Thursday, September 16, 2010

United Breaks Guitars Video

Here's a customer satisfaction video I use in my marketing class, now on video #3 and a Harvard Business Review Case:

16 comments:

  1. This video, along with the video shown in class, is a nice example of how technology has affected marketing and customer feedback. In the past, a disgruntled customer would be lucky to reach a few hundred people. Today’s technology allows customer’s opinions to reach far and wide. Negative customer reviews, like the one shown in the video, are quite damaging to a company. If the company does not take steps to make a proactive response, it can lose revenue and its reputation. Losing too much of either can bring about a company’s downfall.

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  2. This video and case we talked about in class really demonstrate the destruction that social media can inflict. Damage control was crucial in this case and I think that United didn't do a very good job with that, since the only thing they did was "tweet" about it. Customer satisfaction is critical in the service industry, especially with airlines. This video gave United a bad reputation with handling customers and their stocks and reputation suffered because of it.

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  3. I find this video to be a prime example of how the social media can take something and run with it. In only a matter of days, the amount of hits and popularity that arose from this video on YouTube were astronomical and there was nothing that United Airlines could do about it. I remember in class as well during this time where we all were presented graphs signifying the level of decline that United suffered in comparison to competing airlines once this video and two others were made public (United eventually hit rock bottom, reaching a -21.1% change from the previous year.) Hopefully other large corporations learn from United's mistake and remember that the relationship with customers is above anything else.

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  4. "United Breaks Guitars" became an instant youtube sensation, became the example of customer influence in the social media age, and became a symbol of customer outrage towards major corporations not listening enough...

    However, I still wonder how much influence this actually had over the daily United customer. Undoubtedly the reputation and brand of United had been tarnished by this experience, as I'm guessing 9/11 did in a different manner, but overall the more influential drives for consumerism in the market of low fair airline tickets has revolved around prices, correct? It's is amazing what people WILL deal with to save a few bucks, especially in an industry that has had a historically bad reputation as serving the customers every need.

    Dave Carroll did to United what no large company wants done to them, and if handled differently would have saved them lots of money and reputation, but given our new age of brand identify, I think if United worked hard enough they could completely re-brand (which they should) and find new ways gain customer loyalty.

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  5. These Dave Carroll videos that we have gotten the opportunity to see really prove how far technology has come and will take things. Carroll had hoped to reach one million people with his songs, little did he know that one million people would be reached within days after releasing the first video. His videos became top hits on YouTube, allowing the word about United Airline's poor service to spread like wildfire. Had United dealt with the problem at hand in a timley fashion, they never would have suffered with the significant decline in customers.

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  6. I think that this video and the video we saw in class show us the power that customer service and the internet can affect a business or company in a bad way. The first video showed how a video like this can make a company lose customers and lose money. United said that they would change the way they train their employees and use the video as a training tool. However, it seems that there training has not been too much effective because there are still thousands of unhappy customers. Dave Carroll was consistent with his effort to make the change of customer service with United, but it seems like they only cared about Dave’s case because of how successful he was getting his point across.

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  7. I absolutely love the fact that one customer can change the way a multi-billion dollar company conducts business off of a low budget video. Or even that a youtube video can go around the world and back in less than a week. However, this is just another prime example of how companies today really need to change the way they serve their customers. What happened to Dave Caroll just proves that United had these run-around customer service departments in place long before this particular incident occurred.

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  8. It goes to show that something as simple as a video on youtube or complaints over twitter and facebook can cause a huge problem for large companies such as United. No one is safe anymore when it comes to complaints because consumers have the power to instantly blog about it, tweet it, write it on their facebook status, and create videos that voice their concerns for products, brands, companies, etc. Dave Carroll created an internet sensation because he took action and was the voice of every person that had ever been affected by the carelessness of not only United but other airlines as well. It is sad to think that there is still an ongoing problem with United. Sure they reimbursed Carroll for his losses and donated money to a music education program, but what about the other people? What happens to everyone who got the short end of the stick in a similar situation? It seems like United has chosen to continue to be reactive instead of proactive and obviously the consumer is not their number one priority.

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  9. It amazes me how technology today allows one individual consumer to effect a major corporation in such a major way. Many organizations have used this to their advantage but unfortunately for United Airlines because this video reached such a high number of people it negatively effected their business and reputation for customer service.

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  10. This video is awesome! I love the fact that Dave Carroll made these videos to make United as well as the public become aware that our customer relationships are severely lacking and need attention immediately. The entire basis of our industry and livelihood is based on the loyalty of our customers. Why would we expect them to be loyal if we lose their baggage or they catch us tossing their Taylor Guitar in with the rest of the luggage? Dave Carroll made United Airlines open their eyes and see exactly what they needed to work on in their company. It is sad though that the situation had to become this large in order for them to simply offer to fix the guitar or fix their problem. Allie Buenger

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  11. I think companies these days still don't know the effect of social media. The internet is available to everyone around the world and a simple post or video can be posted within seconds. United airlines thought that they would only be losing one customer when they turned down Carroll of his wishes, but to their surprise, they lost millions of customers due to the social media. Good customer service is vital to a company. It is one of the best ways to build good customer relationships. And without it, a negative image will be left in the customer's mind. These videos are clear evidence of how the social media has power over companies and how customer service needs to improve.

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  12. The Dave Carroll music videos about his incidents with United Airlines is a prime example of how social media and technology can hurt even the biggest of companies. I feel like before social media such as twitter, facebook, blog spots, and youtube it would be harder for a person to win a battle against a major corporation, like Carroll did.

    Being a musician myself, I now wouldnt want United handling my guitar even if they have had a change in company culture. Dave Carroll's story has changed my perspective on United Airlines from here on out and I can only assume he has done that for millions of people across the world.

    With social media being so accessible now days, companies can reach and market to people so much easier then before. But now companies are realizing that they can be hurt significantly, by social media, just as easily

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  13. I think that this video demonstrates the affect the media can have on a business. It can have very dramatic effects both for the good and the bad. I believe that United demonstrated very poor customer service and should be more then willing to replace his guitar, at least. To a company as big a this a few thousand dollars is not a significant amount. In the end, United did do the right thing but Dave should not have had to go to such great lengths to accomplish this.

    William B

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  14. I thought this video was catchy and funny. I loved learning about this customer service situation and how Dave did not stop until he got what he thought he deserved. Just goes to show you that no one forgets about bad service!

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  15. These two videos are very good example on why companies should take their costumers more seriously. A couple years ago businesses could get away with bad service because there not many outlets to express your complains and companies simply could say no. Now thanks to the technological advancements businesses should be more careful on how to treat their costumers. This could easily be avoided if companies improve their costumer service to avoid this kind of bad publicity.

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  16. Dave Carroll used social media extremely well with these three videos to convey his point that he was upset with the service he received from United Airlines. I feel that the reason he was so successful is because of the medium he used to communicate his message, the internet. As well as the message in general, because everyone can relate to a problem with a big company such as Dave's experience, especially with an airline company. I like how Dave somewhat made amends with the last video of the three although he still remains strong with his stance that United's service is extremely poor and must be fixed.
    Ethan A.

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