Updates about the massive Toyota recall are coming out daily, sometimes hourly. There are more recalls and more concerns from drivers—a public relations nightmare of the worst kind. Not only are huge dollar amounts and a company's reputation at stake, but potentially people's lives.

Yesterday a statement in the media by Chris Gidez, director of risk management and crisis communications at Hill & Knowlton, a public relations firm, got my attention. He made this point: “Today companies have to be Johnny-on-the spot as soon as something hits,” he said. “We live in a Facebook world and you have to move fast to keep consumers informed.”

I contacted Mr. Gidez for an interview and posted a story on our Web site today at http://property-casualty.com. He made some good observations comparing the two cases.

In today's world, for example, the Tylenol case, for years seen as the “gold standard” in risk management, might not fare as well. Tylenol waited about a week before recalling product from store shelves. In today's world of blogs and Internet news sites—which means reporters often are churning out news 24/7—a week is an eternity. Organizations need to have a plan of action in place well in advance, detailing who is a spokesperson and the types of things that need to be said.

He observed that in our digital world, where even deleted e-mails can be resurrected, anything that went on within the Tylenol organization before the recall would have been discovered and most likely leaked.

While it appeared initially that Toyota has done a good job of responding, the auto giant is now coming under fire for not coming forward soon enough with potentially damaging information.

To make things worse, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood caused a stir on Wednesday when he advised that a Toyota car owner “stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it.” He later recanted the statement after Toyota shares began to drop, modifying it to, “if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it.”

In the digital age, Mr. Gidez said, companies need to keep in mind that not only does word travel fast because of technology that didn't exist years ago, but that details will be leaked, pundits will discuss every aspect of a situation, every crumb of information will be blasted over the Internet and blogs will be written.

We live in the “Google Age,” he said.

While the company will survive, what lies ahead are years of court cases and class action lawsuits and a “new normal,” for Toyota, Mr. Gidez observed.

Special Reports /

Google Age Separates Toyota, Tylenol Recalls

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