Tyco Polishing Tarnished Image
Associated Press January 5, 2005
CHICAGO - Tyco International Inc., still battling the effects of a messy corporate
looting scandal, has rolled out a series of new TV ads designed to improve the
company's public persona.
The commercials, which started airing last month, come about six months after
the company started placing full-page print advertisements in an assortment of
national publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
The new 60-second spots highlight several of the company's distinct business areas,
from medical products to home-security systems, and all end with the same slogan:
Tyco, a vital part of your world. The theme was also used in the company's print
ads.
The commercials, targeted primarily toward customers, investors and the company's
own employees, were run extensively during the holidays on CNN, ESPN and during
network news programming.
"We're dealing with one of the most tarnished reputations out there in the
corporate world today - our job is to fix that perception," said Jim Harman,
vice president of advertising and branding. "Our research has been showing
a good response so far."
Harman said the company will continue with the "vital" theme in future
advertising efforts. He declined to disclose how much money the company had spent
on the campaign so far.
The next step will likely be trimming the 60-second commercials to 30 seconds,
which could happen over the next few months.
There are striking similarities between the new Tyco campaign and General Electric
Co.'s well-received "We bring good things to life" campaign - similarities
that shouldn't come as a surprise given Harman's 23-year career at GE. Harman
joined Tyco in September 2003.
The GE campaign is considered by many branding experts to be one of the most successful
corporate identity programs ever produced.
In one of the new Tyco commercials, titled "Global," a deep-voiced narrator
speaks over slow-motion video captured from several international locations.
"In Yuma, vegetables grow faster under our plastics. In Barcelona, our surgical
instruments initiate the healing. In San Bernadino, wildfires are extinguished
with our foam," the voice-over says.
"At Tyco, we make thousands of products that aren't simply important - they're
vital," the commercial says.
But Tyco may not have done enough to truly distinguish itself and its brand for
those who catch the spot, said Robert K. Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a
New York marketing-research firm.
"The first time I saw the ad, I thought it was an updated GE ad," he
said. "That's not bad, but remember that they're spending money for you to
say, 'It's Tyco and they're a vital part of my life.'"
Passikoff said that such campaigns are often a necessary part of turning around
a troubled situation, but are often limited in overall impact. Getting out such
messages isn't as easy as it used to be given the wide availability of information
and its quick dissemination, he said.
Tyco, of Pembroke, Bermuda, was at the center of one of the most-watched corporate
scandals in U.S. history and provided a target for investors frustrated over the
end of the 1990s bull market.
The criminal cases of two executives are expected to be retried this year after
a mistrial was declared in April 2004. The executives are accused of looting the
company out of more than $600 million in unauthorized pay.
Former Tyco Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski held a $2 million Roman-themed birthday
party for his wife in Sardinia, Italy. The company allegedly picked up half of
the tab. In a videotape of the event, Mrs. Kozlowski is carried around by models
dressed as gladiators.
Tyco's Harman said he knows that's a big hurdle to overcome.
"Employees around here tossed away their Tyco T-shirts because they were
embarrassed," he said. "But we're now starting to get employees to again
be proud of this organization."
Tyco's financial performance has helped. The company in December said that it
would raise its quarterly dividend eightfold, its first increase in 12 years.
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© 2005 AP