Damage Control: Using Online Media To Get the Word Out

Chris Garrett said something really insightful yesterday: “It is a lot easier to damage a brand than it is to build one.” And so, with last week’s JetBlue cancellations that were largely a result of poor weather conditions, a lot of speculation began about the ability for JetBlue to return to normalcy and live up to its mantra: “to bring humanity back to air travel.”

Every business makes mistakes. Every business has to occasionally deal with damage control and reinstate the public’s faith. Some businesses will refuse to acknowledge defeat and ignore their most outrageous errors, while hoping that their customers will continue to be loyal to them (note: in such cases where the company doesn’t sufficiently address these issues, they usually aren’t). Others will live up to their mistakes and make apologies that the public, and everyone will notice.

JetBlue did just that. Understanding that their customer is everything to the success of their business was something that they needed to acknowledge. They started with a YouTube video where the CEO admitted that there were flaws in how the flights were handled, followed by the release of a Passenger’s Bill of Rights, and today, they came out with full-page apologies in three major newspapers.

The most notable apology is the YouTube video. JetBlue is truly getting it right. While the majority of its ridership probably doesn’t use YouTube, the YouTube community is as impressionable community. Its users are primarily part of the “younger” demographic that will likely see this action in a positive light. Thoughts like “wow, this company understands us and is talking to us” come to mind.

What other benefits do such mediums have? Well, the blogosphere is buzzing about this one, and it’s been definitely rewarding for JetBlue after an agonizing and unpredictable past week. I, too, would fly JetBlue again.

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Posted by Tamar Weinberg at 11:27 am
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4 Responses to “ Damage Control: Using Online Media To Get the Word Out ”

Comments:

Chris Garrett says:
February 21st, 2007 at 11:32 am

Thanks for the link :O) I think it is very interesting they chose to use YouTube. Time will tell if it pays off but something tells me this won’t be the first “web2.0 delivered apology” … perhaps the next will be in second life?

AndreaN says:
February 21st, 2007 at 12:37 pm

Great blog! JetBlue seems to really understand the importance of using “new media” to get their message out. I have really been impressed by the way they have handled this situation. I wrote a blog entry about it myself. I had a great experience with JetBlue just this week. If you get a chance check it out!

http://thenierenblog.typepad.com

Chris Winfield says:
February 21st, 2007 at 5:10 pm

I actually just received an email from the CEO (I am a TrueBlue member but I wasn’t on any of the flights) and it actually feels sincere and personal (which is very hard with a mass email). I think it’s worth posting here:

Dear JetBlue Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue’s seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue’s pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President’s Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.

We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.

Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.

You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.

Sincerely,

David Neeleman

Chris Baskind says:
February 21st, 2007 at 6:06 pm

I am deeply impressed by jetBlue’s handling of their world-class screwup. They are totally doing the right thing.

Think of all the bonehead companies who have tried to weasel-world their way out of similar blunders. No hemming and hawing here: jetBlue is accepting the blame and telling us how they’re going to fix the problem.

Damn fine. They clearly found some big problems last week, but there’s something right about this company. I’d fly ‘em.

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