As of January 2010, Toyota has recalled 9 million vehicles worldwide after vehicles experienced unintended acceleration. The problem can be attributed to two possible causes: the misplacement of a floor mat on the front driver’s side which resulted in pedal entrapment (and) or the mechanical sticking of the acceleration pedal. Thirty-four deaths have resulted from these problems. It would seem that Toyota would really be hurting at this point… What person would be interested in buying a car may have a gas pedal that sticks resulting in acceleration when they actually intend to break?
Contrary to my thinking, based on a SIM Score that rates net sentiment of brands, Toyota’s score has actually improved since the beginning of the recall. The score subtracts negative conversations from positive and neutral conversations and then divides by the total conversations about the brand. The number this formula yields measures a brand’s health on the social web. During the months of November and December, Toyota’s SIM score fell from 19.8 to 17.56. However, in January of 2010, their score jumped to 24.84.
There are a few possible reasons that Toyota’s SIM score has increased despite being responsible for manufacturing vehicles that killed their drivers. One possibility is that the recall has prompted more people to talk about the brand (regardless of their conversations being positive or negative) and has indirectly led to heightened brand awareness. This may in fact prove the age-old rule, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
The recall of 9 million Toyota vehicles has resulted in a great deal of unwanted attention for the company. However, this recall may prove to increase the company’s overall brand awareness. If Toyota can successfully recall all of the potentially problematic vehicles and fix their problems both quickly and effectively, the recall may unintentionally improve Toyota’s overall brand awareness.
So far Toyota has reached the point in which they are releasing television spots insuring brand safety and playing on their brand loyalty. They seem to be past the initial shock period and are now trying to refocus attention on their product through traditional and digital media campaigns. How they effectively continue to use social media and traditional media outlets will heavily impact their end result on the Toyota brand.