In this solo episode of the Speak PR Podcast, host Jim James draws on his seven‑year experience building the Morgan Motor Company franchise in China and his work with the British‑Chinese Chamber of Commerce to illustrate how public‑relations (PR) strategy shapes automotive and retail brands. He first examines the abrupt departure of Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer, noting how the news leaked to the press, the CEO’s claim of being unaware, and the resulting anxiety for dealers and staff – a classic case of poor internal communication and a detached board. He contrasts this with Volkswagen’s handling of the Dieselgate compensation saga, where the company publicly pledged swift payment and used the crisis to announce an aggressive electric‑vehicle (EV) strategy, demonstrating transparent, forward‑looking messaging. Jim then shifts to a personal visit to the UK DIY retailer B&Q, critiquing the store’s lack of signage, uninspired in‑store atmosphere, and weak digital presence (high bounce rate, low social‑media traffic), arguing that the retailer missed a post‑COVID opportunity to re‑engage customers. Throughout, he references concrete metrics – website traffic sources, bounce rates, podcast download geography (72 % Europe, 6 % North America, 18 % Asia) – to show how data can gauge PR effectiveness. He concludes with actionable PR principles for businesses in both good and bad times: be compassionate, optimistic, values‑based, and digitally savvy, turning crises into brand‑building moments.
Chapters
Hi, thank you for tuning in today. This is Jim James. I'm your host on the Speak PR Podcast. And today I'm going to be talking about cars. Actually, it's something that's dear to my heart because I spent 7 years in China, starting and building the Morgan Motor Company franchise in China. So as I did that, I used PR as the main tool that we could use to promote the brand. For those of you not familiar, it's a company started in 1909 in the UK, and they build handmade British cars. Place called Morven, out of, with a wooden frame and steel chassis, of course, using Ford and BMW engines. Whilst I was playing that role, I was, as an entrepreneur, I was also part of the Chamber of Commerce in China as the vice chair, and so I was able to work with the British government and other manufacturers on legislation. And so sometimes public relations is about government relations and communicating with the British government and the Chinese government on policy around emissions. And I was working very closely with the Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders here in the UK and the European Small Volume Car Manufacturers Association. And so part of that role meant that I got to meet lots of interesting people, including Andy Palmer, who was at the time the CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda and really going great guns. And I just read that he is not going back to work on the 1st of June, like so many people. Are going to be going back to work. We just heard this evening from the government. But Andy Palmer, it turns out, is not going back to work. Andy had pioneered the new Aston Martin SUV and the Valkyrie supercar, but the share price had lost some 95% of its value over the last 4 years since listing. And, um, whilst even just on the 13th of May they had issued an analyst report for Q1 showing earnings down 45%, Andy, uh, Palmer and his team were still talking about, you know, reinvigorating Aston Martin as a luxury brand. There was, uh, no mention, um, of a move to electric or of any of the concept cars or manufacturing in China, which is one of the moves that was being touted by some manufacturers. And of course, some of the big ones like VW have done so well. So what was interesting for me from a PR point of view was that the news of Andy Palmer's departure broke in the newspapers. And when he was asked by the media about this, he said, that he was not aware. In fact, he said, and I quote, he was unaware about the sacking. But when the media rang the offices of Aston Martin, they indeed said that they were reviewing the management team. And somehow the name of Tobias Muers, the boss of Mercedes-AMG, is already in the frame as taking over. Now, From a PR point of view, of course, this isn't good for Andy Palmer because it shows that he's detached from the thinking of the board. But also as a company, to allow this kind of news to get into the marketplace is really also unnecessary and an embarrassment for Andy Palmer. But also for the team, it would create a lot of anxiety for the team inside Aston Martin, but also for all of the dealers. And I, for one, use some of the Aston Martin dealers in China. So the announcements that companies like Aston Martin make through these different channels can have quite an impact. Now. The shares have not been open for trading, and we'll find out tomorrow morning what the response is to his departure. But I think, as anybody would would like to be treated, it also is a case where for companies to make announcements about their management team into the media is really not necessary. But from a PR point of view, it's unwise because it shows that there's a detachment. A separation between all of the parties involved in running the business. Now, another company that has had bad news today is VW, and they have been told that they're going to need to pay compensation to 60,000 German VW owners in light of this Dieselgate. Now, we have a similar case from my previous business, and so we've been watching this with some interest. But what's been interesting about VW's behavior and response to the finding of the, basically, the cheat gadgets they'd put on their cars was that they seem to still be selling just as many cars as before. But also what they did was they set this as a way of reinvigorating their plans, and they decided they would become the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world. So from one crisis where they were caught cheating, they flushed out the people, and I guess whichever culture was inside whichever departments, and they've reinvigorated. And they had said in the papers today that they will pay all the money as quickly as possible. So they've taken quite a different approach to the Aston Martin approach, and that's why I raised it today, because 2 different companies, obviously one much larger than the other, but the principle of PR is to be transparent and to be respectful, respectable, and respectful of all the people that have worked for the brand. So I was interested and disappointed for Andy that that's the that it's come to that because I know how hard he worked on building that brand. So when we see the share price, we shall have a chance to see what the, what the response is to this. But measurement in terms of share price is just one of them, one of the ways that people will, will respond to PR. The other one is the way that people are engaging with the brand online and in store. Now today I went to B&Q, the DIY store, because we are needing to do some work at home. And I was struck really by what a miserable experience it was. Anyone that's been to B&Q, and you know, you're going for quite positive things, you're going to go and build something, make something. And I went with my daughter because we're looking forward to— and we have built, um, some vegetable, uh, patch, uh, shelter because otherwise the guinea pigs will eat it. Now we stood in line 2 meters apart from the next customer and the next one behind us, and there was no signage. And I thought, what an opportunity missed. Because here we have all this real estate outside B&Q, and it's not been for the first week or so that this store has been open. I thought what an opportunity it would have been for the brand to a reassure us that in store is all clean and safe and so on, but also to start to pre-sell. So there were there were so many things inside the store. That I don't know that I need. From a public relations point of view, they could have done some simple signage outside or even handed leaflets to me saying, we've got special offers, you may want to buy this, you may want to buy that. Instead, it's a silent and miserable experience, and some people in front of me actually left before going into the store. So it kind of struck really how companies are dealing with the COVID in a way that makes them look really quite depressed. Now, from a PR point of view, if you go into the store, um, there is no sense of joy, there is no sense of anticipation. And I just wonder, you know, if you've got a store or you've got a retail outlet or you've got a restaurant or so on, How are you going to be making your facility look as though you're happy about being back in business? Are your staff looking excited and happy by the prospect? And there's some studies about what people wear and how that uplifts them. So from a PR point of view, I then of course couldn't help but going to see the web stats, and I have videoed those which I put on. I'm make a link to the, to the Loom for that. But B&Q's website traffic is also pretty miserable, frankly, and almost all of their website traffic actually comes from direct search. They're listed number 10 on the overall rank of DIY websites. And they have a bounce rate of over 43% on their website, and people don't spend very long on their website. The number one company there is Home Depot. Number 2 is IKEA when it comes to social media engagement with brands. And, and B&Q has only about 1.2% of all the traffic to their website comes from social media. So here's a brand and a company that is really missing out on the opportunity. And I was looking at this because metrics are something that I've been looking at myself for East West. I have a small company, and as I've launched this podcast, very interested to see now how with my podcast, which is, you know, a small attempt to try and give some ideas and some thoughts to entrepreneurs to help them with their PR. So in our first 5 episodes now, we've had downloads 72% from Europe, 6% from North America, and 18% from Asia. So from our studio here in Bath, um, we have, uh, reached people all over the world. And as we've seen from our social media metrics on Zoho, we have got much more engagement than we've ever had before. It's still not perfect, but we're getting higher engagement rates than a big company like B&Q. The reason I mention that is because as a, as an entrepreneur, it's not necessary to have a huge company. It's not necessary to have— if you do have a big company, you might, as in the case of B&Q, find that they are just letting the store and the history of the company be the selling point. But as Amazon has showed us, these legacy real estate ventures are all very vulnerable. And if we're running companies, if you're running a company that is not engaging with people online and using public relations successfully, then that creates a risk. So I raise that because if we look at how VW addressed it, and that they said very openly, we've been, we've been judged against, we're not going to contest it, we're going to pay as quickly as we can and move on, and we're going to become the biggest supplier of electric cars in the world. So they've turned that crisis and adversity into an opportunity and into a feeling of well-being for that brand. And if we look at B&Q, the experience that we have from start to finish is I only go there out of necessity. And if I could find an alternative, and there will be, then I would go to those. Now, as of the 1st of June, alternatives are going to start to open up, and as of the 15th of June, even more companies will be going back to work. So those companies that have lived through COVID as being the sort of sole, the sole option for customers will have to compete again. And there'll be many companies, hopefully yours, that have started to realize that PR during good and bad times is about being compassionate, about being optimistic, about being values-based, about being informative, and about being digital. Now, if we look at the Aston Martin figures as well for their website, what we find is that almost all the traffic comes from America. And actually, that, um, its global rank is 145,000th website in the world, but it's only the 46th in terms of car categories. So they are still, as Aston Martin, still only getting 2.5% of their traffic from referrals. And nearly 75% of all traffic to Aston Martin is the result of people looking for Aston Martin, and only 2% of all traffic is coming from social. In other words, if you don't know that you're looking for an Aston Martin, you are not going to be finding out about Aston Martin by way of interruption. So if our brands and our companies are reliant on people finding us because they're looking for us by key name, like B&Q are and like Aston Martin are, that maybe accounts for the reality of their sales because they haven't got a halo effect, they haven't got a referral network. And as we know, businesses are not just about us as individuals. We have— as we expand a brand, then we need to have a broad awareness. And Aston Martin were talking in their shareholder report about moving up into being a full, well-known luxury brand, but actually that's not where they were going. So As we get out of bank holiday, I wish you well. I wish you a profitable business, and I hope you keep communicating about the value in your business and how that's going to help consumers. And make it fun, please. Whatever you do, make it a fun experience for them. Thank you for listening. This is Jim James. Have a good day.
