CASE STUDY:

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CASE STUDY PR Crisis Mercedes-Benz A-Class Elk
Test Failure
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Background

• At the time of its launch the Mercedes A-Class
  was put through a low-speed avoidance test, used
  in Sweden, that simulated an elk wandering into
  the road. The car overturned, slightly injuring
  one of the journalists.
• Initially blaming the test as extreme, then
  citing problems with the tyres, Mercedes finally
  recalled all A-Class cars. These were then
  fitted with an Electronic Stability Program. The
  A-Class had, by this stage, already been launched
  in all markets except the UK. The cost of this
  modification was estimated to be around 55m.

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Research Objectives

• To examine the effectiveness with which this
  crisis was handled, particularly concentrating on
  cultural differences across Europe.

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Methodology

• Continuous monitoring of key consumer press
  titles in the G5 markets France, Germany, Italy,
  Spain and United Kingdom.
• Tracking vehicle attributes affected by the
  incident, in particular safety and stability.

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Summary Analysis

• Curiously, the UK media did not pick up the story
  until a week after it had been reported elsewhere
  - highly unusual for a story of such potential
  impact.
• The first chart on the next page shows a
  pan-European view of the salient aspects of this
  story, namely the effect of the incident on
  comment regarding the safety and stability of the
  car.

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• It is clear that the company recovered well from
  the initial negative coverage, with positive
  coverage overtaking negative just two months
  after the elk test failure.

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• The two charts on the previous page compare the
  tone of G5 country reporting in the four month
  prior to 1st January with subsequent months.
  Levels of negative coverage fell dramatically, in
  all markets. In terms of the recovery the biggest
  turnaround in coverage was in the UK, while
  France was slower to react.

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• The breakdown by country reveals more detail.
  Prior to the recovery, i.e. before January 1998,
  the countries least critical of the A-Class were
  Italy and Spain. The UK produced the highest
  proportion of negative coverage despite the
  delayed media pick-up and the car not yet being
  on sale.
• Another factor in France was that the coverage of
  the elk test coincided with an advertising
  campaign, felt by some to be arrogant. This
  perhaps provoked a more extreme reaction than
  otherwise might have been the case.