Latest / The CMO Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Leadership, Budgets, and Executive Strategy / How CMOs Use Brand Ambassadors During Product Recalls
Transcript
- Lucas: So last week, a major baby formula brand had to recall one of its production lines over a quality control issue. And within hours, their social feeds went dark. No posts. No statements. The CMO later told the press they were 'listening before speaking'. Luna: Which sounds responsible. But it's also a textbook way to let the narrative get defined by everyone else. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the tension I want to look at today. When a product recall hits, the typical instinct is to go silent, lawyer up, and wait for the legal team to approve a statement. But a handful of CMOs have done the opposite — they've activated their brand ambassador networks during the recall itself. And the data suggests that might be the smarter play. Luna: That's counterintuitive. Aren't you risking the ambassador getting dragged into the negative press? Lucas: You can be. But let's look at two historical examples that show the spectrum. First, Tylenol in 1982. You know the story — cyanide-laced capsules killed seven people in Chicago. Johnson & Johnson didn't just recall all Tylenol nationally. They also had their medical directors and pharmacists go on TV and give the public straight information about what to look for, what to discard, how to get a refund. Those weren't just executives — they were trusted professionals who already had a relationship with consumers. Luna: Right, that was the pre-internet version of a brand ambassador. But it worked — Tylenol recovered market share within a year. Lucas: It did. Now contrast that with 2018, when Johnson & Johnson faced talc-related lawsuits. This time they had a network of mommy bloggers and parenting influencers who had been long-term partners. Instead of pulling them, Johnson & Johnson actually gave those ambassadors a factual FAQ — not spin, not denial — and asked them to share it if they felt comfortable. Many did. And in the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 68 percent of consumers said they trust a brand more after seeing an ambassador address a crisis directly. Luna: That's a huge number. So the ambassador becomes a credibility multiplier, especially when legal language makes corporate statements feel evasive. Lucas: Precisely. And here's the thing — the baby formula brand that went dark? They lost three points of market share in the month after the recall. Meanwhile, a comparable brand that had a recall in 2023 activated its network of pediatrician ambassadors. They gained half a point. Now, correlation isn't causation, but the pattern is striking. Luna: So what's the framework for a CMO deciding whether to hit the green button on this? Because not every recall is Tylenol-level severity. Lucas: Right. I've been talking to a few CMOs about this, and three questions keep coming up. First: does the recall involve actual harm or just a technical defect? If there's physical danger, you need to be transparent fast. If it's a packaging label error, you have more room. Second: do your ambassadors have the expertise to speak credibly? A doctor can talk about a medical device recall. A lifestyle influencer cannot. Third: have you pre-briefed your ambassador network on your crisis communication values before the crisis happens? Because if you're drafting talking points under a deadline, you've already lost. Luna: That third one is key. You can't build trust overnight. If you've treated ambassadors as glorified coupon distributors, they won't have the context to handle a crisis call. Lucas: Exactly. And the ones who do it well treat ambassadors as stakeholders. They include them in quarterly strategy updates. They share the roadmap. So when something goes wrong, the ambassador already understands the company's values and can speak from that foundation. Luna: I want to push back a little. What about the risk of the ambassador saying something off-script? You give them a factual FAQ, but they're human. They might ad-lib and make things worse. Lucas: It's real. But the data suggests the upside outweighs the downside. The 2025 Edelman study also found that 52 percent of consumers are more forgiving of a brand's mistake if they hear about it from a trusted third party rather than a corporate press release. So the potential reward is higher brand resilience. And the risk can be managed with clear guidelines — not a script, but guardrails. 'Don't speculate on the cause. Don't blame regulators. Here's the known facts. Here's who to contact.' Luna: So it's about treating ambassadors as partners in stewardship, not as mouthpieces. Lucas: Exactly. And that's actually the broader shift I'm seeing. CMOs are moving from thinking of ambassadors as marketing tools to thinking of them as reputation assets. And a recall is the ultimate stress test of that asset. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own work, that's exactly the kind of thing that keeps this show going. A handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's what funds making this many episodes without ads. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group, but they make a big difference. And it means we can keep digging into the tactical stuff without interruption. Luna: So back to the question of execution. Let's say a CMO decides to activate ambassadors. What's the first step? Lucas: The first step is internal — you need to align legal, PR, and the CMO on what the ambassador can and cannot say. That alignment should happen before any recall, ideally as part of a crisis playbook. But if it hasn't, you need to get legal to approve a set of talking points that are factual, non-speculative, and empathetic. Then you brief the ambassadors in a group call or a dedicated Slack channel. You give them the facts, you give them the timeline, and you explicitly give them permission to step back if they're not comfortable. Luna: I like that last part. Giving them an out actually increases the credibility of those who do speak. Lucas: Exactly. And then you monitor. You don't just broadcast and disappear. You have the ambassador manager available in real time to answer questions. And after the crisis, you debrief with the ambassadors. Ask them what worked, what felt awkward, what they'd want next time. Luna: That's a good loop. It builds the asset for the next crisis. Lucas: Right. And that's the meta lesson here — a recall isn't just a threat to manage. It's an opportunity to demonstrate that your brand values are real. If you've built a network of ambassadors who genuinely believe in what you do, a recall can actually deepen their loyalty and the audience's trust. Luna: I think the CMO who pulls that off is doing real leadership, not just crisis management. Lucas: Absolutely. And it starts with asking yourself before the crisis hits: if I had to call my top ten ambassadors at midnight tonight, would they answer? And would they trust me enough to speak?