Like a lot of you, I have followed the Toyota story and all of its accompanying fallout. It reminds me of a situation that occurred back in the early 80's and this time it was Audi. They were trying to rectify a similar type problem. Lot of bad press. The story stayed alive for months. 60 minutes did a piece on it. It was as much in the news as the Toyota issue is today.
Wow did Audi survive! Today Audi is one of the hottest cars on the market today and nary a tweet of their past troubles. What does that have to do with Toyota? If you have a strong brand going into a crisis, there is a strong possibility that you will survive it. Both of these examples show the importance of a strong brand image. On the other hand, GM went into a storm with a badly damaged brand and even though their cars can now compete on quality, the stench of the past is still there.
If you have read this far, you are probably wondering about all this auto stuff and are probably wondering; what does it have to do with me? It is always about the brand. A brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product, service and yes even you. While many people refer to a brand as a logo, tag line or audio jingle, a brand is actually much larger. A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced.
