U Haul being Sued

SITUATION: In San Francisco in December of 2006 Demetrio Nagtalon rented a truck from Uhaul. After experiencing some trouble with the parking brake, he took it back to the rental center where Bobby Johnson decided to keep the vehicle's motor running, put it on an incline not blocking the wheels and went under the vehicle in an attempt to fix it. When the vehicle starting rolling, Nagtalon rushed to help Johnson who later called him a "hero". Unfortunately, it was Nagtalon who was then pinned between the truck and a barrier and later died of complications. His survivors are now suing UHaul for wrongful death claiming the company was negligent in failing to turn off the truck's motor, put the vehicle in "Park" or make repairs in a safe location. UHaul in return is saying that it was Nagtalon's decision to put himself in the position in which he was killed. The LA Times have previously written articles about UHaul having unfit trucks on the road being fixed by inexperienced workers.

Story can be found at http://fresno.injuryboard.com/wrongful-death/uhaul-sued-for-wrongful-death.php?googleid=11587

OBJECTIVE: To keep UHaul customers aware that UHaul is doing everything in its power to continue to rent out high quality trucks that its customers can trust and be safe in.

AUDIENCE: 25-50 year old men who rent out trucks for moving purposes for their business or personal lives

STRATEGY: Develop a different story angle for this particular crisis, hold a celebration for loyal UHaul customers, show that UHaul is no longer using old trucks, show that UHaul does maintence safely, show that UHaul is a professional company

TACTICS: Host a UHaul barbeque for its loyal customers, release a news statement showing that UHaul is sorry for the death of Nagtalon and praise him to be a hero, distribute pamphlets that show that Uhaul has no longer allows trucks older than 10 years old to be rented and that its employees that repair the trucks are highly qualified

TIMETABLE: This campaign could take up to a year. For the company to purchase new vehicles and license its employees to do repair work could take at least 6 months. The barbeque and news release however could be carried out in the next 2 to 3 months.

METHOD OF EVALUATION: We might be able to evaluate the success of our campaign if our sales go up, if we are no longer investigated by newspapers in the area for our lax behavior and we could do a survey to see how pleased our customers are with the service.