The media — new and old — have been all over the JetBlue story for the last week, so I won’t rehash it all here. Short story: bad snowstorm in Northeast, JetBlue stunningly fails to meet passenger expectations, but does a pretty decent job of actually apologizing afterwards (how refreshing is that), including a YouTube video by founder and CEO David Neeleman, a JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights, emails to customers and frequent fliers (I got one) and full page apologies in the newspapers.
Commentary: Shel Holtz, Todd Defren, BL Ochman, Mack Collier, Tom Biro, Chip Griffin, Peter Himler, JetBlue on Technorati.
I’ll join with my pr and marketing colleagues in giving props to the company for effectively using social media in its crisis communications.
Marketing diva Toby Bloomberg asks the follow-on question: if JetBlue had had a social media marketing strategy before the crisis, would it have made a difference? My opinion: it might have alleviated some of the frustration had there been additional channels of communication for stranded passengers, like an RSS feed with information on cancelled flights, but the flaws in the JetBlue infrastructure that caused the situation would not have been fixed with better communication about them.
What really makes a difference isn’t the media we use. It is the "social" part — caring about your customers, delivering on the promises you make, and when you fall down, for whatever reason, doing what it takes to make it right.
Sure, social media — blogs, YouTube, email and so forth — help us respond and communicate faster. But one of the best examples of crisis communications of all time happened well before the Internet – Johnson & Johnson and the Tylenol scare in 1982.
J&J sincerely cared about its customers. It stepped up and did all the right things. Which is why confidence in the product, and market share, rebounded pretty quickly.
To its credit, JetBlue seems to understand this. Neeleman was clearly sincere in his promise to never let this happen again, and because the airline DOES have a pretty good reputation, by and large we believe him. He’s also putting his money where his mouth is; costs to reimburse affected passengers and prevent future problems will run the airline $20-30 million.
Of course, it is not what you say or how you say it. It’s what you do.
Customers don’t want empty promises. They want to see the company live up to them. JetBlue has done a decent job in responding to this crisis, and gets full credit for using all the media tools available to it. Now, we’ll be watching to see if it follows through. My bet is that it will.
Tags: JetBlue, social media, David Neeleman, crisis management
Susan – It always amazes me in the competitive world of commodity air travel that companies do not get that a little kindness goes a long way to win loyalty. And horrid service results in the explosion of wom buzz.
On the other side of the equation, the goodwill that jetBlue cultivated over the past 7-years has paid off. Yes, people are angry, frustrated and disappointed in the brand, but so many customers are willing to forgive and more forward in faith that jetBlue has learned a lesson that will result in even better customer care.
Susan,
Like you, I am tired of hearing the JetBlue story over and over again (except the jokes Conan has every night). As a student, we discussed (in depth) how a company or organization should go about apologizing or alleviating mistakes when a problem arises. In my personal opinion, I think that JetBlue has done an incredible job. With it’s new plan not only guaranteeing monetary payouts to passengers who get stuck on a plane for hours at a time, I think making the new plan retroactive also shows that JetBlue is at least pretending to put its customer s first. Quick and effective apologies always work best and JetBlue has taken that into consideration.
Susan,
I couldn’t agree more. Its interesting to see companies use social media to try and pick up the broken pieces. It’s smart and I know this is just the beginning of a powerful media tool.
I believe JetBlue did the right thing, did not waste anytime and can now move forward.
I like when you said we have to remember the “social” part which is caring for customers, keeping promises and doing what it takes to make things right. My only wish is that everyone thought as you do.
It is what we do. Not what we say or how but the act of doing something to make things better. I believe social media is an excellent way of achieving this and I’m glad JetBlue did the right thing!
I thought I was the only one that was impressed with the way that the CEO of JetBlue responded to the airplane fiasco, so it’s good to hear that others felt the same way. Yes, this was any passenger’s nightmare. Being stuck on an airplane on the runway for hours on end without enough water or an adequate bathroom facility is unacceptable. Those passengers should not have had to go through that–but it happened. And as PR practitioners, we know that the best bet is honesty and moving quickly. After all, JetBlue is not the first airline that has had this happen. And I think that David Neelman handled it with extreme honesty. He admitted that this was unacceptable, began an initiative to create a bill of rights for passengers, promised rebates for the hours of turmoil and promised that this extreme situation would never occur at JetBlue again. Yet the media continues to stir up the negative buzz about JetBlue. I think JetBlue should be applauded for honesty and active response.
Susan,
When I look at the JetBlue situation, I too am reminded at how important the “social” of social media is. When JetBlue faced this crisis of cancelled flights and a plummeting reputation, they turned their attention to their customers. In turn, their appeal to their customers has since reflected a more positive image in the public’s eye.
In addition to their customer attention, I am also impressed by JetBlue’s use of social media and timeliness. Within a week, David Neelman had already apologized on YouTube and the customer bill of rights was already underway. Timeliness is crucial in any situation, especially a crisis. Social media was an ideal way to effectively send out a message quickly. I commend JetBlue for their honesty and timely use of this new media tool to reach their public.
Thanks for all the comments. I think Jet Blue will (pardon the pun) weather this storm. One common criticism I’ve read is that they didn’t update the CEO blog quickly enough. Legitimate criticism, and I hope they’ve learned that a blog is a commitment, not just a platform. However, I am willing to cut them a little slack. Provided they deliver on the promises.
Upon hearing about JetBlue’s incident (numerous times) last week, the first thought that came to mind was the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol scare also. Yes, I realize that JetBlue’s incident is not as serious or threatening, however it does place the same strains and consequences on the company. JetBlue’s crisis management skills and steps taken to reclaim their credibility and customer trust have been smart and successful so far in my opinion. Not only did they immediately respond to this crisis, but they also used the same social media outlet as the customers did – YouTube. This not only showed the public that they were sorry and wanted to be given another chance, but it also proved their efforts as serious and meaningful. Reaching out to the public through YouTube proved that JetBlue had a serious message of apology to deliver and they wanted to make sure that the public knew about it and could easily access it. Many companies may view this as unprofessional, but I believe it is pure genius and does work. Our world today is changing and yes it is moving fast towards social media. In order for companies to stay connected with their customers, they must be willing and ready to embrace the pr aspect of social media. It is at times like these that I fully realize the importance of pr and am strongly motivated and excited about using my skills learned in college to embrace the world and social media. I do believe that so far JetBlue’s response actions have been “on track” and have placed them back towards the front. We will see what happens in the coming weeks with their communication and pr steps to regain credibility and status.