TCC Insights

Toyota's Image in a Crisis

By Bill Collins, Principal

If I had asked you five years ago to name some brands that you might have considered bullet-proof, I bet Toyota would have been on your list.  Everything you would want a brand to be, Toyota seemed to have it all:  friendly, warm, innovative, reasonably priced, attractive products and dependable.  No wonder the Japanese automaker had overtaken the Detroit Big Three in becoming the biggest car company in the world.  Toyota earned the support of the car-buying public and it was all blue skies ahead.

That was then.  Now Toyota is becoming a punch line and its preeminent franchise is definitely in a world of hurt.  The company’s awkward and hesitant response to this crisis of epic proportions hasn’t helped matters and once again reinforces the dos and don’ts of such situations.  Toyota has been too much “don’t” and not enough “do” and they are paying the price.

Extra Extra….Read All About It?

By Bill Collins, Principal


Delivering the Courier-Express (Buffalo’s long-dead morning newspaper) was my first job outside my home.  I offer the “outside my home” qualifier because I did get a weekly allowance for emptying the family dishwasher every morning, 7/365, and no slight task in a house of eight people. 

Anyway, I could be described as many things as a kid (think red-headed, freckle-faced hellion, for starters) but high on my list would be the label, voracious newspaper reader.  My siblings and I were bred to read the two newspapers that were delivered daily to our house and we actually would fight over sections on Sunday mornings.  My persnickety desire to read the newspaper from front to back, section-by-section before anyone else could touch it didn’t endear me to my brothers and sisters.

Blame Conan!

By Kathleen Anderson, Media Director

Conan O’Brien is not a victim.

The current Late Show circus is not because The Jay Leno Show failed.  It is because The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien did.

Jay Leno did exactly what NBC expected.  He delivered an audience of approximately 5 million viewers every night without the high production cost of scripted programming.  The network can produce a full week of Leno for the $2 million to $3 million price of a single hour of drama.  It may be bad television but it is good business.

No, Leno was never a prime time power house.  Yes, CBS and ABC silently cheered when NBC announced that they were making the change.  But to be clear, he was never expected to win the time slot.  A third place finish was still a financial success.  NBC knew exactly how this would impact their affiliates.  They didn’t care.  It was business.

Don't Save it For a Rainy Day

By Kathleen Rooney, Senior Vice President

There was a great column in the New York Times recently entitled "Carpe Diem? Maybe Tomorrow."

The basic message was that many of us are "procrastinators of pleasure."  Take it easy.  This isn't a dirty blog!  The kind of pleasure John Tierney, the author, refers to is pretty simple stuff.   Like don't wait to use the gift card that we got as a holiday surprise from Bill and Bob.  Are you guilty of saving it for "something special?"  Not me! Two cashmere sweaters from a sale at Macy's, and I'm not embarrassed to say so.
 
According to researchers, there is a strange impulse to "put off until tomorrow, what could be enjoyed today!"  If that's you, then you are a procrastinator of pleasure!  We live by expectations and deadlines in this business.  The article suggests we should be giving ourselves deadlines for doing little things that make us happy. 

Interviewing Tips

By Bob Travers, Principal

Cheryl Lickfeld, our Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, recently wrote a blog (Do you REALLY want to work here?) that received a lot attention regarding the fundamentals of submitting a résumé and cover letter when applying for a job at Travers Collins.

I would like to follow-up Cheryl’s blog by providing some advice to recent college graduates who are preparing for the job interview process.