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vangogh
07-10-2009, 07:32 PM
Came across an interesting story today about a musician who had a bad experience with United Airlines baggage handlers. They were literally throwing his guitar and broke the neck of a $3500 Taylor guitar. He tried to file a claim, but was given the runaround for close to a year.

After awhile he realized he was never going to get anywhere, but as a musician figured there was something else he could do. He promised the last person he spoke to at United that he would write 3 songs about United and what happened and would create videos for each of those songs.

Here's the first video from YouTube called United Breaks Guitars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo).

You can read the short and long version of the story on Dave Carrol's site (http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars/)

I'm posting both here in part because the story is interesting and the video is funny and in part because there are some good marketing lessons that come out of both.

As I mentioned in the subject it's not you, but your customers who control the message about your company. You don't necessarily have to kiss the you know what of everyone wanting to do business with you, but you should probably be careful about who you end kicking in that same you know what.

The internet gives more power to ordinary people to share information. Social media does this even more. Because of that a single person could create the message about you and alter the perception of your brand before you even realize it's happening.

The story and video about United are spreading and the message both carry is not from the side of United Airlines.

Another lesson is how Dave Carrol is using the experience to ultimately promote himself and his band. Let's face it if enough people watch the video and hear the music in the coming weeks, he'll be selling more records and playing in front of more people on the road. At the end of his story he says


I’ve been done “being angry” for quite some time and, if anything, I should thank United. They’ve given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world.

The next lesson will come in the days ahead as United responds or doesn't respond and in how they respond if they do. While anyone can spread a message about your company, you still have the ability to counter it, deflate it, or use it to your benefit. A post on SEOmoz offers some suggestions how United could turn things to their advantage.

Dear United, Here's Your Chance for Awesome Reputation Management (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/dear-united-heres-your-chance-for-awesome-reputation-management)

Are there any other lessons from the story? Are you currently monitoring the web to see what people are saying about you and are you responding when necessary? If you were United how would you respond to the video and if so how? What do you think of how Dave Carrol handled the whole the situation.

Dan Furman
07-11-2009, 12:35 PM
This is a great story. But it's one I am torn on.

On one hand, yes, it's great that people have an outlet to complain about shoddy service. Now, most won't go through the lengths this guy did, nor will their efforts get nearly as much play, but the fact that guys like this exist should keep more companies on their toes. That's a good thing.

But, to me, there's another side. The old saying "the customer is always right" is, as any businessperson knows, not always true. I mean, just look at Amazon reviews - pick any product with 100+ reviews, and you'll see a few one-star reviews - that are supposed to be for the product - that talk about nothing but delivery issues, or the fact that the greedy manufacturer already released this DVD set last year, why are they releasing an extra special one now, etc. I even saw one that gives a product a bad review because the postman delivered it to the wrong address.

I understand that people just want their displeasure to be "heard", but in the fog that passes for thinking in these people, they totally picked the wrong target. So part of me really doesn't want to give everyone a place to vent.

It's sort of like this:

The best thing about democracy? Everyone gets a vote.
The worst thing about democracy? Everyone gets a vote.

Patrysha
07-11-2009, 02:05 PM
I kind of agree with Dan on the double-edge sword quality of having the tools to complain in the hands of everyman. No one is perfect all the time and every business is going to have someone who isn't happy...and there are those customers who will never be satisfied no matter what.

However, in this particular case it's a great story about using creative problem solving to bring an issue to light.

United had every opportunity to make this right before it went viral. Some companies underestimate the power of word of mouse and pay for it when they forget that every single customer is important.

As for your questions...I sort of monitor what is being said about me, but don't spend much time on it. I am not big enough yet to have a whole lot of clients that I don't personally know.

As for what I would do if I was United. I am not sure. I'm entrepreneurial, not corporate - there are so many layers of command behind the scenes and so much politics that goes on in that sort of environment, who is to say that there aren't proactive, knowledgeable people on staff who are being drowned out by the traditional "we have to stay on target and do things the way they are always done" types.

I think what Dave Carrol did was bold, creative and daring...whether it takes his band and career to new heights or is just a 15 minutes of glory type thing, I admire that he took a stand and got attention for it. But then I might just have an affinity for him because he's Canadian :-D

vangogh
07-11-2009, 05:24 PM
I agree with both of you about there being two sides to this. What I think is the most important lesson for all of us is that while there are two sides if only one side of the story is out there, that's the one that gets believed. Most people hearing the song and seeing the video will side against United. Maybe it's over some frustration they had with another airline, but the story will become the little guy vs. the big corporate entity.

The option I like for United comes from the SEOmoz article. I think they could work with Dave Carrol, buy him a new and better guitar and have him play that guitar in one of the as yet to be released videos. Play up the humor and have video three in the series be the happy one where Dave and United are again friends. Then they piggy back on any publicity the videos are generating.

Patrysha I'm with you on the monitoring. I have a few things set up to track mentions of my name and company name, but I'm hardly big enough for it to be unmanageable. I think it does make sense to set up a few simple things. Maybe Google alerts, a Twitter search, a more general social media search. I'll also set those things up for competitors to see what's being said about them.

Patrysha
07-11-2009, 05:38 PM
Absolutely...the David v Goliath aspect of the story is what made it go viral...the common frustration of everyone who has dealt with nasty customer service and companies who don't take responsibility is aiding the spread of the story because it is so relateable. (If that's even a word, which I doubt...but you know what I mean, I hope)

I think the SEOmoz suggestions were great...but doubt that United will adapt them. They could surprise me, but I haven't seen any of the companies that have been affected by social media pr stumbles in the recent past step up to the plate as far as engaging the public and turning the story around in a positive way.

dwiads
07-12-2009, 07:17 AM
Yeah I also see what Dan said about online review can be a problem. Some of the customer sometimes give review for false reason. That's why it still hard to pick up a good product one. When I want to buy a service or product online. I really look at the review and the reason why this person give good or bad.

vangogh
07-12-2009, 12:58 PM
Patrysha I agree that United isn't likely to try any of the SEOmoz recommendations. My guess is they'll actually ignore the whole thing unless the press gets really bad, in which case they'll probably try to discredit Dave Carrol. Maybe they'll surprise me, but that's what I'd guess they'll do.

dwiads what I do with reviews is look for the similarities in them. I know that some of the positive and negative reviews can't be trusted, but you can learn certain things. Maybe 5 of the reviews all talk about poor battery life. You can probably assume the battery isn't all that good. If that's important to you then it can help you make a decision. You can't really base your decision on one review, but you can learn a lot about a product after reading several reviews.

vangogh
07-23-2009, 12:55 PM
Just found a followup article to the Dave Carrol/United story, Revenge is Best Served Cold on YouTube (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article6722407.ece).

Seems United's stock has dropped 10% since the video started gaining popularity, costing stockholders about $180 million. Is it all related to the video? Who knows. Still it shows you that shouldn't just toss your customer's complaints to the curb.

KristineS
07-24-2009, 09:13 AM
I think the fact that customers can now talk directly to other customers is something that a lot of companies have been slow to grasp. This story is a perfect example.

There's an old Marketing or Sales adage that a happy customer will tell one other person but an angry customer will tell ten other people, or something to that effect. That has now been multiplied by hundreds or thousands depending on which venue an angry person decides to use to tell their story.

As Dan pointed out, the customer isn't always right, but they still will speak their piece. Companies need to be aware of what is being said about them, and they need to be savvy enough to know what deserves a response and what doesn't. It's a fine line to walk, but it can be done.

vangogh
07-24-2009, 11:33 AM
customers can now talk directly to other customers is something that a lot of companies have been slow to grasp.

Yep. That's what this is really all about. All your information about a company no longer flows through that company. In years past you might talk to friends and neighbors about a product, but that only reaches so far. If a company did something especially good or bad it might make the 6:00 news or be in the paper, but that would still be filtered through the company.

Now you can have almost instant access to a variety of opinions about anything. You could hop over to Twitter, ask a question about a product, and in a few minutes have a few dozen opinions waiting for you. What's more, others will also see those opinions and continue to pass them around.