The Hawthorne Effect

TRANSCRIPT–

WILLARD: Only 15 billion bucks. All right guys, can the power of social media change the world? Toyota would probably tell you it already has. The company is trying so hard to keep its stories about recalls and other problems under tight control. However, the Internet was abuzz with people tweeting, re-tweeting and Rebecca re-tweeting about Toyota’s problems.

So what can a company do when the information they want controlled is out of control through the people in the media outlets that they truly have no control of? Work with me, guys. Bill Evans is from Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations and is the senior VP of their Digital Strategy Division. I call it “revolutionomics”. Whether we’re protesting the Chavez in Venezuela or we’re being angry about Toyota trying to hide problems they can’t stop the revolution.

BILL EVANS, FLEISHMAN-HILLARD SVP, DIGITAL STRATEGY: That’s right, Cody. We’re talking about moms in minivans and cars and safety, I mean they strike very much at the core of what people value. And so I think what Toyota is learning almost the hard way is that people are going to come together, they’re going to share their experiences. They’re going to make purchasing decisions based very much on what they hear and what they feel and Toyota is really at a crisis at this point.

BOLLING: But this is the way of the future. I mean the information is out there now, whether it’s politics or business, Toyota recalls anything –

EVANS: Yes.

BOLLING: The social media has really brought information to everyone, right?

EVANS: Yes. I don’t think it is about necessarily bringing information to everyone. I think it is empowering people to bring information to each other, so the era of advertising really defining what a brand is or what a message is, is over. So you’re going to have a story that you want to tell, FOX is going to have a story it’s going to tell.

Toyota is going to have a story it’s going to tell. But people are going to come together and sort of measure the credibility about that and what they feel and align themselves to people that are alike themselves as well. And the Internet is really giving us a visibility into that we never had before.

DIAMOND: And so how does the company then — you’re a public relations expert.

EVANS: Yes.

DIAMOND: How does the company then contain this balloon that’s out there that’s just growing –

EVANS: Sure.

DIAMOND: — getting, you know, bigger and bigger until it pops with social media? They have basically no control over it.

EVANS: I think the — the way we counsel clients at Fleishman (ph) it’s not about controlling the story. It is about establishing credibility. I mean Toyota is learning that trust is a global commodity and it’s really not about controlling the spin anymore. I think people want them to come out, own the story on the situation. What did you know, when did you know it, be very transparent and tell us how they’re going to fix the problem. I think that will go a long way to establishing or re- establishing their reputation as a very trusted brand.

WILLARD: So it ends up being — it’s something we talk about on the show all the time. If America would focus on quality and not propaganda –

EVANS: That’s right.

WILLARD: — perhaps American companies would once again prosper.

EVANS: That’s correct. And I think you know Toyota could take a page from Ford back a number of years ago when they were having some issues. President of the company, Bill Ford, came out, took ownership of the problems, said here is what my plan is to fix this and this was before social media really became a prevalent channel.

I think Toyota if they were going to put a plan forward to the American people and people at large, say here’s how we’re moving forward. Start to show some of the stories of how people are engaging in success, what’s it’s been, how people are getting their cars fixed and really getting back to some core fundamental values and establishing trust that will go a long way.

BOLLING: Do they get it now? I mean you look at Toyota, OK, so they dropped the ball. They probably thought they were you know too big to fail.

EVANS: Yes.

BOLLING: Tiger Woods, it’s the same thing –

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: Am I — it’s the same — it’s a good theory, right?

EVANS: Same theory. I think the idea that they’re somehow tone deaf to the opinion against them is the lesson here. I don’t know that they still quite got it. The fact that (INAUDIBLE) allegedly they knew about this problem for quite some time exacerbates that they didn’t have a plan ready to go and engage in people and really tell their story. I think Tiger Woods is a great example. He tried to shut the story down, control it, hope that it would go away. It actually just fueled the fire.

DIAMOND: Or maybe, on the same lines, Eric, that they were just too confident. They were too — like Tiger said, he thought was too good, he was entitled, and he — you know, the same with Toyota. They’re number one. They’re growing. They’re, you know — they’re Teflon.

EVANS: That’s right.

DIAMOND: But you know, they didn’t realize that, hey, you can be taken down, as well.

EVANS: Yes. And I think, again, the lesson here is not to be tone deaf. I mean, if you look at conversations, how people talk about your brand, your reputation of your brand, that’s much more valuable than your Q score with an ad campaign. So I think Toyota needs to really start to measure value of how their consumers perceive them, as opposed to how things test in advertisements.

BOLLING: That’s Bill Evans. We’re going to have to leave it there. Very nice tie…

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: Nice tie.

DIAMOND: The power of Twitter!

BOLLING: All right, on tap, it’s the much anticipated return of the sizzlingest segment on TV, “Street Meat.” Back, baby. And in “The Diamond District,” President Obama looking to block health insurance companies from raising rates. Can his proposal work? Rebecca’s got the details when “Happy Hour” continues.

WILLARD: Are you guys on Twitter?