One of the main trending topics on Twitter today is Horizon Realty. According to Mashable, the company is suing a woman for $50,000 over a tweet that one of its Chicago apartments she rented was moldy.
Mashable's story, which references an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, says that the company did not attempt to contact the woman who posted the tweet or ask her to remove it. Instead, a Horizon Realty rep, Jeffrey Michael, said, "We're a sue first, ask question later kind of an organization."
And with that, a tweet that, at best, less than two dozen people originally saw, became a topic of discussion among thousands and thousands of people on Twitter. And you can imagine the kind of commentary it has generated about Horizon. Makes you wonder how many lawsuits the company could conceivably file, given the quote above.
Here's the thing: Whether the post was factual or not, Horizon really should have done a reach out to the customer first. By launching a lawsuit, the company has drawn attention to itself and stirred up a hornets' nest of unflattering comments. No doubt more media outlets will pick up the story, inviting or encouraging more scornful commentary. That's how a PR nightmare is born. The comment about suing first really doesn't help the company's brand either. Now, it will have to expend time, money and energy trying to rehabilitate its rep, all of which it could have avoided if it chose to handle the situation differently.
Ultimately, this is another example of why you want to very carefully consider any measures you take when dealing with customers in any forum, particularly social media. Because it only takes one comment by a company rep to fan the flames of hostility on the internet and make your company internationally infamous. That's the kind of property damage you can't easily repair.
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Pretty good guitarist strums pain of United Airlines baggage handling with his fingers
Companies sure have embraced social media, haven't they. They're tweeting this, vlogging that. They gush like gossip columnists over how wonderful life is with these tools in the world. What they forget is that consumers can use these tools to put the screws to you.
Submitted for your approval, the story of David Carroll , who constitutes 50% of the Nova Scotia-based band Sons of Maxwell. In spring of 2008, while traveling in the US to a gig, someone witnessed his $3,500 Taylor guitar being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers during a stopover in Chicago. The guitar was smashed, and Carroll took action.
Being Canadian, and thus genetically hardwired to be polite, Carroll pursued the matter through official channels. He writes about the process in vivid detail on his blog, noting that, although no one at United denied the incident took place, no one was willing to take responsibility for it.
Well, polite as we Canadians can be, Mr. Carroll's dander rose over the next nine months as airline officials played hot potato with his complaint. When a Ms. Irlweg informed him the company would not accept responsibility, and that would be her last email on the matter, he responded that he would be writing 3 songs about his experience with United. A kind of Canadian Railroad Trilogy if you will, only this one about how United smashes the guitars of Canadian musicians.
And on July 6, Carroll posted the first song of his promised trilogy, United Breaks Guitars on YouTube. It's a very witty ode to incompetence and indifference that has, as of Wednesday July 8, been watched by more than 100,000 people. The ballad of the smashed guitar has also been featured in the Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia's main daily newspaper, and highlighted on the LA Times travel blog.
As you may have guessed, the folks at United want to talk to Carroll about the matter now that he has drawn public attention to his plight. This demonstrates how effective social media tools can be in pushing a customer complaint. The thing is, it shouldn't have taken a video to force United's hand. If the company had dealt with Carroll in an appropriate timely manner*, the situation wouldn't have escalated into a very public complaint, one that puts the company at a significant disadvantage.
For one, Carroll's story and video encourage scrutiny and discussion of United's conduct from people who are not agreeably disposed to the airline's brand. His experiences have also encouraged others to share their own grievances about United and threaten boycotts. Just look at the talk back about his YouTube video. Attendant media coverage has been unflattering and dominated by Carroll's experiences. Thus the company is stuck in reaction mode. It is wasting time and money on efforts to undo the damage of a situation it could have avoided, even resolved more efficiently and cheaply, by quietly replacing Carroll's guitar. At the very least, it should serve as a tutorial to the company on the power of social media tools to damage a brand, and how not to handle such disputes in the future.
So, if you take anything from this story, it should be this: treat your customers with respect, take responsibility for your actions, and make sure private matters remain private. You never know when you're going to come up against a talented musician with an ax to grind, and a forum in which to grind it.
*I had said proactive + private when I originally posted this, but on reflection, those words seemed ill-chosen...
Submitted for your approval, the story of David Carroll , who constitutes 50% of the Nova Scotia-based band Sons of Maxwell. In spring of 2008, while traveling in the US to a gig, someone witnessed his $3,500 Taylor guitar being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers during a stopover in Chicago. The guitar was smashed, and Carroll took action.
Being Canadian, and thus genetically hardwired to be polite, Carroll pursued the matter through official channels. He writes about the process in vivid detail on his blog, noting that, although no one at United denied the incident took place, no one was willing to take responsibility for it.
Well, polite as we Canadians can be, Mr. Carroll's dander rose over the next nine months as airline officials played hot potato with his complaint. When a Ms. Irlweg informed him the company would not accept responsibility, and that would be her last email on the matter, he responded that he would be writing 3 songs about his experience with United. A kind of Canadian Railroad Trilogy if you will, only this one about how United smashes the guitars of Canadian musicians.
And on July 6, Carroll posted the first song of his promised trilogy, United Breaks Guitars on YouTube. It's a very witty ode to incompetence and indifference that has, as of Wednesday July 8, been watched by more than 100,000 people. The ballad of the smashed guitar has also been featured in the Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia's main daily newspaper, and highlighted on the LA Times travel blog.
As you may have guessed, the folks at United want to talk to Carroll about the matter now that he has drawn public attention to his plight. This demonstrates how effective social media tools can be in pushing a customer complaint. The thing is, it shouldn't have taken a video to force United's hand. If the company had dealt with Carroll in an appropriate timely manner*, the situation wouldn't have escalated into a very public complaint, one that puts the company at a significant disadvantage.
For one, Carroll's story and video encourage scrutiny and discussion of United's conduct from people who are not agreeably disposed to the airline's brand. His experiences have also encouraged others to share their own grievances about United and threaten boycotts. Just look at the talk back about his YouTube video. Attendant media coverage has been unflattering and dominated by Carroll's experiences. Thus the company is stuck in reaction mode. It is wasting time and money on efforts to undo the damage of a situation it could have avoided, even resolved more efficiently and cheaply, by quietly replacing Carroll's guitar. At the very least, it should serve as a tutorial to the company on the power of social media tools to damage a brand, and how not to handle such disputes in the future.
So, if you take anything from this story, it should be this: treat your customers with respect, take responsibility for your actions, and make sure private matters remain private. You never know when you're going to come up against a talented musician with an ax to grind, and a forum in which to grind it.
*I had said proactive + private when I originally posted this, but on reflection, those words seemed ill-chosen...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
All night, she was a Young Republican
Think before you post. It's not 'one to grow on', but it's brilliant in its simplicity. We've so many wonderful tools and apps that allow us to spew crazy brilliance without much delay between thought and expression, it's overwhelming. And most of us, even I, pump out impulsive notions that occur to us through avenues such as Facebook, Twitter with alarming alacrity, never stopping think about, as Men At Work once succinctly put it 'the implications/of diving in too deep/and possibly the complications."
That's certainly true of Audra Shay who, at the age of 38 is pushing the boundaries of Junior Chamber membership, much less the Vice Chairmanship of the Young Republicans. According to The Daily Beast, Shay responded to a post on her Facebook page, saying that America needed to be reclaimed from 'coons' and 'illegals', with 'you tell them... lol.'
Shay has countered that she was not responding directly to that post, but to a previous post by the same individual, a fact the Daily Beast disputes based on the time that passed between postings. She removed the exchange from her Facebook page (which you can find around the web in the form of screen shots). She posted a subsequent Facebook update saying she would not condone t such racially disparaging remarks. Yet she raised suspicions by defriending Facebook colleagues who challenged her on her inexcusable post.
Shay, it should be noted, is a front runner for the chair of the Young Republicans, a position that will be filled this Saturday. Naturally, she's made her apologies for her comments, but it is worth asking how much that was motivated by the need to save face versus genuine contrition. Her attempt to divert attention from her actions by accusing her YR rivals of political attacks suggests she made her statements out of necessity.
Any such suspicions are damaging for her and for the Republicans, given similar high profile racial insensitivities and slurs committed in recent weeks by individuals such as Rusty DePass, Sherri Goforth and Chip Saltzman. Shay's thoughtlessness only serves to reinforce negative perceptions people have that the Republican party's brand of politics are unfavorable to anyone who is not white, straight or affluent.
Given that Shay undermined her best possible chance at redemption - a straight and genuine apology - by deflecting attention, the best possible action she could take to protect her reputation, and that of her party, is to resign. Any action she would take, any comment she could make, as chair of the YR is going to be scrutinized in light of this incident. Media interest will ensure that the focus this weekend will be on her suitability, GOP racial issues and anything but the election of the new YR chair.
This is supposed to be a time of rebuilding for the Republicans, a chance to reach out and reengage Americans, an opportunity to build the kind of support necessary to win the next election. Like any organization, the party can't move ahead so long as its members perpetuate longstanding negative perceptions.
It'll be interesting to see how this story plays out, and the PR/communications efforts that Shay and the YR undertake to mitigate the damage resulting from her insensitivity, to build integrity and trust, to save face, as it were. I think it won't be easy and any attempt, however sincere, is going to be met with skepticism. Regardless, it's one more timely reminder to always think before you post. The political scandal you prevent may be your own.
That's certainly true of Audra Shay who, at the age of 38 is pushing the boundaries of Junior Chamber membership, much less the Vice Chairmanship of the Young Republicans. According to The Daily Beast, Shay responded to a post on her Facebook page, saying that America needed to be reclaimed from 'coons' and 'illegals', with 'you tell them... lol.'
Shay has countered that she was not responding directly to that post, but to a previous post by the same individual, a fact the Daily Beast disputes based on the time that passed between postings. She removed the exchange from her Facebook page (which you can find around the web in the form of screen shots). She posted a subsequent Facebook update saying she would not condone t such racially disparaging remarks. Yet she raised suspicions by defriending Facebook colleagues who challenged her on her inexcusable post.
Shay, it should be noted, is a front runner for the chair of the Young Republicans, a position that will be filled this Saturday. Naturally, she's made her apologies for her comments, but it is worth asking how much that was motivated by the need to save face versus genuine contrition. Her attempt to divert attention from her actions by accusing her YR rivals of political attacks suggests she made her statements out of necessity.
Any such suspicions are damaging for her and for the Republicans, given similar high profile racial insensitivities and slurs committed in recent weeks by individuals such as Rusty DePass, Sherri Goforth and Chip Saltzman. Shay's thoughtlessness only serves to reinforce negative perceptions people have that the Republican party's brand of politics are unfavorable to anyone who is not white, straight or affluent.
Given that Shay undermined her best possible chance at redemption - a straight and genuine apology - by deflecting attention, the best possible action she could take to protect her reputation, and that of her party, is to resign. Any action she would take, any comment she could make, as chair of the YR is going to be scrutinized in light of this incident. Media interest will ensure that the focus this weekend will be on her suitability, GOP racial issues and anything but the election of the new YR chair.
This is supposed to be a time of rebuilding for the Republicans, a chance to reach out and reengage Americans, an opportunity to build the kind of support necessary to win the next election. Like any organization, the party can't move ahead so long as its members perpetuate longstanding negative perceptions.
It'll be interesting to see how this story plays out, and the PR/communications efforts that Shay and the YR undertake to mitigate the damage resulting from her insensitivity, to build integrity and trust, to save face, as it were. I think it won't be easy and any attempt, however sincere, is going to be met with skepticism. Regardless, it's one more timely reminder to always think before you post. The political scandal you prevent may be your own.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Worthy Award- for June 19
If you have been reading this blog on a regular basis, you'll know I've been ranting about marketing, communications and public relations items that have rubbed me the wrong way. All that negativity does something to a person, to use impersonal language, so I've decided that I want to be positive for a change. Not only that, on a sustained basis.
So today, I'm starting something new - the Worthy Award. There's no real award per se - we're a frugal organization here at the Words' Worth lab - but what I offer is a shout out to organizations and individuals who are exemplifying or engaged in progressive, ethical, commendable or downright amusing PR, Marketing or Communications practices or campaigns.
Today, I'm giving the first Worthy Award to Pixar. Why? Because, and you'll need a hankie for this - the company fulfilled the dying wish of a 10-year-old-girl. It arranged a private DVD showing of its latest film Up for her. Seven hours later, the girl passed away. If that doesn't move you, you either have no pulse or no heart.
I don't know much about Pixar beyond what I see and read in the media, but it has always struck me as a company that is very committed to producing only the highest quality entertainment - entertainment that can be enjoyed by every member of the family. It has also seemed to me to be a company that sees its employees and their families as part of a big Pixar family. One Pixar tradition is to list the names of all the babies born to employees during the production of a particular film in the closing credits.
By responding to a call from a mother wanting to make her daughter's wish come true, Pixar reinforced the positive brand attributes I associate with the company. But here's what impresses me most about Pixar as regards this story: they declined to comment for the news story.
Normally, I'd say no comment is the wrong approach to take. In this context, any comment by Pixar might have come off as a canned self-congratulatory, opportunistic or self-promotional tract. That kind of false modesty where a company really wants to bask in the media spotlight for its own benefit. By design or inadvertently, Pixar let the family tell its tragic, yet touching, story without hijacking it.
Sure, the company may not have wanted to encourage more such incidents - it couldn't fulfill every such request - but I like to think it realized that this was not the time or place to solicit attention for a good deed. Besides, anything the company could have said would not have had the impact or appeal as the family describing just what that one act of kindness meant for a little girl. You couldn't ask, pay, or create a better endorsement.
So, let me wipe that pesky tear from my eye and say that, Pixar, you are truly Words' Worthy.
So today, I'm starting something new - the Worthy Award. There's no real award per se - we're a frugal organization here at the Words' Worth lab - but what I offer is a shout out to organizations and individuals who are exemplifying or engaged in progressive, ethical, commendable or downright amusing PR, Marketing or Communications practices or campaigns.
Today, I'm giving the first Worthy Award to Pixar. Why? Because, and you'll need a hankie for this - the company fulfilled the dying wish of a 10-year-old-girl. It arranged a private DVD showing of its latest film Up for her. Seven hours later, the girl passed away. If that doesn't move you, you either have no pulse or no heart.
I don't know much about Pixar beyond what I see and read in the media, but it has always struck me as a company that is very committed to producing only the highest quality entertainment - entertainment that can be enjoyed by every member of the family. It has also seemed to me to be a company that sees its employees and their families as part of a big Pixar family. One Pixar tradition is to list the names of all the babies born to employees during the production of a particular film in the closing credits.
By responding to a call from a mother wanting to make her daughter's wish come true, Pixar reinforced the positive brand attributes I associate with the company. But here's what impresses me most about Pixar as regards this story: they declined to comment for the news story.
Normally, I'd say no comment is the wrong approach to take. In this context, any comment by Pixar might have come off as a canned self-congratulatory, opportunistic or self-promotional tract. That kind of false modesty where a company really wants to bask in the media spotlight for its own benefit. By design or inadvertently, Pixar let the family tell its tragic, yet touching, story without hijacking it.
Sure, the company may not have wanted to encourage more such incidents - it couldn't fulfill every such request - but I like to think it realized that this was not the time or place to solicit attention for a good deed. Besides, anything the company could have said would not have had the impact or appeal as the family describing just what that one act of kindness meant for a little girl. You couldn't ask, pay, or create a better endorsement.
So, let me wipe that pesky tear from my eye and say that, Pixar, you are truly Words' Worthy.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)