(FORTUNE Magazine) – Firestone has an image problem. (It also has a product problem and a legal problem, but let's stay focused.) To help restore faith in the brand, the company announced last month that it had made a "significant investment" in an image-rehabilitation campaign, to be designed by Grey Worldwide. The spots will feature one (and maybe even two!) spokespeople.

That got us thinking: What sort of public figure would Firestone choose? Could the pearly-white smile of a big-time celebrity really change the image of such a tarnished brand? No way! That never happens in real life.

FORTUNE asked a group of ad executives, marketing experts, and image consultants how they might address this Marketing Job From Hell. We got some interesting answers: "Firestone is dead brand driving. If a guy came up with a set of ads that fixes this problem, my hat's off to him," says Jack Trout, a consultant at Trout & Partners, a marketing-strategy firm. We also received a few spokesperson nominations: Tom Hanks, Colin Powell, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jordan, even Lee Iacocca. The winner by one vote: Pope John Paul II.

Thanks, folks, but we'll take it from here. What Firestone really needs is a spokesperson who can identify with the situation. Somebody who's been up and down and then back up again. "We all fall," says Susan Bixler, president of the Professional Image, a corporate-image consultancy. "We've all had accidents or incidents that hurt our brand, but it's the recovery that can turn things around. It's going to be hard, and they're not allowed any more missteps. But I actually think they can restore the brand."

Amen to that. With Bixler's advice in mind, we assembled some candidates for the job. Since these people have restored their own brand under onerous circumstances, they're the ones most prepared for the challenge. And we know for a fact that at least one of our candidates will be looking for a job next month.