Johnson & Johnson wasn't guilty. So the Tylenol brand wasn't tarnished. Right?
Wrong. The company conducted public opinion surveys. More than 90 percent of the public knew that Johnson & Johnson wasn't to blame. Yet their market share dropped from 37 percent to just 6 percent.
Instead of ditching the damaged Tylenol brand name, they set out for a comeback campaign.
Recovery Step #1
Their first order of business was designing a tamper-resistant container. They were the first to get the new packaging on store shelves.
Recovery Step #2
Johnson & Johnson strongly endorsed federal legislation making tampering a felony. They also urged legislators to require tamper-proof packaging for a wide range of over-the-counter drugs.
Recovery Step #3
The company held a 30-city video teleconference from New York just six weeks after the cyanide deaths. The event was set up in just three weeks. A remarkable feat for such an absolute-has-to-run smoothly press conference.
Johnson & Johnson's CEO, at that time, spoke during the 90-minute teleconference as well as other company officials. They showed their new packaging and gave every reporter a sample of the new product. A perfect visual for nightly newscasts!
Recovery Step #4
To overcome the public's psychological fears of their product, the company made an irresistible offer. Former users were invited to call a toll-free number to request a free bottle in the new packaging. You didn't even have to prove that you had purchased a bottle previously.
Forget the fact that any Joe could lie and say he had to throw his bottle away when he actually hadn't purchased the product at all. Johnson & Johnson was more interested in getting back their old customers and gaining new ones. Cost didn't matter.
Recovery Step #5
The company ran ads in Sunday newspapers with a circulation of 40 million people. The headline read, "Thank You, America." You could clip the ad to receive a $2.50 discount on the purchase of any Tylenol product.
Recovery Step #6
Johnson & Johnson sent about 50 million capsules to physicians for free distribution. Patients receiving the samples felt assured that Tylenol was safe. Professionals having enough faith in the product to issue it to their own patients reinstated medical confidence behind the brand..
Recovery Step #7
They thanked the media. All too often, companies treat the media as the enemy. This only sparks curiosity and deeper probing by reporters and editors. They're only trying to uncover the true story. Is there a cover-up? What's the company really trying to hide? When a company acts suspicious that's when these questions suddenly sprout in a journalist's mind.
But Johnson & Johnson was different with the media. They actually used television and newspaper outlets to warn consumers about the recalled Tylenol.
And the media treated them fairly for it. Company officials were open and honest about why they wanted people to turn in their Tylenol.
At the video teleconference, the CEO thanked them for the fair coverage. Thanked them for reporting the news of the cyanide deaths so that consumers would be aware of the problem and not in the dark.
Because of Johnson & Johnson's open dealings with the media, reporters delivered the news on an even keel. No negative slants were injected into their stories.
Recovery Results
Because of Johnson & Johnson's comeback campaign, they recaptured 32 of their original 37 percent market just six months after the cyanide poisoning story broke. Competitors tried to capitalize on this tragedy but their best ad campaigns couldn't combat Tylenol's recovery steps.