitive.
Cover worst-case scenarios with business partners. Partnerships built for the
long term must include mutually agreed-upon responsibilities and
communication plans, recommends Robert Desisto, brand analyst at
Gartner Research. ‘More specifically, these partnerships must include a
method of listening to customer complaints through one another’s
customer support centres, as well as a method of sharing technical support
data earlier to prevent lost sales as well as the loss of the more intangible
customer goodwill,’ he says.
Be aware that prediction equals protection. Owing to the fact that customers
were complaining about the tyre failures years before the accidents made
international headlines, Firestone should have been able to predict the
problem and resolve it in advance.
Remember that perception is everything. Whatever the truth behind why the
tyres split, the poor handling of the issue by Firestone meant that the brand
came under fire. If you look as though you are hiding relevant information
from the public, the perception will be negative, regardless of the truth.
Keep hold of your key brand asset. Firestone’s marketing efforts had always
been designed to instil the notion of ‘safety’ into the public’s mind. When
it lost this key brand asset through all the hostile publicity, Firestone was
in big trouble.