Toyota has spent decades, not to mention billions of dollars, spreading the message that their vehicles are superior – in safety, style and value. The recent PR debacle facing the automaker goes to show the vulnerability of a brand. Years of maintaining a solid reputation can be shattered in less than 24 hours.

Consumer confidence in Toyota is definitely at a pivotal point. First, the floor mats. Next the sticky accelerators – linked to 19 deaths. Then, with the promise of a “fix” on the horizon, Toyota announced last week that there is a problem with the Prius’s brake system. Where does it end?

Some think that the Toyota brand is done – that they should throw in the towel and start anew. After the contamination issue in 1982, Johnson & Johnson had to repair the Tylenol brand, but no need to scrap it all together. Neither did Firestone or Exxon after their respective catastrophes. Toyota’s major problem, aside from the obvious engineering flaw, in my opinion is the mixed messages being disseminated, further fueling consumer anxiety. Drive. . .Don’t drive. . .It’s electrical. . .It’s mechanical. . .We know. . . We don’t know. . . Get your message straight! This lack of clarity is just further aggravating an already fragile situation.

To a certain extent, loyal patrons are forgiving and would be willing to trust Toyota again. But when is enough, finally enough? As a Camry driver myself, I am waiting (and waiting. . .and waiting) to see if the company can pull a U-turn and boost my confidence or if the crisis will continue to go down hill.

If you were in the driver’s seat of Toyota’s messaging during this fiasco, would you have done anything differently?

Photo credit: Robert Vinet

A recent study found that 80% of “tweeting” is done outside of Twitter.com. People update anywhere, anytime, about anything. Given the popularity of Twitter, you might want to consider using it to your advantage by encouraging it during a presentation.

In a recent BusinessWeek article, Carmine Gallo spotlights Cliff Atkinson’s new book, The Backchannel, in which he shares five simple steps for incorporating Twitter into your presentation.

1. Accept it. – Gone are the days of the “please turn off your cell phone” disclaimer. Encourage your audience to use social media while listening to you and increase your brand awareness, without any additional effort.

2. Show that you understand how Twitter works. – Include your Twitter name and an event #hash tag on your title slide. By providing your username, audience members can quickly connect with you after the presentation. The event #hash tag gives people who didn’t attend your presentation the ability to view tweets in a stream as they happen. And as an added bonus, it will be easy for you to look back over the conversation and assess reactions.

3. Create Twitter-friendly messages. – PowerPoint presentations are usually crafted to include small bits of information, so when you’re putting it together, be sure to consider Twitter’s 140-character limit. Your audience will be more likely to share the information if they don’t have to rewrite it.

4. Take breaks. – Atkinson suggests taking a break and showing the event hash tag Twitter stream and addressing any questions that might have been tweeted.

5. Extend the conversation. – Social media can extend the impact of your presentation long after it’s over. Post the slides to SlideShare, link to the Twitter stream or provide a YouTube video of the presentation.

As an audience member, do you think you would be more prone to share information with others if the presenter encouraged you to participate via Twitter?

Photo credit: scobleizer

Very rarely does an ad generate editorial media coverage. Generally, advertising is confined to its paid space – until the ad itself becomes the news. This is what’s happened for one controversial Super Bowl commercial: gay dating site ManCrunch.com. The ad depicts two men kissing and was denied by CBS.

Since the rejection, the company has received an enormous amount of publicity. Stories in news outlets, blogs, television and radio have created discussions in numerous public forums. This just adds value to the nearly $3 million price tag CBS is charging for a 30-second spot.

But why the uproar? Controversial subject matter always strikes a chord and advocates on both sides of an issue will make their voices heard. In fact, it was reported that CBS believed ManCrunch submitted an ad they knew would be rejected in an effort to generate free publicity. ManCruch denies the accusation.

And while ManCrunch is receiving a fair amount of free publicity, are they better off? As of today, the ManCrunch commercial on YouTube.com has been viewed more than 400,000 times. Last year, Wikipedia reported that the Super Bowl was watched by 93.2 million people. Would the aired ManCrunch television commercial create the same level of conversation? Would the controversy have as much value without social media?

Five journalists from Canadian, French, Belgian and Swiss radio stations are trying to find out how reliable Twitter and Facebook are regarding hard news. Starting February 1, the reporters will travel to a remote Perigord, France farmhouse and only have access to the outside world via the two networking sites. According to AFP/Google News:

“This experiment will enable us to take a hard look at all the myths that exist about Facebook and Twitter,” said Helene Jouan, a senior editor at France Inter, one of the stations that is sending a journalist.

The experiment poses some interesting questions: How will the journalists verify accuracy of stories? And how will they decide when to report the “news” to their respective audiences? From the AFP:

Trying to sort the wheat from the chaff without access to these other sources will be a difficult task for the four men and one woman confined to the farmhouse in Perigord.

Very true. But, there are a few issues with the experiment. For example, at the time this blog was posted, the five journalists were following 852 Twitter users, combined. That seems like a pretty small sample for the basis of an experiment of this magnitude. And, I wonder if they are considering the sources of their followers? For instance, are they following childhood friends or traditional media such as CNN International? Do you think that Facebook Friends and the Twitter equivalent are more likely to post news because the experiment has been announced?

Despite the obvious problems with the experiment, I can’t wait to see how it pans out. In fact, I’m already *following each reporter. I’d just recommend taking their findings with a grain of salt … but if you’re in the communication profession, you already knew that.

*Note: Since all tweets in this list will be in a language other than English, check out this quick video on how to translate Twitter updates. Hopefully, the powers-that-be at TweetDeck will soon create an auto-translate feature for groups.

Photo credit: Rob Enslin

Think print will ever make a come back?

I don’t know what it is about print publications, but I love them. I love spreading newspapers out over my office desk or dining room table on Sunday mornings. I love dog-earing magazines with good exercise ideas or ripping new recipes out of my favorite cooking publication.

This got me thinking …online media is in…but so is “retro,” right? If that’s the case, how long until print becomes retro and explodes again? Will it ever? Which publications will survive long enough to find out?

Photo credit: bravenewtraveler

I thoroughly enjoyed Roger Martin & Jennifer Riel’s BusinessWeek article on Innovation’s Accidental Enemies. The logic behind “what could be” is truly exciting and inspirational.

The Wall Street Journal recently launched a multimedia branding campaign titled “Live in the Know.” The campaign stresses the value of the in-depth research that the paper brings that goes beyond chatter and sound bites. In a time where major newspapers are fighting to keep their readership, I thought the campaign was an interesting approach.