The perils of marketing in the new age of social media

There is an interesting case study happening right now. Honda has a new Accord variant coming out called the Crosstour. It's a wagon/suv/hatch THING, and it's UGLY. They have expanded the marketing for this new model to include social networking sites, i.e. they made a facebook page.

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From here the plan went horribly awry, because the facebook page is filled with how much everyone hates the car. It is pretty funny to read.

At one point someone posted how much they liked the car, and Honda had to remove the comment because this happened:

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Honda is now dealing with a nightmare scenario because they were not prepared to handle the unique aspects of marketing through social media. I'm kind of surprised the page is still up. They've tried to win people over by posting more PR drivel, at one point they even relied on the old excuses "you have to see it in person! It doesn't photograph well!" They are still getting bombarded with complaints about the Crosstour on a minute by minute basis. I love disasters like this.

What does Honda do now?
How can companies effectively use social media to market without risk of a similar incident?
How ugly do you think the Crosstour is?
Does the adage "any publicity is good publicity" still apply?
Should Honda listen and do something to fix the vehicle before release?
Any other examples of this happening to a company?

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Autoblog has been following this story:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/02/o...ith-early-neg/
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/03/h...facebook-page/
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/04/h...cial-response/
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/05/h...d-does-it-hel/

People need to calm down, it's not a freaking Aztek.

It's pretty ugly.

Anyone who obstructs the resurgence of hatchbacks is my enemy. My first car was a hatchback, shit was awesome for hauling stuff around in.

Social networking devices, especially Facebook, still mostly cater to a younger crowd. This is a mommywagon. The Civic, Fit, and Insight would have likely worked better. Although, I don't think that the design is so bad... it almost reminds me of the FX 35/45 (except not nearly as sporty). I would never care to drive one though.

Hopefully they take this Facebook page to heart. I am curious how typical consumer surveys are conducted; filling a card out and mailing it somewhere just seems like something "older" people would do.

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I sell Honda's for a living, and nobody has ever asked for a more expensive Accord hatchback with lousy rear visibility, which is all this is. People want an Accord wagon, not this useless design exercise.

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The European Accord wagon looks pretty good.
http://myblackbrick.com/wp-content/u...-crosstour.jpg

It's sad that so many automakers, including our own, water cars down for the American market.

Lots of poeple on that page have said they want the Euro Accord wagon, it is just a much better product all around. But there is also an earlier prototype of the Crosstour with a bigger hatch area that looks a lot better too. It's more like the Venza. I think a lot of the complaints are also with the lack of utility that this design ads. There is virtually no extra space gained with roof angled down like that. I am pretty sure that i read somewhere the back seat actually has less headroom than the sedan.

In a way their marketing has worked, because I made a thread about this gay car on TNL.

I asked my gf what she thought and she said "it's ok, it's a car". Her sister said the same thing, but that it reminded her of a Gremlin.

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Social networking devices, especially Facebook, still mostly cater to a younger crowd.

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I was thinking this also, and I had it in mind while reading through the comments. If you look at the pictures/names, there are quite a few women and older folks making comments too. It's not all young men pissed about them killing the S2000. I don't think Honda should write it off as such, although I'm sure they will.

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Originally Posted by MarsKitten

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Pretend it has nothing to do with cars for a moment. You don't think it's interesting when a company fails to account for the direct consumer influence on their own marketing material when done through social media channels? And how it has blown up in someone's face? I think it has a vast effect on marketing strategy and the future of that industry.

I dont think that car looks too bad, but then again, I kinda like the nissan cube :X