Two days ago here I posed the question whether it was possible to rebuild trust with a branding push. Just noticed a news item that Firestone is going to put this to the test.

You will recall Firestone was forced to recall 14 million tires (and settle a $149 million class-action lawsuit) in 2000 because of the fatal rollovers.

It was the biggest example then, of wrestling with reputation management –before Enron, Tyco and Martha took that coveted spot– when your brand starts hurting your stakeholders.

Firestone’s brand building campaign will start in November. Even before that, Advertising Age reports that sales of passenger car tires are up this year. You can bet I will be watching this brand.