Johnson & Johnson's brand image

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Johnson & Johnson has more than 250 operating companies that manufacture and market thousands of branded health care products in hundreds of categories.

Brand image is the way certain brands are looked at by consumers, whether it is a positive or negative image. Companies have to work hard to make sure they satisfy their customer's needs and make sure their brand image in the mind of the consumers is what the company wants it to be.

Johnson and Johnson, I feel, has a positive brand image. People trust J&J and know that their products are safe and that, in the eyes of the company, their customers are one of their top priorities. This helps to keep the brand image up for the company because the customers like to feel they are a top priority in the mind of the company.

The PR people at Johnson & Johnson have done a good job in keeping up the brand image for the company. During the crisis that J&J had, they knew they had to keep their customers as their top priority because that is what they've said in their Credo for years. Since they did keep their customers first, they were able to keep their brand image as a positive one. People put a lot of trust in the J&J brand, they know that if it's a product from J&J they are sure to be safe and if there is something wrong, the company will be more then willing to help satisfy what the consumer wants.

Overall, there is not a lot of negative brand image for Johnson & Johnson and that's because the PR people know how to keep the brand image positive in the eyes of the consumers.

Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol Crisis

Crisis Communications is something no company or public relations professional wants to happen to them, but in most cases, at least 1 crisis is going to happen eventually. That is why all PR people need a plan in place to know what they will do in case there is an accident or crisis that needs to be dealt with.

Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol crisis is one of the most famous crisis communication cases studied. The way they dealt with it is said to be one of the best public relations crisis communication plans in history!

The Story of the Tylenol Crisis

In 1982, it was reported that 7 people had died after using Extra-Strength Tylenol in Chicago. The deaths were investigated and it was determined that the Tylenol capsules were laced with cyanide. The amount of cyanide in the capsules was 65 milligrams, 10,000 times more poison then was needed to kill a human being.

After the cause of the deaths was determined, the nation was warned to stay away from Tylenol until the problem was fixed. It was made clear that the tampering of the capsules was not from any of the plants. A spokesperson for J&J told the media of their strict quality control and that the poisonings could not have been performed at the plant. It was determined that the tampering had to have happened once the shipment of the Tylenol was in Illinois.

What did J&J do?

Tylenol had 37% of the market, it was the #1 alternative to aspirin. It was a huge money-maker for Johnson & Johnson, so they knew they had to react quickly.

J&J put customer safety first before their company's financial issues and and profits. They immediatly warned all customers via the internet to not consume any Tylenol product, and not to resume using it until the problems were resolved. They recalled all Tylenol capsules from the market, as well as stopped production and advertising. The recall included around 31 million bottles of Tylenol, worth around 100 million dollars.

Johnson & Johnson also created relationships and worked closley with the Chicago police, FDA, and FBI so they could have a part in the search for the person who tampered with the Tylenol. They also immediatly put up a $100,000 award for the killer. This showed they were concerned for the customers and wanted to make sure nothing further happened and they would do anything they could to stop anything else from happening. It showed they cared.

Tylenol also decided they would exchange all Tylenol capsules that had already been purchased for Tylenol tablets. Full price coupons were offered to consumers who wished to replace Tylenol that had been recalled. A new Tylenol bottle was created with which was a triple sealed, tamper resistant bottle. They also changed the label on the pill bottle to "Do not use if red neck wrap or foil inner seal is broken." The company then introduced a caplet, a solid form of the drug, in place of the capsule.

The PR people at J&J handled this crisis the best that they could. Even though they knew the crisis was no their fault, they did all they could to help their customers even though it cost them millions of dollars. They knew they had react quickly and to start investigating the problem so that it could be fixed and people would start to trust them again. I wouldn't do anything differently because they did everything the way they should. They put their customers and the community first and didn't take any blame but knew it was their responsibility to help and figure out what went wrong and to do something about it. This is the way all PR departments should handle a crisis.

Is J&J keeping up with their investor relations?

Investor relations is an important part of a company, without people investing in your company, there would be no company!

Johnson & Johnson keeps their investor relations page very up to date on their website, with easy to read information. The annual report is available in two forms, a print form or a web form. This is a good idea because some people would rather look at the annual report on the web, and the way they have it set up looks like you actually have the report in your hands. The pages flip and it seems as though you have printed it out. This is also a way that the company is helping to save the printing of paper which makes them look good and that they are taking care of the environment.

The 2007 annual report looks like its more of a marketing piece for the company. It starts out with the letter to the shareholders from the CEO, and then is followed by many different stories, including a story about a website available for new moms who can talk to other moms about their babies, good times or bad, and how Johnson & Johnson was invloved with that. It has many stories to show how caring and involved Johnson & Johnson has been to their community. There is also a link you can click to watch a video about each story. At the end of the annual report is where they put a lot of the financial information which includes a lot of charts to explain their earnings. To me, it seems the main point of the annual report is to tell a story.

Johnson & Johnson also just simply posts their SEC filings on their website, to take a look at it click here.

The letter to the shareholders from the CEO talks about the highlights of 2007, explaining how they delivered solid results in 2007 for one of their more challenging years in recent memory. It talks about taking health and well-being to the next level, and how their commitment is to the shareholders. I think investors will feel good about the company they are investing their money in because J&J really shows everything they have done in the past year. The letter includes charts and graphs to further explain what is going on in the company, and I believe that also helps in making the letter credible and believable. The tone of the letter seems to be informative, they are explaining a lot of what went on in the company and a lot of what the future goals are as well. To take a look at the letter to the shareholders, check out the 2007 annual report.

The news release about the company's earnings is very long and kind of confusing. There seem to be a lot of numbers and percentages involved just looking at the first page. Also included in the news release is a breakdown of all the data involved with the company's earnings, which could be very confusing if you didn't know what you were looking at.

The CEO's quote talks about how there were certain challenges in the market, but their broad base of bussinesses allowed them to achieve solid results in 2007, building on their foundation of long-term profitable growth. I don't know if this quote is strong enough to instill confidence in investors, it doesn't really talk about their future or how they are going to go about their goals for the future. I might have tried to get a different quote from the CEO if possible to talk about 2007 but to also give a little blurb about their future goals and for their investors not to worry.

Johnson & Johnson giving back to the community!

Johnson & Johnson is a great example of a company that knows they need to give back to the community and that corporate responsibility is a very important part of public relations and to help keep up the reputation of the company. Community relations is a corporation's community involvement. It is a way for companies to build acceptance and trust among their stakeholders.

Johnson & Johnson has a very large social responsibility page on their website. You can see how committed the company is to their community. The website talks about how they are inspired by their Credo, which talks about how they are responsible to the communities in which they live and work, and to the world community as well. J&J's "primary focus is on making life-changing, long-term differences in human health by targeting the world's major health-related issues."

J&J contributed $544.8 million in cash and products to philanthropic causes worldwide in 2006.

The wide range of programs that J&J supports includes three key strategies:
-saving and improving the lives of women and children
-building the skills of people who serve community health needs, primarily through education

-preventing diseases and reducing stigma and disibility in underserved communities where Johnson and Johnson has a high potential for impact

Johnson & Johnson partners with many organizations to help save children's lives, these programs include: Task Force for Child Surviving and Development, UNICEF, Neonatal Resuscitation Program, Theotokos, Pratham and Safe Kids.

J&J is also very committed to help make a difference in the lives of people with HIV/AIDS by developing effective new medicines and diagnostics against HIV, enhancing access to our products as well as needed patient care, as well as providing contributions to to assist communities and individuals who are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

J&J also knows that the environment is just as important and they need to do their part in helping out. They have instilled high environmental values in all of their employees and utilizes the best environmental practices in all products sold by all of their operating companies.

There is no mission statement that is a part of J&J, instead, they have a Credo. The credo has guided their actions in fulfilling responsibilities to their customers, employees, community and stockholders. As a company, they realize that they have a responsibility to their community, and they show that by all of the organizations they are involved with. I don't think they could be doing anything different, because they help so many different organizations and issues, they really are doing everything they can do.

Media Relations with Johnson & Johnson!

In January a new drug application was submitted to the FDA, the drug was an investigational oral analgesic for the relief of moderate to severe acute pain.

Recently, Pricara, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., is recalling all lots of their 25 microgram/hour DURAGESIC CII patches. All of the recalled patches have expiration dates on or before December 2009 and are all manufactored by ALZA Corporation. These patches were used to help with moderate to severe acute pain (the drug that was accepted by the FDA).

These patches may have a cut along the side of the drug reservoir within the patch. The possible release of fentanyl gel from the gel pouch and coming directly into contact with a person can lead to serious adverse events, such as respiratory depression and posible overdose, which could be fatal. Anyone who comes in contact with the gel should thoroughly rinse their skin with large amounts of water only, no soap.
For more information about the recall, click here.

Johnson & Johnson is the operating company of Pricara, so they are involved heavily with this recall. The drug was just recently approved by the FDA, and now this is a voluntary recall, which shows that the companies are highly involved with the safety of their customers. In a PR perspective, the company has not done too much with giving out information about the recall. There aren't many articles, where I feel a spokesperson for one of the companies should be giving out statements all the time pertaining to the recall. There are not too many conversations with anyone from J&J or Pricara, which would be the most important people a customer would want to hear from. The PR people should be getting their CEO's to talk to the media as much as possible to let their customers know they are involved and concerned for everyones safety.

How Johnson & Johnson is keeping up with new media!

As we all know, technology is beginning to take over many industries, including public relations. With all of the new media available, it gives companies many different opportunities to discuss information to their employees, customers and shareholders. Some new media that companies are beginning to use are RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts, virtual tours, and comment sections. These are just a few of the ways that companies can stay on top of the new media and add a little more to their websites. Now-a-days, having just a website isn't going to cut it.

Johnson & Johnson is using a lot of new media to not only keep up with the technology but to help keep their customers, employees and shareholders up to date with what is going on in the company.

RSS News Feeds are a way for Johnson & Johnson to share with their customers information about the latest news going on in their company. There is also a section on their website to receieve e-mail news updates from their investor relations section. These are ways to keep their customers informed about anything that is going on in the company, whether good or bad, which shows customers that Johnson & Johnson wants to be honest and keep them informed. To check out or subscribe to the Johnson and Johnson RSS Feeds, click here.

Another way Johnson & Johnson keeps people informed with whats going on, is a site with webcasts and presentations on different events you can download. You can either download the webcast onto your iTunes account or a different software via RSS. This allows for anyone interested in viewing a recent presentation to watch it, and Johnson & Johnson makes sure the webcast is posted just 2 hours after its original presentation. To subscribe to the webcasts you can check it out here. On the home page there is also a section called "Community Healthcare Program" where you can watch videos and learn how Johnson & Johnson is helping the community. This is great PR because people love to see a company giving back to the community and being able to watch videos on how they are doing that is a plus!

On the J&J website, there is no blog or link to a blog, which is something they should add to their site. A blog can let people comment on their products or services, and it allows the people at J&J to respond to those comments. It is also another way for the company to speak out and inform their customers what is going on in their company on a less professional level.

Overall, J&J are doing a good job keeping up with new media. They have the RSS Feeds, the webcasts and questions sections. The one thing I would do differently is to create a blog, because a blog can connect the company and the customers and is such an easy way to communicate to tons of people. A blog would help the company let their customers know about their products and services in a different way, rather then receiving news feeds in a newspaper article set-up or watching a professional presentation online. It could make the customers feel more connected to the company.

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to analyze the public relations tactics and strategies of a Fortune 500 company. The company I have chosen is Johnson & Johnson. The reason I chose Johnson & Johnson is because they are a well known company with a good reputation not only to their employees but to their customers and the community as well. Johnson & Johnson not only takes care of their customers, making sure all of their needs are satisfied, but they realize they have a social responsibilty as well.

Johnson & Johnson is a manufacturer of healthcare products. There are more than 250 companies with around 119,000 employees in 57 countries throughout the world. The fundamental objectives of Johnson & Johnson is to "provide scientifically sound, high quality products and services to help heal, cure disease and improve the quality of life."

Johnson & Johnson has created a Credo, explaining their responsibility to all who uses their products. This explains their top priority is their customers, which gives them a very good repuation to everyone who is a part of the company, whether it is the employee, customer or shareholders. To help emphasize the positive reputation Johnson & Johnson has, they have an entire section on their website dedicated solely to social responsibility. They talk about their contribution efforts and how they are actively invloved in supporting healthcare, educational and cultural programs. They also have a HIV/AIDS section explaining the various projects Johnson & Johnson sponsor to help fight the disease.

Johnson & Johnson is a company known for being caring and trustworthy. Obviously, being in the healthcare profession, PR challenges could arise at anytime, such as a dangerous product that could harm their customers. The PR professionals need to be ready and alert for things to go wrong within Johnson & Johnson to keep the reputation of the company at its best.