While reading the LA Times the other day, I came upon an interesting article on branding and rebuilding brands. Tiger and Toyota were the main brands discussed in this article, which probed how the two brands may be more similar than people may think. Besides the obvious fact that both brands, though one is a celebrity brand and the other a larger corporation, Tiger and Toyota are both at a cusp in terms of their relationship with the mass public.

Tiger Woods, recently exposed as more of a cheetah than any other animal for infidelity reasons, has damaged his personal image as a top athlete as well as the image of his sponsors and beneficiaries. He has removed himself from the golf world and has yet to announce when he will be returning to compete.

Toyota Motor Corp., known for it’s reliable and safe cars, has just tainted their image because of failure to responsibly address acceleration and brake problems. Safety concerns with the brand has festered and has led to a skeptical consumer audience.

What is a brand to do when major consumer audience falters in loyalty? Or better yet, how quickly should they act in order to regain their consumer’s trust before they move on?

The important concept that must be considered is consumer confidence in the brand. A brand is what specifies and differentiates a single product out of the pool of many similar products. The branding of a product is what makes it matter and what speaks to the consumer more than the other products. Seth Godin states in his blog, “If I’ve already purchased and liked your product, the packaging isn’t nearly as important. I’m talking here about packaging as a sales tool for converting browsers into buyers. (If you’re already a buyer, all I need to do is remind you what we look like). If word of mouth or other factors are at work, your package matters a lot less. But for a company this size, in this market, the package matters a lot.” For this discussion’s purpose, the packaging would be the differentiating factor between brands.

There are so many car brands and so many athletes. To stay at the top of the popularity pole, these brands must be able to maintain their specific brand image that differentiates them from all the others that are in the same market.

In both Toyota and Tiger’s case, they must win back their audience’s trust through a slow process of rebuilding their characters. I say slow process because trust is not something that is just regained with the snap of the fingers, but the timeliness of acting upon the crisis and communicating to the consumers that you made a mistake and are working to fix it is a major factor in reclaiming their hearts. Toyota is in a big hole right now because they failed to address their problems when they were first recognized by the consumers. Now Because if what is being marketed isn’t being practiced, all hopes of retaining consumer interest and loyalty will be thrown in the dust.

Check out the actual article here: LA Times “Tiger and Toyota: rebuilding the brands”
Photo credit: Photobucket

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