Publications
Partners
IT HAS been the most unbelievable of things to watch a major brand, one that comes from the land of militant and litigious consumers, behaving as if it didn’t care what the world thought of it and as if there were no consequences for negligent reputation management.
The Ford Motor Company is an old, well established brand founded by Henry Ford, who incorporated it in June 1903; that is one hundred and fourteen years ago!
It’s a brand that has seen and survived the test of time, reinventing itself several times over the decades to reach new markets as it sought to spread its footprint all over the globe, responding to evolving consumer preferences.
Following ever developing market trends, it has built motor vehicles of all sizes to meet the needs of households, small and big businesses, governments and light and heavy industries. In more recent years, it has seen and embraced the need to enter the growing global sports utility vehicle (SUV) niche to compete with other automakers.
Ford SA loses the plot
Ford South Africa lost the plot right after the tragic death of Reshall Jimmy in December 2015, after his Ford Kuga caught fire near Wilderness in the Western Cape, where he had been holidaying.
Instead of reaching out to Jimmy’s family and demonstrating empathy, as any caring brand would, the US car maker sought to distance itself from the no-accident induced loss of life in one of its cars. Instead, seemingly desperate to hold on to what could probably have amounted to a few hundred thousand rands in compensation to the aggrieved family, Ford denied any link between Jimmy’s death and technical problems even before sufficient evidence was collected.
Reportedly, the car maker wasted no time before pointing fingers at others, notably Jimmy’s family, for withholding evidence from it. Almost 40 Ford Kugas have mysteriously caught fire while being driven since that tragic event in Wilderness, placing the lives of many drivers in jeopardy and inconveniencing the livelihood of many South Africans.
Whatever reputation Ford enjoyed just over two years ago is now on its knees.
Instead of acknowledging that there was something terribly wrong with their cars, even when the number of mysterious fires grew over the months, Ford’s management in South Africa chose to remain cold and unconcerned. Seemingly under pressure, it issued a feeble media statement in December 2016, more than a year after that first reported incident in Wilderness.
The statement was not only described as being devoid of sympathy; it was seen by many observers as another attempt at clumsy defensiveness. Indications are that instead of appealing to the heart, Ford management opted to take advice from lawyers and insurers concerned only with avoiding pay-outs.
This is typical of crisis management situations where reputation managers are left out of the loop.
Self-activation on social media
Despite the tragic loss of life and property, there was no way that #FordKugaGate would escape the social media onslaught. Conversations proliferated like wildfire, with some people using names such as “hot cougar” to describe the unpredictable SUV. Below are some of the recent social media comments:
- A guy buys his new wife a Ford Kuga 1.6 2014 model and a Samsung Galaxy S7; what are his intentions?
Other commentators had the following to say:
- It appears that Ford was instructed to do this (announce a recall) by the National Consumer Commission.
- Gia Nicolaides, EWN
- It was frustrating, because Ford dodged a lot of the questions asked of them.
- Wendy Knowler
- Resale values are down – what is Ford going to do about that? The press conference raised more questions than it answered.
- Wendy Knowler
- Dealers on the ground appear to not have known.
- Wendy Knowler
The National Consumer Commission drags its feet
While most media reports place the National Consumer Commission (NCC) in a good light, in truth it also waited a long time before taking decisive action. Interviewed on CapeTalk on Tuesday morning (January 17 2017), Consumer commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed told Kieno Kammies that he learned about the severity of the matter after his return from his December holidays, last Wednesday, before calling for an urgent meeting with Ford South Africa management on Friday.
Surely, assuming that the NCC had been aware of the problem all along, the commissioner should either have been concerned by and monitored the development even while on holiday – directly or through regular briefs by his office – or cut his holidays short to protect consumers, as this qualifies as a crisis?
He would not have gotten off so lightly had he occupied the same position in a country like America, or anywhere in Europe.
As for Ford South Africa CEO Jeff Nemeth, he needs to start working on a good plan to claw back and regain the confidence of this country’s car market. There is no shortage of competitive brands out there!
* Solly Moeng is brand reputation management adviser and CEO of strategic corporate communications consultancy DonValley. Views expressed are his own.
