A complete review of the 2006 brand crisis

Brand name, brand crisis triggers, brand crisis statements, brand management loopholes, notes

1. Chivas Regal was suspected of consumer fraud on January 20. "International Finance News" revealed that Chivas Regal, a well-known foreign wine brand that sells 12-year-old wine, is mostly blended with wines of different years such as 2-year-old and 4-year-old. Chivas Regal, which sells for nearly 300 yuan, costs only 25 yuan. In the face of doubts, a "statement" from the Scotch Whiskey Association was produced to prove Chivas Regal's innocence. However, this "statement" without any signature or seal was soon discovered to only explain the strict regulations on whiskey brewing by the British government and the European Union. , does not ensure that Chivas Regal is not fraudulent. The first thing that needs to be considered here is whether these blended wines are produced by the company itself? If so, then the company's making irrelevant statements to clarify itself is an act of deception and discrediting its own brand; but if these blended wines are produced by other fake manufacturers, does this reveal the company's incompetence in quality? Are there no supervision responsibilities in management and external brand maintenance? How can companies that lack social responsibility better maintain their brands? In fact, brand management naturally includes market maintenance of the brand, and market maintenance naturally has two meanings, namely, positive protection of the product, and preventing others from infringing on one's brand

2. Jiangling lacks an emergency plan for the event. In early January, Jiangling Baodian Racing Team announced that it would withdraw from the Dakar Rally due to mechanical failure and insufficient preparation of spare parts. At this time, the rally that had just begun had not yet entered the arduous African schedule, and there were reports on TV about Jiangling Racing Team’s departure. Dakar's advertisements are still airing normally without any changes. Obviously, no matter how big a team or driver is, it is possible for the Dakar Devil's Journey to fail. It is very dangerous for any participating brand to fail to make adequate communication plans. Brand maintenance must be carried out at all times and everywhere. The purpose of participating in the competition was to better shape the high-end brand image. However, due to insufficient preparation, he withdrew from the competition at will, and his brand's advertising and communication did not stop. This gave him a problem. Consumers spread a false message. At the same time, it also reflects that the company has not formulated a corresponding exit channel for brand promotion during the brand maintenance process.

3. Fujifilm is suspected of smuggling and bribery. In early January, the "old news" of Fujifilm's suspicion of smuggling was once again heavily exposed by the media: Guangxi Superstar, who is the agent of Fujifilm in China, with the support of Fujifilm Japan's excess production capacity is transferred to the domestic market, and at the same time, there is a lot of tax evasion in the import process. Misfortunes never come singly. On January 14, a company that had a dispute with Fuji Xerox provided a video to the media, which recorded that during the judicial arbitration process in 2005, Fuji Xerox's legal counsel and attorney violated regulations with the arbitrator of the Tianjin Arbitration Commission. contact, suspected of judicial bribery. Legal awareness is also indispensable for the maintenance of corporate brands. Enterprises will engage in active illegal and passive illegal behaviors in the business process. The key problem of the former is the lack of brand strategic management ideas. Tax evasion for short-term benefits will harm its long-term interests. ; The problem with the latter is a lack of understanding of local laws and regulations.

4. Hainan Airlines refused to carry a girl who was disabled. In February, Hainan Airlines launched an action against the incident of refusing to carry Xiaoqing, a girl with an injured right foot. Relevant personnel brought 2,000 yuan in condolence money and four inspirational books to the hospital to visit Xiaoqing, who was forced to have her leg amputated due to the delay in treatment due to refusal of transportation. They made a public statement on the matter for the first time. HNA believed that Xiaoqing was a "stretcher patient" at that time and was subject to the aircraft model. It cannot be carried due to restrictions such as safety and passenger regulations, and HNA will not be held responsible. The victim's lawyer stated that the doctor accompanying the scene made it clear that the girl did not need to use a stretcher, and the crew members did not ask the company to make arrangements, but flatly killed the girl's hope of saving her right leg. The service concept of a service company should be "people-oriented". However, HNA's refusal to carry a disabled girl is a great irony of the "people-oriented" concept! The service brand is the core value of the service enterprise brand, and it should be the best way to promote the enterprise brand. However, HNA did not realize the importance of the service brand, or even if it took some measures to reassure others in subsequent reports , but this is also a "repair", it is too late! HNA’s behavior violated the tenets of the service industry.

Some people may think that this is all the fault of monopoly and state-owned property rights, but it is undeniable that there are also major loopholes in the service brand management it claims

5. Disney refuses customers during the New Year On Thursday (February 1), hundreds of ticket-holding tourists were turned away from Hong Kong Disneyland on the grounds that the number of tourists had exceeded the park’s capacity. Tourists ranging from disappointed and angry to losing their temper argued with staff, and some even Climbing the iron gate with bare hands to enter the park, related news and pictures were widely disseminated by many media. That night, Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Financial Secretary Tang Ying-nien personally called the park's senior management to request that a similar situation not happen again. However, the next day there was still a chaotic scene of rejecting guests at Disney. In the following three days, Hong Kong Disneyland Vice President An Mingzhi held three consecutive press conferences to apologize. Disney's behavior of rejecting customers has greatly compromised its global brand image, thus causing major obstacles to the maintenance of its brand. This also highlights the huge loopholes in brand management on another level. Why does the number of tourists exceed the capacity of the amusement park and there is no other better solution? In brand management, enterprises should have different measures for peak and off-season tourism, which means that they have not established a complete emergency plan. Customers are always God. If there are too many customers, Disney should have corresponding emergency plans to avoid damaging the brand.

6. Lifan test accident Just after the Spring Festival, Lifan Group began to make every effort to refute the rumors about the "rollover door" incident that was exposed before the holiday. It issued the accident report of the traffic control department and the hospital diagnosis report to the media at that time to prove it. Rollovers during new car testing were caused by improper driving; in addition, the test drivers had less than one year of driving licenses (test drivers are required to have more than 3 to 5 years of full-time driving experience). Lifan said that the new car's excellent safety protection measures allowed the driver to suffer only minor scratches after the car rolled over. At the same time, an online article quickly circulated, saying that the rollover accident caused the vehicle to be crushed into a "persimmon cake", and was supplemented by multiple pictures. First of all, under China's national conditions, Lifan is very likely to make any quality report, accident, and hospital diagnosis report they want. But our point of view is that if the information provided by it is true, then there are loopholes in its brand management, and there are also major loopholes in personnel management. How could it choose a test driver whose driving license is less than one year old? If the information provided in the report is false, it will reflect the loopholes in the company's quality management, and the company will find excuses to cover up the facts after the incident.

7. McDonald’s food safety issues continue. In early February, in the face of advanced testing methods, McDonald’s in the United States was forced to admit that the content of health-threatening trans fatty acids in its French fries was 30% higher than previously announced data. , but its Chinese company claimed that the olive oil used to cook French fries in China was olive oil that does not produce the substance; the next day the olive oil was corrected to palm oil because of a hasty translation error by the public relations company, but some experts pointed out that palm oil Trans fatty acids are also produced during oil processing. Subsequently, McDonald's admitted in the United States that its fries contained potential allergens such as wheat and dairy products, while its Chinese company once again argued that domestic fries had different ingredients from those in the United States and did not contain allergenic substances. Why does McDonald's still have safety issues after being complained about food safety issues many times in China? Why is there a reasonable excuse every time? Quality issues are the most basic factor in corporate brand maintenance. No matter how good a company is, its brand will deteriorate due to repeated "exposure" and "defense"! McDonald's problem is a true demonstration of this phenomenon. Its brand management department lacks a management mechanism to "responsible to consumers" and "turn the brand crisis into safety".

8. Sony has another "problem color TV". In February, Sony's China website announced that five models of its high-end color TVs had software problems, causing them to fail to shut down normally during use or fail to turn on in standby mode. , which can be temporarily solved by unplugging the power plug and plugging it in again after 20 seconds. Sony will provide users with free door-to-door software upgrade services. The number of products involved in this incident is 17,000 units. Public opinion generally believes that Sony should announce it in a wider range of media, not just on its own corporate website. It can be said that Sony is also a good global brand. Technical problems are loopholes in brand quality management. It can publicly apologize to consumers and take corresponding compensation measures. This can at least make consumers realize that companies have the courage to take product responsibility and can turn danger into safety.

However, it is because of the short-sighted behavior of its brand management department that only a brief report on the company's website made consumers doubt its corporate responsibility, which further damaged the company's brand image.

9. Oudian fabricated the brand’s foreign origin. At this year’s CCTV “March 15” party, Oudian, which claimed to be “founded in Germany in 1903,” was found to be an authentic Beijing company. Its so-called The German headquarters and European R&D center do not exist at all. This company, which was established only a few years ago, has transformed into a "European century-old classic" with its exquisite packaging and false propaganda. On March 16, Oudi Flooring issued a public statement. While apologizing to consumers, it refused to admit that it had committed fraud. It only excused its publicity errors by stating that its trademarks had been registered in many countries and that some of its products were indeed imported from Germany. This is a typical brand's despicable behavior of "substituting one thing for another". Its true behavior is to mislead consumers and create false propaganda. This reflects that he did not conscientiously abide by the prohibitions on corporate advertising and is a serious management flaw in his brand planning process. Don’t naively think that consumers are fools. Only by treating consumers sincerely can there be a real market

10. Yageshidan and other products endanger the health of clothing. On March 26, CCTV’s “Weekly Quality Report” 》Exposed a number of clothing brands with quality problems and health hazards, including the famous international brands such as Dupont, Yageshidan, and BOSS. Among them, Yageshidan men's pants will seriously fade when rubbed with white cloth, while clothing from other brands There are also problems such as pH value, color fastness and other safety indicators that do not meet the national mandatory standards. Experts point out that such substandard products will destroy the body's balance mechanism and cause irritant dermatitis and contact dermatitis. If not handled properly, they may also cause bacterial infection. What is even more surprising is that in this special quality inspection organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Industry and Commerce Department, 59.5% of genuine international famous brand clothing failed to pass the test. Similar reports are frequently published in newspapers, and the most mentioned one is: These corporate brands exercise different national discrimination in the world. There will be no quality problems in foreign countries, but in China they will be full of loopholes in quality. This is a problem. A serious brand promotion management loophole. At the same time, it also wakes up the alarm for Chinese consumers from another level: foreign brands are not really good brands! These so-called international brands have also suffered a serious brand crisis.