Prodmares could lead to massive product recalls and even more painful, the fall of the brand.

For any company, they are the equivalent of the fires of hell. Learning to handle prodmares is an essential capability, but one that very few marketers have either understood or developed.

Major examples
Consider a few prodmares, which are very familiar to all of us. A few weeks ago, Nokia recalled a specific type of batteries used in its cellphones. Apparently, these Matsushita-made batteries are defective and run the risk of overheating.

Naturally, thousands of Indian consumers lined up outside Nokia stores for replacements. The media was also happy to flash the overheating story over a few days.

All of us recall Pepsi and Coke battling the pesticide prodmare from the lab test results of an Non Government Organisation. The issue surfaced in 2003, and resurfaced in 2006.

Both cola majors initially adopted an ostrich approach, and when they responded it was perhaps too little and too late. The Indian cola drinks market has never been the same again — sluggish growth, declining brand fortunes and a shaken consumer trust, which may never return.

Remember Cadburys’ nightmare with its worm-infestation prodmare? Even as it faced plummeting sales of chocolates, it accepted the problem without demur. Within a few months, it introduced new tamper-proof packaging (perhaps the most over-engineered packaging for chocolates worldwide!) and implemented a nationwide project called Vishwas to help retailers pay attention to storage of chocolates.

Less known are infamous prodmares from around the globe. Take the example of Kryptonite, America’s best-known bicycle lock. Kryptonite’s prodmare in 2004 was sparked off by enterprising bloggers, who figured out how to pick the famous locks using a simple ballpoint pen. The story spread like wildfire across the internet. Caught unaware, Kryptonite lost prospective customers and the brand was virtually brain-dead.

Clearly, a brand built with loving care over decades can be destroyed in a single prodmare, if the episode is poorly handled. In today’s web-and-cable enabled age, the speed of destruction can be virtually instantaneous.
On the other hand, the brand can indeed emerge stronger from the chaos, if a good prodmare plan is followed. Here are “must-do” steps that marketers must keep in mind while handling a podmare.

Accept the prodmare, which may or may not be of the marketers’ own creation. If consumers perceive there is a problem, there always is, so don’t deny it. Perception is the truth, and if you bury your head in the sand, the problem does not go away — it only returns to haunt you. 

 Act proactively if you know there is a prodmare at hand, rather than waiting for the issue to ripen. Black & Decker recalled 4,20,000 of its coffee makers voluntarily last year as soon as it had spotted a problem with these machines.

In addition, the company simultaneously urged all consumers to stop using the product immediately, even if it caused them great short-term inconvenience. The company’s approach has generated significant consumer goodwill.

Decide carefully on the scale of the response — will it be free repairs, or selective recall of products, or absolutely total recall of products? A fast but well-considered response is essential. A cola company, faced with several school children taking ill in Europe after drinking its cola, recalled and destroyed 17 million cases from five countries immediately. Consumers were convinced of the company’s intentions.

Communicating with speed is the key in any prodmare. The company has to ensure that official information is available to all stakeholders—consumers, vendors, shareholders, employees, business partners—immediately. Communicate, communicate, communicate. In a world of instant media, prodmare news can spread like wildfire, and if the company’s point of view is missing, consumers will draw their own interpretations.

Cover all bases in the digital world as well. Most companies are familiar with the conventional world of newspapers, radio and television, but have little idea of what can go right or wrong on the internet. For instance, a company facing a prodmare has to immediately ensure that all searches on the topic are routed to the official press release and official statements online. It can do so by ensuring that its press release and statements are search engine optimised, and that direct-to-consumer content pages are created immediately.

Create simple and easy points of access for consumers. This could be a toll free help-line number, an easy-to-use website, personal contact points in key markets, even messaging response stations for access through mobile phones. Nokia appears to have done all this and more, which should help it steer through the current battery recall prodmare pretty well. Ensure personal involvement of the top management in handling the prodmare. If you are sure the product is safe to use, nothing works better than the CEO himself using the product and beaming with confidence, as visibly as possible.

We have all seen images of the British Prime Minister eating and relishing English beef, to signal all was well in the midst of the mad cow controversy. And if there is indeed a problem, the CEO should face the hostile questions, because nothing reassures consumers and media personnel more than knowing that the top brass of the company has recognised the issue and put sound measures in place to tackle the problem.

After a prodmare, the brand has to reconnect to consumers’ hearts. A prodmare depletes the emotional bank balance, which a brand has built with consumers over time, even if the rational questions have all been answered. The bank balance has to be replenished. Most often, this requires the brand to return, with even greater urgency, to its core proposition, the heart of its appeal, which makes it tick with consumers.

“When you connect a brand to people’s hearts after a failure, you have a right to be forgiven, and to be loved all over again,” says a well known Indian Adman. And indeed, brands as different as Sony, English Beef and Cadbury have found that this is the truth.

But this is possible only after they have first handled the prodmare with fairness, honesty and responsibility that consumers and all other stakeholders expect from every organisation today.

The writer is the Chief Operating Officer - Watches of Titan Industries Limited. He can be reached on harish@titan.co.in