Imagine this: a team of men with sledge hammers start deliberately smashing an expensive car to pieces, in front of admiring spectators. What’s going on? Now read on…
Customers are finding new ways to express their pleasure (or dissatisfaction) with their suppliers, and can help build or wreak havoc with your company’s brand image. The new social media provides plenty of scope for anyone to express their views, and these can be heard and seen all round the world.
Take, as an example, the frustration evident from a new car owner who has had problems that have remained unresolved - and the supply chain, reportedly, seemed unmoved about resolving them.
And this is felt even more strongly when you are talking about a very expensive auto.
You have probably never heard of Mr Han of Qingdao city in China’s Shandong province. He is one of the new Chinese millionaires and took dramatic action about a faulty car. The car was only six months old but had had a string of problems from shortly after delivery. It is reported that it failed to start and went to the supplying garage to be fixed. Not only was it not fixed, but the car was damaged in the process.
Mr Han has attempted to get the issue resolved locally, then at the China HQ, then at the Asia-Pacific regional level and then even back to Volkswagen who are Lamborghini’s owners. Yes, this was a really expensive car. A Lamborghini Gallardo running out at something over $500,000 after taxes in China.
After all his efforts have failed he has turned the event into a PR disaster for Lamborghini. He had the car destroyed by a number of workmen in blue overalls and has posted the story and pictures on the Internet.
MSN link - http://on-msn.com/gUQ0sS
YouTube video link - http://bit.ly/on-Utube
The days when companies controlled their brand are over. But we are now in a new age, one where control of the brand is being wrested from the company by its customers.
How do you make sure this does not happen to you?
The best way to find out is to ask the customers. Not with simple attitude surveys - of which hundreds abound. These are valuable, but much more suited to evaluation of specific products or campaigns.
No, the real measure that affects the brand in the long term is the degree of engagement it generates with its most valuable customers. Find those customers and ask the right question in a well structured way to determine the degree of Customer Engagement you have and you can then, from additional questions arising from the survey, build a better brand with stronger engagement. And you can measure the trends over time as you build the new future for your business.
That’s how you can ensure your business does not get unpleasantly plastered virally over the Internet.
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