Toyota 2009-2010 Recall Case Study Crisis Communication
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“All 2011 Toyota models came standard with the Star Safety System.™ This integration of active safety features is designed to protect occupants by helping drivers avoid accidents in the first place. The Star Safety System has been developed to help you drive your vehicle with confidence, knowing that, when you need it most, the car’s safety systems can help you stay in control. Every time you climb into your vehicle, Toyota’s Star Safety System can help to keep you out of trouble, whether it’s a run to the corner store or a long road trip with friends or family (Toyota STAR).” An example of the campaigns television advertisements is a story of a mother who is watching her son play football discusses the technological advancements of Toyota’s vehicles. She then talks about the safety testing of their vehicles, sending a message to the target audience that safety is Toyota’s number one priority (Toyota Crisis Management Campaign, 2010). This advertisement targets middle class families who believe safety is the most important factor of a vehicle. Overseeing the campaign was Vice President of Marketing, Bill Fay, who understands what their publics what in a campaign. "We need to make an emotional connection with people who own or are considering our product. We need to address the concerns of the customer, based on what we've been through this year." Fay ran the safety campaign through 2011 and Toyota is still a brand that focuses on safety. "This is not a short-term thing where we run an execution or two," Mr. Fay said. "We still have QDR. We just have to assure customers that's the case (Retchin, 2010)." The other campaign Toyota used was the “Commitment Campaign”. These advertisements highlight the history of Toyota in America over 50 years. It states that their top priory has always been safety, reliability and high quality since their early years in America and is accretive of the fact that they have not been living up to this reputation through the recent events. This campaign shows Toyota accepting responsibility for the problem with their vehicles and that they have fixed these problems. They used television ads and also print which were published in newspapers, magazines and online (See Appendix 2). The ads were in black and white and showed photos of old Toyota dealerships, workers and customers in hopes to restore their customer’s faith in the company (Toyota Crisis Management Campaign, 2010). Toyota used these prints to show their clientele that they are a historically reliable company and have been for many years. They want to show that although they are having a problem they have had many good years of safe products. Toyota also had many press releases that were updates regularly throughout the crisis. Rachel Knoespel of Marquette University studied these press releases and how Toyota responded to the incident. “I studied all of Toyota’s public press releases which were found on Toyota’s website, though a close textual analysis. This is where I discovered Toyota responded in three distinct phases during only two of the crisis life cycle stages, which were the current and critical stages. The themes that emerged were: Phase 1 where Toyota spoke as a united front and focused on its past performance; Phase 2 where Toyota finally provided a masked apology while also explaining its superior technology and exuding confidence; and Phase 3 where Toyota began to feel threatened and lashed back with a defensive response. I concluded by examining how the themes worked together. Using masked apology and confidence together seemed to reduce the strength of Toyota’s apology (Knoespel, 2011)”. Lastly, Toyota turned to social media to directly communicate with their customers. On February 8, 2010, President of Sales, Jim Lentz, responded to 10 questions out of 1,400 that were submitted using a Digg Dialog website. The questions and answers were compiled into print advertisements helped to improve customer communication (Christians, 2015). The ads were called “Consumer Questions” and are still posted on the Toyota website (See Appendix 3 & 4). 
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