The Toyota commercial reminds me of a meeting  at Ford about three years ago.  Back then, I was working with Ford Strategic Research on a project, and we were reviewing the decline of Ford (and all domestics) over the past decade.  In 1995, about 63% of new vehicle buyers shopped domestic manufacturers only.  By 2008, the number slipped to 32% with 49% of new vehicle buyers exclusively shopping imports.  In our discussion, the general sentiment was that it would take a decade for Ford to rebound.

Well, fast forward three or so years and Ford is back in the limelight.  Ford has many many rightmoves over the past several years, and as Jim Farley, Head of Ford Marketing, points out in Advertising Age, sometimes fortunate timing helps too.  For example, the day in 2008 when Ford didn’t take money from Congress, the Big Three started to become the Big Two and Ford. 

There are many reasons why Ford rebounded, but I believe there are two major factors.  The first is Ford had the product.  Although they had many mishaps in the 1990s through about 2003, Ford had corrected their quality issues, invested in vehicle technology, and by about 2005 was poised to challenge the imports — but no one was listening.

This brings me to my second factor — Ford’s social relevancy.  The reality is up to the bailout Ford was pretty much  irrelevent except for several vehicles: the F-Series pickups and Mustang.  The remaining vehicles, most notably their cars, became a defensible driveway discussion for many new Ford owners (a.k.a “So, why did you buy a Ford?” “Um, ah, I got a great deal.”). 

The one brand action, not taking the money, gave Ford permission to be different.  And they took advantage of it.  Ford followed up with many initiatives to gain social relevance.  Several initiatives worth noting were Fiesta Movement and Drive One for Your School.

The Fiesta Movement was another well-timed opportunity.  The “new” Fiesta had been available in Europe for years.  So, to introduce the new vehicle, Alan Mulally announced Ford would bring 100 European Fiestas over to U.S. to be driven by 100 drivers who were innovative, interesting, and socially active online.  The PR move became a powerful social undercurrent in Fiesta’s launch.  The program generated significant awareness amongst the youthful target audience even before the vehicle launched —  before the first commercial ever aired.

Drive One for your School is lesser known than Fiesta Movement, but I would argue had just as much to do with Ford’s social resurgence.  Ford and Team Detroit designed a program which combined Ford’s need to get people into their vehicles with a lack of school funding around the country.  The program offered school associations $20 per test drive at the dealership typically on the weekend.  Although a goal was to generate sales, it was just as important to get people to experience a Ford first hand.  Ford was confident a multi-sensory experience would not only change their impression, it would hopefully encourage people to speak favorably of Ford when someone in their social circle was shopping for a new vehicle.

Ford’s advertising also focused on changing social impressions of Ford.  Different campaigns like Swap Your Ride or Town Takeover, placed competitive owners in Ford vehicles for an extended test drive for a week or so.  This testimonial advertising became more and more believable as Ford’s social relevancy increased.

Assessing Ford’s progress today is quite impressive.  A combination of a demonstrative brand action, social emphasis, and savvy advertising returned Ford to prominence in years as oppose to a decade.

In an attempt to fix their tarnished reputation, Toyota is running a television campaign touting  quality awards, SMART teams, and $1 million spent on safety per hour.   But can Toyota’s current television blitz is wipe the massive recalls from America’s memory?  They claim to have better safety than their competition and they have a safety website to prove it.  The site touts the following:

• The Star Safety System: Toyota is the first manufacturer to make the features of the Star Safety System standard on every vehicle.
• SMART Teams: To ensure rapid response, Toyota has established SMART Teams.  Short for Swift Market Analysis Response Team — are rapid response technical teams that perform on-site analysis (there are 200 engineers and technicians that make up these teams).
• Safety Awards: Yes, Toyota has won safety awards, including five vehicles chosen by 2010 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as Top Safety Picks.

The site touts several other facts like the number of features that make up the SMART system (5 features); the number of feet of test track a V6 Camry takes to stop from 70 MPH on a test track; and 1,000,000 which is the number of dollars Toyota spends every hour on safety.

Missing Numbers
From a consumer perspective, spending a million on safety per hour may sound impressive, but will it trump the knowledge that 2.3 million vehicle recalled in January for gas pedal issues?  Will the fact Toyota has won more safety awards than any other brand (per their commercial)  compensate for the fact JD Power reported Toyota slipped to 21st in new vehicle initial quality (lowest ever for the manufacturer in the 24-year survey history)? 

In general safety is assumed for new car buyers today.  It comes standard.  If a company is talking about safety, chances are their vehicle is recalled for extreme situations like roll-overs, fuel leaks, or inability to stop.  If they obsess over safety, they appear as an insecure brand over-compensating for deficiencies — and most likely they are.  This is the conundrum Toyota is in: do they ignore the situation and let it fade away or do they attack it head on trying to build their reputation back?  Apparently Toyota is going for the latter.

Given this, the problem with the current campaign is that the messaging and Toyota’s actions are the expected.   There is nothing new, novel, or worth talking about.  Toyota has massive recall –look we spend a lot on quality!  Toyota slips in quality ratings — look we have SMART teams!  While I don’t expect Toyota to spend millions of dollars on a campaign to say “We screwed up.” — the timing of the campaign will limit the effectiveness and the believability of the ads.

Safety Actions
So is there another way?  Maybe.  While I don’t think any one marketing action can wipe away the previous five months of turmoil, there may be actions Toyota can take in the future which will build back their reputation:

• Embrace Your Owners: This is probably the biggest missed opportunity Toyota had.  Stories from owners on how Toyota embraced the recall and exceeded expectations would go a long way shaping public perception.  Having dealerships open 24 hours until the last recall is fulfilled is not only an admirable business action to treat owners appropriately, but also makes for a great story owners can pass along (just please don’t create a cheesy commercial — let the word-of-mouth carry the story).
• Real Safety Enhancements: Toyota’s Star Safety System is just marketing speak ladened with industry acronyms (e.g. Brake Assist (BA), Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (BFD?)) without clear tangible value.  There seems nothing new here, nor is there a differentiating product safety benefit.  If you truly have a safety story – a story that benefits the driver (e.g. think OnStar), then tell it, otherwise wait until the $1 million per hour produces something worth talking about.
• Stop Talking: As I write this Toyota just announced a recall for 137,000 Lexus vehicles in the U.S. for engine issues.  The multi-million dollar risk Toyota continues to run is there safet-vertising will be nullified by their own forced actions — another recall.

In the rush for the demonstrative testimonial, marketers try different tactics.  Some tactics are artifical, some are authentic.  Some work, some don’t.

Test Tube Testimonials
 The easiest method to create testimonials is to generate them in an alternative reality.  A reality in which their product will win against competition or at least win enough so they can get a few customers on tape, in a commercial, and broadcasted to the nation by next week.  These artificial testimonials live in a “consumer lab” and are within a marketer’s control.

One example is last year’s Microsoft’s Challenge.  The challenge asked people to buy a PC or Mac based on a set budget normally under $1,000.  The camera follows the budget minded shoppers as they compare how much “PC” they can get relative to a Mac.  According to AdAge last year the campaign was making a dent in the perception of PCs for budget minded shoppers.  According to my Apple-loving coworkers, they don’t believe the results, and think the majority of people paid the difference and bought an Apple.

Currently Ford is (re)running Swap Your Ride  where people exchange their vehicle for a new Ford.  From Ford’s perspective, the positive aspect of the commercials is the driver  positively portrays the Ford product relative to their current vehicle.   From the consumer perspective, this is the fundamental problem with Test Tube Testimonials — it is not a balanced perspective.  However, very few marketers (like Domino’s) would broadcast people disparaging their product.  This is the conundrum with Test Tube Testimonials:  a balanced perspective is more believable — more real.  But showing a balanced perspective may be more harmful to the brand.

Free Range Testimonials
My brother raises chickens.  Not many.  Maybe about twelve or so.  He doesn’t feed them grain, corn, or some fancy chicken feed.   He just lets them wander around the yard and peck away at his lawn, eating whatever may be beneath the surface.  He swears the eggs taste much better because the chickens are allowed to freely roam his yard eating what nature has to provide.

Customers who paid for the product and use the product regularly are believable.  Their experience is not fabricated.  A classic example of a powerful customer testimonial is Jared for Subway.   The interesting aspect to Jared’s Story is it offered a brand repositioning for Subway — one that Subway initially did not want to do, until it worked.   It worked because it was dramatic, original, and unexpected. 

As of last December, Taco Bell is trying to repeat Subway’s formula with Christine Dougherty’s Drive Thru Diet.  Christine lost 54 pounds on the diet (compared to 245 pounds for Jared).   The effect of the Drive Thru Diet will be interesting to watch.  On the one hand, novel diets seem to be always a trend.  On the other hand, this fast food “diet” formula seems tired, and may be rendered ineffective due to fast food diet apathy.

Another example occurred last February when Toyota briefly used customers who recently bought a vehicle in ads to counter the negative recall buzz.  It is hard to tell if the ads were effective, but I think timing is an issue with these ads.   When a safety recall is top of mind with hundreds of thousands of owners and the general public, airing ads about enthusiastic new customers comes across like Toyota may be out of touch.  Instead of new buyer testimonials, Totyota should have generated testimonials about the speed and progress to fix the recall (which some ads speak to) and how Toyota went the extra mile to treat owners well. 

The Personal Testimonial
The most effective testimonial is the people you know.  Nothing new.  There have been many books written about the effectiveness of word of mouth mareketing.  Many companies like BzzAgent or House Party base their business model on marketing products through word of mouth.  The basic premise of word of mouth marketing is for people to describe the product on their terms — identifying their benefits, and then talking about the product in terms their friends can understand.  This authentic interaction is the power of a first-hand testimonial.  The power is found when one friend personally recommends a product to another.  A lot of the power is lost when it is filmed and broadcasted to the masses.  

While the effectiveness of personal recommendations will trump mass recommendations, word of mouth takes time.  It is about becoming social relevance.  Think about the automotive industry:  It took several decades for domestic auto companies to become socially irrelevant in many social circles (especially on the east and west coast).  And for GM and Chrysler the icing on the top of the irrelevancy cake was the bail out – it just turned many people off.  It will be a long way back for GM and Chrysler.  One car at a time. One customer at a time.  One driveway testimonial at a time.  And this journey will take patience.  It took decades to become socially irrelevant — something that will not be corrected overnight.

Driving Testimonials
The art of the testimonial is putting the right pieces in place to be relevant.  It is about giving people something to talk about, initiating the conversation, and encouraging interaction.

Give them something to talk about.  We love to tell a good story, especially about our experiences.  If a marketer would like to be brought up in conversation they need to be relevant — be in the story.  The story could be about a customer’s interaction with the product.  The story could be about excellent customer service (God knows we hear enough stories about how our friends or family members are mistreated).  The story could be about a bold company action they are proud to identify with (e.g. Ford not taking the bail out money or Amazon redirecting all their advertising dollars into free shipping).

Initiate the conversation.  Help your customers come up with stories by asking about their product purchase – their product experience.  Many companies like Weber Grills, John Deere, and Honda to name a few, request owners to tell their product stories.  By initiating the conversation, brands will get people talking about their product experience.  The first evidence is online – an owner generated story for all to read.  The second benefit is initiating a behavior.  A customer behavior to talk positively about the product.  A behavior which is hopefully repeated multiple times with friends, family members, and co-workers.

Encourage interaction.   I like the testimonial twist to State Farm’s latest campaign.  The commercial prompts prospective insurers to first speak to one of over 40 million drivers who currently use State Farm.  Nice.  A company with nothing to hide will encourage prospective customers to talk to owners.  Of course this may backfire if all my friends have Geico and Progressive, but the point of the testimonial tactic is to get people to talk about their insurance.  And hopefully through discussion they may find there is a better insurance plan for them.

Testimonials should always considered within the marketing mix.  They are one of the most persuasive methods in persuading people to try or buy a product.  Just be authentic, be realistic, and be patient.  Testimonials are a marathon strategy not a sprint.