In Chapter 11 of Measure What Matters, K. D. Paine discusses threats to your brands reputation and ways to measure a crisis. A huge part of building a healthy relationship with customers is trust. In November 2008, the Big 3 automotive manufacturers badly damaged their relationship with both the media and the public. The media slammed Big 3 auto executives for their poor management decisions after they arrived in private jets to ask Congress for a $25 billion bailout. It was later revealed that the Big 3 executives had also given themselves obscenely large bonuses just months prior. This led to a massive loss of public trust in the auto companies and made an already shaky situation even worse.  People were disgusted at the blatant misuse use of company resources, especially after months of employee lay-offs and threats to cut millions more. The media fueled criticism over the auto execs’ lack of judgement; some even called it a “slap in the face” to the American public. These actions violated public trust because they compromised the integrity of the company. What the auto execs did was not perceived as fair and just, and as a result, dissolved their customers’ trust. Nearly four years later, the Big 3 auto companies are still struggling to gain back trust from the American public. They are spending alot of effort and resources on marketing in order to boost sales. If the auto execs show better judgment in the future, they should be able to start building trust among customers again.

 

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