Once again, J&J has turned to social media. Needing to communicate about a recent recall of Tylenol and other medications, J&J has taken to its blog and Twitter.
On the corporate communications blog, J&JBTW, there are two posts explaining the recall. What’s unique, from a pharma perspective, is that this blog allows for comments. As of today, there are only three comments, however one of them is negative. Marc Monseau, who is the primary writer for the blog, has responded to the comment. The blog also directs to a Twitter account.
McNeil, the J&J subsidiary who manufacturers Tylenol, created @McNeilRecall on Twitter. The account seems to have been created in a hurry, since there is no logo. The bio explains that the account is helmed by Lori Dolginoff, Communications, McNeil Consumer Healthcare and additional spokespeople, during business hours. So far, the account only has 21 followers (mostly industry folks) and does not follow anyone. The account has tweeted 6 times, mostly referring readers to the press release on the McNeil website.
The website, http://McNeilProductRecall.com, has FAQ and other detailed information about the recall. Paid search ads also drive to the site. It’s important to note that the social media channels are being used as part of a broader communication plan. Does your crisis communication plan utilize social media?
I applaud McNeil for utilizing all the tools at their disposal to talk about this situation. It will be interesting to see how the @McNeilRecall account evolves over time.
This post was contributed by Eileen O’Brien, Director of Search & Innovation for Siren Interactive. You can connect with her on Twitter at @eileenobrien.

(Image courtesy of Debs via Flickr)








Posted on Jan 25, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Eileen,
Great Post…being an ‘old OTC Marketer of the past, I’ve been watching this one…It’s good to see social media kicked in and part of a larger communications program…I think a lesson learned, however, might be yet another reminder just how fast a company must act…Marc’s first post didn’t happen until Monday of a long weekend…which only fueled the fire…the social media world doesn’t seem to care if its a holiday weekend or not!
Thanks for summarizing how a master in PR product issues handled it.
Ellen
Posted on Jan 27, 2010 at 9:04 am
[...] O’Brien has an excellent summary of Johnson & Johnson’s recent use of social media to help manage the information flow [...]
Posted on Jan 30, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Social media is the new phone tree and a great way to reach consumers on an issue like this.
Posted on May 11, 2010 at 12:11 pm
[...] We were discussing the recent Johnson & Johnson recall of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. Angry parents had been using social media to react and the group was tweeting about how J&J could best respond. Unfortunately, this is the second recall over the past few months and the revered J&J brand is rapidly losing trust. [...]