Memo to Automakers Wagoner, Mulally & Nardelli: Fire Your PR People

Of all the arrogant, crazy, mixed-up things we've ever seen in public relations, I think the behavior of the Big 3 Big Kahunas takes the cake. You don't have to be a PR genius to see the ginormous mistakes these three fellas made. Shame on the PR people who let these guys make them.

Here's what happened: Three business leaders came to Washington looking for a $25 billion bailout because, according to them, the country would not survive if these three American automakers didn't get the money.

Here's what we in the American public saw: Three obscenely well-paid CEO's flying to Washington in their private jets to ask for taxpayer money to bailout companies that they had driven, (pardon the pun), into bankruptcy, if not obsolescence. They had no plan. They had no vision of how they were going to make changes and turn their companies around. They had no way to promise that this would not happen again. No, they just put a big ol' hand out for a big ol' handout. And used the same mantra of extortion that Wall Street used: If you don't bail us out, the economy will collapse and millions of people will lose their jobs.

Now I don't know if it's the right thing to bail out the auto industry or not. There are plenty of smart economic brains out there to debate that concept, and I'm not one of them. But I do know Public Relations, and something this big needs the American public behind it, especially after we just spent $700 billion bailing Wall Street out and pretty much have seen no results from that. How these three CEO's have acted is a classic teachable moment. They've practically written the curriculum for the class on how to alienate the American public by their actions.

Here's what I would have told these guys if they had been my clients:

1. You Don't Fly Anywhere in Private Jets

Okay, look -- If you're trying to tell us that you just need taxpayer money to bridge the gap, and that you are actively working on digging the car companies out of the hole they are in, they you have to start the cutbacks with you. How can we possibly believe that you know how to streamline and cost-cut if you can't even see your own extravagance?

Rick Newman from US News and World Report puts it this way: "If you're asking for the people's money, you should be using the people's transportation."

According to Brian Ross and Joseph Rhee from ABC news, "Wagoner's private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class."

Doesn't matter what your reasons are for taking a private plane, no reason makes sense from a PR standpoint. Fire the consultant who didn't stop you from getting on that plane.

2. You Give Back Your Salary

You cannot tell me that the $25-$28 million a year that you each have been getting in pay and perks over the last few years is not enough to sustain you for the period of time it will take to turn these companies around. If you are really serious about making changes and effecting cutbacks, again, start with yourself. You say that a turn-around will be painful in these economic times, then be the first one in line to take some of the pain. It is obscene for you to come to Washington asking for taxpayer money when your paycheck is so high.

Our perception? If you were so good at what you did that you deserved $25M/year, then you wouldn't be in Washington asking for a handout. Fire the consultant who didn't advise you to stop taking a paycheck.

3. You Gather Up All the Leaders of Industry and Ask for Their Advice

Your company is in trouble. We want to know that you have exhausted all your possible resources before you come to the American taxpayer for a loan. Have you? We see no proof of that. We see business as usual and the same mismanagement that has gone on for years, if not decades. So call up all the smartest guys and gals you know and ask them for their advice. And then tell us you have done that so we have some security in knowing that the smartest brains around helped you come up with a plan.

Oh crap. A Plan! Which brings me to my next point.

4. You Come with a Plan for How the Bailout Will Allow You to Turn the Company Around.

Okay, this is where you need to fire not only your PR people, but your entire financial and operations management team. Who goes to the bank to ask for a loan without a business and marketing plan? You should have slid under the hearings table when the committee asked how you planned to turn the company around and what your plans were for the money.

This kinda goes back to point number two -- what are you doing for that $25M/year? You don't know that you need a plan? Or you are just too arrogant to think you need to share it with the people who are loaning you the money?

See, this point alone is why your PR people should be fired post-haste. You don't even have to be in public relations to see the problem of not having a plan. One of the HuffPo readers said it nicely in a comment to another post. JScott wrote: "Do you even know how to put together a PowerPoint presentation... I mean really -- I just went to the LA Auto Show and their full legion of new car puffery was there. If they [had] spent [at] least as much time on a decent presentation to Congress they just might have had the check in hand by now."

Fire the entire PR firm that let you walk into that hearings room without a well-articulated plan on what you will do to turn the company around, and how the taxpayer money will help make that happen.

Now, there are plenty of other things you three guys could do to win over our confidence and get us on your side to back a bailout plan. But these first mistakes are so significant, it will be extremely difficult to win us over, if you can at all.

So fellas, here's your first move: Fire the PR people. And feel free to email me for more ideas. Heck, in the spirit of showing you guys how it's done, I'll even consult for free. But only after you stop taking a paycheck.

To make it easier on the Big 3 Big Kahunas, Pam Atherton can be reached at Pam @ ACloserLookRadio.com

Read More:
Should the Government Bail Out the Big Three U.S. Automakers? HuffPost Bloggers Weigh In

Comments

[johncando]

No No No let them go to Canada and make them suffer no bail out and America wins all the car manufactures would be forign and all imported .Hows that the UAW members could go too and this would save the cost of health care

[beverlynoelle]

Sure, there may be corporate policies that require the CEOs to take private jets...does that make it right? No. It's policies like that that put the car companies in trouble! If they spend more than $20,000 on ONE roundtrip flight, imagine how much they're spending on other "ordinary" business expenses!

Pam is right when she says that at the very least, these CEOs could APPEAR to be more conscientious. So much of what big corporations do seems distasteful to the public, and their PR people should recognize that. Private jets are simply in bad taste, considering that many Americans can't even afford coach airfare to see their family this holiday season due to the current economic situation. So why would everyday Americans want their tax dollars given to companies who can afford private jets while supposedly on the brink of financial crisis? It's just ridiculous.

[Motherunit]

My sister & I just had a conversation about this exact topic earlier this evening. We don't really expect the CEOs to be all that bright, but where was their bench? The bean counters should have supplied them with numbers - how much they needed, how they would put it to best use, how they planned to pay it back. The sales people should have coached them on how to make a presentation. The R&D team needed to supply them with some kind of plan for the future of American automobiles. The private jets were the worst possible PR, no matter what their reasons for using them.

I hope the stockholders are taking a long, hard look at these guys and wondering just what they do to earn their huge salaries. They looked pretty useless to me.

[kimp]

You know I just can't find the words to describe my feelings on this. To just ask for more money with no plan formulated. I believe it's time the old guard moved out and some fresh blood is brought in to make some fundamental changes......

[AZdesertdog]

Pam,

your plane argument might hold some water if you knew what you were talking about. in case you weren't aware, all the Big 3's insurers FORBID the head executives from flying on commercial jets. this is far from exclusive to the auto industry; thousands of other corporations throughout the world have the same stipulation. even Brian Williams discussed it at great length on the NBC Nightly News last week.

this argument you present is about as stupid as the Republicans even remotely suggesting that President-elect Obama "should have flown commercial" to see his ailing grandmother in Hawaii.

I'm sure the next argument would be for the CEO's to fly together. I have one thing to say: 1979. remember the DC-10 crash upon takeoff in Chicago? it wiped out the entire board of directors from Playboy Magazine. now, let's stick all three auto CEO's on ONE plane, and triple the risk. this would certainly be an actuary's nightmare, wouldn't it? after the 1979 crash, thousands of corporations forbid more than two executives from the same company per plane, whether flying commercial or private jets for this very reason.

it's absolutely amazing to me that we waste so much time on semantics, instead of dealing with the issue at hand. a little fact checking might avoid these situations, instead of jumping on the ignorance bandwagon. I learned a long time ago that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily live the same way I do.

[Ladyvoice]

AZdesertdog,
Many times it's the appearance of something that is more significant that the actual action itself. The fact that the story of the three private planes was so ubiquitous tells us that people were very irate at the IDEA of these three coming to Washington for the taxpayers money in corporate jets.

Imagine how much more effective these guys would have been if they had driven one of their green vehicles, or one of their fuel efficiency models, to the hearings. There are a number of creative ways that these guys could have come to Washington without the visual opulence of the private plane. It's one of the reasons that many presidential candidates choose to use a bus to travel around the states.

Getting the money would certainly be easier if the American public were behind these guys. And even some of the committee members could not contain their disdain. Sometimes you have to suspend the rules when things are that desperate. And asking for $25B in taxpayers money because you'll go under if you don't get it... that sounds desperate to me. A little awareness on their part of how they are being perceived would not be amiss.

[ObamaSheeple]

Great post. You are absolutely correct.

[BobinPgh]

It would help if they all, especially Nardelli, would smile more, but I guess these are not friendly men.

[JoeTheAutoworker]

Stop with the plane nonsense! If the Big 3 ceos can not fly in their cushy jets then neither can AIG, Citi Group and all the recent BAILED-OUT bank ceos!

And dont forget our senators and congressmen. Speaking of congress, What about Nancy Pelosi and her begging for a 'BIGGER' plane !?? ... HOW SOON WE FORGET. (or just don't pay attention)

read it >>> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/nancy-pelosi-wants-big-jet-pentagon-makes-counter-offer.html

GET THE FACTS ... www.JoeTheAutoworker.com

Joe the autoworker

[NFS]

Pam, as a PR consultant/journalist, I absolutely, positively agree with you!!! What were they thinking!