This has not been a particularly good week for a couple of epic brands. First, Toyota not only issued a recall to fix sticky accelerator pedals in some of its models, it stopped selling those models in the United States. The company then extended the recall to China and Europe. Suddenly, the Toyota tagline has morphed from a promise to a threat: sure, your Toyota is all about “moving forward”—but that’s because the gas pedal is stuck and you are careening down the highway. In its race to become the biggest car company in the world, Toyota seems to have forgotten to be the best car company in the world. It’s nice to be big, but “big” is not the Toyota brand and “big” is not what Toyota customers want to buy.
Meanwhile, Apple Computer unveiled its new iPad to guffaws over the name, and grumbling that the allegedly revolutionary device is nothing more than oversized iPod Touch. For$499, the darn thing won’t let you do two things at once, and not only that, but Fujitsu already came out with a hand-held computing device called the iPad—eight years ago. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying the iPad is “the most important thing” he’s ever done. Considering Jobs’ “done” list includes the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone, assigning “most important” status to the iPad sounds like typical empty corporate hype.
Apple’s brand is built on unmatched creativity, design, and game-changing uses. Unfortunately, the iPad is a product with a recycled name and that doesn’t do anything really new. OK, it’s not as damaging as a faulty accelerator. The problem is, it’s not much of a positive either.
The experience of Toyota and Apple point out an important business lesson: no matter how big and successful you are, you can still screw up if you take your eyes off of protecting and enhancing your brand. One gets the sense Apple felt tremendous pressure to put out something—anything—that would continue its string of revolutionary devices. But just as “big” is not a compelling brand quality for Toyota, neither is “being on a schedule for product roll outs” a brand characteristic for Apple. Would it have killed them work another year and unveil a tablet device that might really live up to the Apple brand?
Your brand matters—it’s the prism through which your customers see you and judge you. As Toyota and Apple are learning, behaving in a way that contradicts your brand can lead to peril.
