Autoblog

Talk about looking for silver linings. Matt Vella of BusinessWeek takes Toyota's one million vehicle recall and turns it on its ear. Public relations expert Mark Hass of Hass MS&L points out that recalls don't carry the stigmas they once did. According to Hass, unless automakers attempt to hide pertinent information or defects from a recall, they stand to benefit from good PR by actually being open about problems and dealing with them promptly. A company's promise to service all affected vehicles, for example, can reflect one of its strengths. States Joe Barkai, a program director of IDC, a manufacturing insight group,  "Toyota is better structured to fix these types of problems. They're very good at executing decisions, everybody falls in line. For domestic manufacturers, it still takes a long time to learn those lessons."

Other factors including as the 2000 - 2001 Explorer rollover recall "deflating" future public outcries over recalls and Toyota's kaizen philosophy, are detailed at the link. Also worth noting are comments by BW readers who had a quite different take on the matter (read: accusations of media bias).

What's your view? You know the drill...

Related:
Lexus recalls 57,000 cars worldwide
Toyota to recall Land Cruiser Prado
Toyota recalls new Camry for transmission issue

[Source: BusinessWeek]

Thursday, former secretary of labor and current NPR Marketplace contributor Robert Reich claimed in an American Prospect Online article that he had been approached by a General Motors' public relations representative with a monetary offering, in exchange for the financial pundit's endorsement of GM's employee buyout plan. Richard Strauss, head of Strauss Radio Strategies (the PR firm in question), denies Reich's claim, referring to it as "an honest misunderstanding". Read into those last three words what you will; some would say that translates into "my lawyer thinks there's nothing here that will hold up in court".

As it relates to the buyout offer itself, Reich doesn't seem quite sure what to think of it, other than that it's probably a good deal for the workers who accept it if indeed GM goes bankrupt (the ol' a-bird-in-the-hand-beats-two-in-the-bush thing, basically).

[Sources: American Prospect, Detroit News]

"Like always, like never before."

Sibling site Adjab reports that Saturn will be taking a different tactic in marketing its new vehicles: the Aura, Outlook, and Sky. According to the linked article Brandweek, the marketing campaign will be promoting all the vehicles as a unit with the "Like...." tagline instead of, just the Sky roadster, for example. The advertising company that developed the campaign feels it better reflects Saturn's 'togetherness' philosophy.

Will it work? Certainly the division's products are becoming more compelling, but Saturn has clearly moved away from its brandspace as the egalitarian small car company 'with a heart of gold' into a world of 8-passenger crossovers and such. Critics argue that the brand's identity is becoming very muddy in its quest to enter other segments and find profitability, and that the "Like..." campaign is a tad disingenous. Who's right? Have your say in comments.

[Sources: Adjab, Brandweek]