Johnson & Johnson is a well-known pharmaceutical company in the United States, ranking in the top ten in the latest ranking of pharmaceutical companies in the world, with annual sales exceeding10 billion US dollars. ?

As early as 1975, the company developed Tylenol capsules which can replace aspirin, and it was a great success after listing. Within seven years, this drug has won more than 35% of the painkiller market. 198 1 has annual sales of USD 540 million, and its profit accounts for 15-20% of the company's profit, making it the core product of Johnson & Johnson. ?

However, the weather is unpredictable. 1982 On the morning of September 30th, there was a sudden media report that among those who took Tylenol capsules in Chicago that day, seven people died and another 250 people were hospitalized with poisoning (it was later found that Tylenol capsules contained cyanide). ?

As soon as the news came out, it shocked the whole country, and more than 654.38 billion consumers who took Tylenol suddenly fell into great panic. Life and death crisis broke out in Johnson & Johnson. ?

At this moment, the whole news media exploded and attacked it, and those companies with fierce competition with Johnson & Johnson also took the opportunity to make a fuss with ulterior motives. With the spread of bad news, many deaths or diseases in the United States are suspected to be related to it (it is said that the last media recorded 2500 cases, and 94% of consumers learned about the case through the media), and the situation spread extremely seriously ...?

What shall we do? Johnson didn't wait for death, and went all out to rescue him. ?

The company responded quickly, and set up a seven-member crisis management committee headed by the president, including the public relations minister, with full authority to direct the whole crisis, and invited famous public relations companies to cooperate. The Committee met twice a day for six weeks to solve various problems in the development of the crisis. Before taking unified action, all major decisions must be discussed by the Committee. ?

Throughout the crisis, Johnson & Johnson insisted on two points: first, prepare for the "worst possible"; Second, always put the public interest first. ?

First of all, the company decided to face the public and the media sincerely and actively maintain comprehensive cooperation with the media. ?

In the spirit of being responsible to consumers, Johnson & Johnson immediately issued a danger warning to the public through the media, and informed hospitals, doctors and distributors all over the country to suspend the use and sale of Tylenol capsules until the truth was ascertained, and decided to recall two batches of "problem" products in the incident area at all costs. Subsequently, due to the unknown situation, the company recovered Tylenol capsules nationwide, and then expanded the scope of recycled products to the whole world. To this end, Johnson & Johnson paid a price as high as $654.38+0 billion, of which the telegraph fee reached $500,000. ?

At the same time, the company stopped all advertisements about Tylenol in newspapers, radio and TV. ?

On behalf of the company, the public relations department constantly faced the public and the press, frankly admitted that cyanide was used in drug production, but it did little harm to human body and was safe, and said that it would try to find out the reason as soon as possible. ?

The management of the company has repeatedly indicated through the media that the company is determined to protect the interests of the public and ensure that the poisoning incident is completely solved, and the result is satisfactorily handled by consumers. In order to let consumers know the progress of crisis management at any time, Johnson & Johnson opened a hotline to answer all questions frankly. ?

After the product was withdrawn, Johnson & Johnson immediately cooperated with federal investigators and medical staff to investigate the truth of the incident. At the same time, 8 million Tylenol capsules were strictly tested to see if they were contaminated by other harmful substances (it was found that no more than 75 drugs were contaminated).

In the whole crisis handling process, the honesty, guilt and responsibility of Johnson & Johnson Company left a deep impression on the public and won people's sympathy and support. ?

During this period, the US Food and Drug Administration, which has the most "third party authority", fully investigated the accident and worked closely with Johnson & Johnson to save the crisis. The organization timely conveys important information to the media and the public, stabilizes people's hearts and controls the situation. For example, the actions of the press office of the organization after the incident are as follows:

The US Food and Drug Administration cooperated with Johnson & Johnson Company to save the crisis.

Such detailed information release by the US Food and Drug Administration not only meets the needs of the public and the media for event information, but also creates a good public opinion environment for Johnson & Johnson. ?

Through the joint efforts of hundreds of professional investigators and medical authorities, the truth was finally found out. Cause: Before the crisis, a psychopath (madman) bought Tylenol capsules in a drugstore, then injected cyanide into the capsules, and then returned the capsules to the store. Drugstores sold this drug as Tylenol to innocent people without any preventive measures, which led to these serious accidents. ?

Although the final investigation results prove that Johnson & Johnson is innocent, the market is ruthless. It is conceivable that after the incident, if the consumer sat on the sofa and saw the report about the Tylenol accident and suddenly had a headache, would he still buy a bottle of Tylenol capsules? It is estimated that the poisoning tragedy reduced Johnson & Johnson's market share from 35.5% to less than 7%. ?

After the truth came out, in order to maintain the company's reputation, keep Tylenol brand and recover the company's losses, Johnson & Johnson launched a public relations move to enhance its image and return to the market. ?

Afterwards, the company spent $50 million to improve the product packaging and introduced a new Tylenol analgesic capsule, which was packed in a solid three-layer seal. Both the box and the bottle mouth are marked with the words "Do not take it if the seal is broken". In order to promote their new packaging, the company visited millions of medical staff and showed the newly packaged drugs to consumers. Tylenol's new packaging is used for anti-pollution and anti-counterfeiting commodity packaging for the first time. At the same time, promote the new image of the product through powerful advertisements. In the advertisement, Dr. Thomas, the company's medical consultant, said, "Tylenol has been used by the medical profession and hundreds of millions of people all over the United States for more than 20 years, and our good reputation cannot be tarnished by a few people. We hope you will continue to trust Tylenol. " Johnson himself said, "We are learning from the tragedy and making a comeback; Therefore, we can't ride an elephant and blow and announce our arrival. " Johnson & Johnson wants to prove his greatness with actions.

Then, with the help of Boya PR, Johnson & Johnson invited 500 journalists from 30 city TV stations to give a grand TV news conference in Sheraton new york Central Plaza on June 5438+098265438+ 10/1,which was broadcast by satellite. At the meeting, Johnson & Johnson accepted interviews from many reporters and played a video of Tylenol's new packaged drugs. The day happened to be the day when Soviet leader Brezhnev died and the American space shuttle took off, but people's enthusiasm and concern for Tylenol did not decrease at all, which made Johnson & Johnson's press conference a great success. Major television stations, radio stations and newspapers in the United States have made a lot of reports. The Wall Street Journal praised: "Johnson chose to bear huge losses and protect others from harm." This reception is considered to be "extremely difficult" in the history of American news, and it is a commemorative press conference with historical significance. ?

Through active efforts, Johnson & Johnson's popularity has become wider and its reputation has improved. By May 1983, Johnson & Johnson had basically recovered its original market. Johnson & Johnson ended in victory in this thrilling life-and-death crisis. However, we still have to emphasize that the Johnson & Johnson case not only gives the action template of crisis management, but more importantly reveals the true meaning of crisis management. ?

Only when enterprises are truly responsible for consumers, rather than saying that customers are "gods", can they take root in society and overcome various crises.