Posted on Oct 22, 2012

Marketing the Value of Meticulousness

There’s an old saying in marketing: price, speed, or quality – pick any two.

If a key brand attribute includes quality, then customers should expect to pay more and/or wait longer to get it.

Many companies openly state that quality is one of their core values:

The Coca-Cola Company states: “Quality: What we do, we do well.”
The Detroit Medical Center states it will be known for “quality, cost-effective care.”
The AGCO Corporation states a business value of “#1 in customer perceived quality.”

Quality can mean different things to different people. But to be truly focused on creating a quality product or providing a top-rated experience, an organization must embrace the value of meticulousness.

The Value of Meticulousness

As a differentiating value, Meticulousness means extreme care, precision, and attention to detail.

This value is often best associated with luxury products, such as Bentley cars, Rolex watches, and Montblanc pens. But it can also captivate the top end of various categories across the broader market.

Is there a benchmark for measuring meticulousness?

When it comes to evaluating care and quality, it’s completely subjective. The only way to know is by comparing competitive products or brands.

For example, which of the following is perceived to be of higher quality?

Apple iPad or Viewsonic GTablet?
Calvin Klein or Levis?
Neiman Marcus or Target?
Virgin or JetBlue?
Ducati or Kawasaki?

Generally, the higher-priced item or service is perceived as having higher quality through better attention to detail. We would expect the value of meticulousness to be embedded into the culture of such organizations that promote high quality.

But what happens when quality or care slips?

Recovering from a fall

When a company has built a reputation for high quality and being meticulous, the bar is raised. Expectations increase. And as with any brand promise, the higher the bar, the harder the potential fall.

Consider the case study of Toyota.

Over the past few decades, Toyota built a solid reputation for quality, particularly in North America. It was expressed under the single brand attribute of “Reliability.”

For years, it appeared as if no competitor could touch this giant brand. Toyota grew to eventually displace General Motors as the biggest automobile manufacturer in the world.

But in late 2009 and early 2010, the wheels fell off. With the recall of more than 9 million cars for “unintended acceleration” (killing 37 people), the truth was made known about the shift in priorities at Toyota. The organization had failed to live up to its brand promise around quality.

So what to do when your brand falls flat on its face?

PR experts will tell you the best thing to do is acknowledge the mistake and explain what you’re doing to fix it. Then, return to embracing the value of meticulousness and pay extra close attention to the details. Even then, recognize that it will take time to rebuild consumer trust.

Unfortunately, Toyota failed this part miserably. They didn’t own up to the problems, they pointed to a supplier for the problem, and they even blamed drivers. In addition, CEO Akio Toyoda was nowhere to be found.

Toyota’s CEO was eventually questioned by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the company was fined over $16 million. The recalls cost the company almost $2 billion. And both sales and company morale took a major hit.

Finally, the brand repair work began. Toyota started an advertising campaign featuring real employees talking about their commitment to quality and safety. Interestingly, the campaign was inspired by actual Toyota workers in manufacturing and retail. It was the employees themselves, who already embraced the value of meticulousness, engineered a return to the brand promise.

That’s the true power of the value of meticulousness. Those who embrace it, live it.

Has Toyota fully rebuilt its reputation for quality and reliability? It’s hard to tell. But if the people who actually care about the quality and reliability have their way, then the attention to details will prove itself in time.