Group5_United Breaks Guitars

United Breaks Guitars

Presented by Group 5 Harsh Agarwal C003 Kushal Bohra C007 Omkar Joshi C026 Akriti Kalra C027 Vineet Mishra C037 Jahnavi Modi C038 Sharanya Yaradi C066 Krati Rathi C068

Executive Summary In 2008, Dave Carroll, a musician, was travelling from Canada to Nebraska via Chicago. His guitar was mishandled during this flight and he was asked to register for a claim at the originating airport which he did after returning. After calling various customer care centers he was finally given a reply that no compensation will be paid as he didn’t claim it within 24 hours. He then made a set of 3 videos and shared it on YouTube and various other social media platforms. His video went viral immediately and gained so much popularity that United Airlines had to jump into crisis management. After this incident they took various corrective measures. However, due to the incident, Dave’s career path took a leap and he became famous overnight.

United Airlines  Deregulation

of Airlines Industry removed constraints on pricing & scheduling  Increased competitive fare slashing and fuel costs  In 2003, suffered severe losses  Decreased operational costs by reduction in workforce  Largest percentage drop in American Customer Satisfaction Index in 13 years

Evaluating United Airlines’ Response

Steps taken by the company :  It

responded personally and immediately to rectify the mistake made by the company

 It

made an offer to compensate $1200 in cash and $1200 worth in vouchers

 It

made an effort to reply to tweets and control the negative publicity

 It

planned to change its work culture by using the video

 It  It

donated $3000 to the music school

gave Dave a tour of O’Hare’s baggage –handling facility

Analysis of the response :  The

company made so many efforts to control the situation

 But

the problem was that it did so only after the video went live and viral

 It

underestimated the effect of a complaint on any social medium , on its business

 It

replied to Dave , but there was no formal apology on any public medium

 It

should have focused on developing and training the whole staff instead of only the customer service line.

 Since,

in today’s business environment every department is customer facing

Judging United Airlines’ Response 

United’s reaction time was pretty good ( no media mentions and less than 20,000 views) and their first response was right in calling Caroll.



Communication channels used were limited and they responded individually by mail or private messages (on Twitter). The possible explanation for this can be that it will prohibit the existing tweeters to stop doing it and cap off the negative replies about United Airlines



They actively monitored Twitter for tweets. Their response initially conveyed “not-our-fault” attitude. But quickly they changed it quite positive and apologetic replies



They also mentioned on Twitter about the corrective measures they have taken like donation in a hope that it will calm down people.



The whole situation could have been defused in a better way if United had a renowned spokesperson rather than their media relations office posting on Twitter

Overall United Airlines handled situation in a decent way which would reduce the damage

Carroll’s Video garnered so much attention because:  Popularity

of Dave Carroll on social media

 Followers

of his personal blog www.davecarrollmusic.com

 Video

went viral on YouTube

 Support

from friends and band-mates

 Support

from Taylor Guitars and Carlton Cases

 Video

was picked up by – Consumerist.com, a website affiliated with Consumers Union and publisher of Consumer Reports magazine  Empathy from other aggrieved customers who were unsatisfied with the customer service  Attention from media channels and invitations for interviews

Going Viral: Origin & Implications  Derived

from the idea of an actual virus, going viral pertains to the spreading of information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially on the Internet.

 The

Sneezing Baby Panda made it’s YouTube debut in 2006, and has since been viewed 216 million times. Charlie Bit my Finger has 812 million hits since 2007.

  2014

saw the rise of  The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos. Facebook released statistics showing the use of the term “Ice Bucket Challenge” on their site rising from less than 100k to more than 28 million uses in just 6 weeks.

 Dove's

"Real Beauty Sketches" campaign recorded more than 114 million views in the first month. Unilever uploaded the video in 25 languages to 33 of its official YouTube channels, reaching consumers in more than 110 countries.

A

viral video can build up a brand in hours — and knock it down even faster. The same tool that can create priceless free publicity can easily become a double-edged sword, and plenty of companies in recent years have seen the downside of online videography

 Brands

like FedEx, AOL, Dominos Pizza, Comcast and Starbucks had videos about their employees and customer service that went viral and negatively impacted their brand image

 https://youtu.be/PKUDTPbDhnA

 https://youtu.be/MUTrJW-0xtc

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Idea Propagation through social network 

Idea propagates as a chain reaction

 What will propagate & what will not is the question  It isn’t a closed loop system so the information never remains static. 

Depends on the kind of social network on which the idea travels: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.



Propagates through influential individuals adopting the idea



Competition for attention: Target group is the key to propagate the idea



Word of Mouth plays a major role in the propagation of the idea

How to be prepared?  Dedicated

team to address social media crises with definite contingency plan  Quick response time  Be candid and truthful  Be aware and listen to what people have to say about your brand and fine tune communication  Be exhaustive in use of channels

“Fight Viral with Viral!”