When reading my book Real-Time Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott, I came across one of his examples that really hit home. Dave Carroll was a guitar player trying to make it big, but during a United Airlines flight he witnessed his guitar being mishandled by the flight crew. He later discovered his guitar was serious damaged. The repairs would cost him $1,200! After nine months of jumping through hoop after hoop, Dave was told that United would not compensate him for the damage and did not even apologize! Dave took to YouTube. He used his song-writing talents and posted a video titled, "United Breaks Guitars." The song created immediate buzz from dozens of news sites and because of his quick real-time media-relations Dave got his 15 minutes of fame. United got so much grief after the song went viral. They eventually offered Dave compensation for his trouble, but he refused their offer.
Similarly to Dave's story, I have one of my own. My sophomore year of high school, I went on a mission trip with my church to Chicago. I was born in Chicago, but this was the first time I had been back to the city since we moved away. The trip was incredibly important to me. At the time, I didn't have a digital camera, so I went the old fashioned way and purchased the cheap cameras you develop in the stores and throw away. I was a high school girl so I blew through the cameras I brought with me in less than a day. Our group was visiting the Sears Tower so I just purchased some cameras in the gift shop of the tower. I took some great photos with my friends and couldn't wait to see them. Upon returning home, I took my film in so it could be developed. When I went to pick them up, the man behind the desk said, "I'm sorry mam, but some of the cameras you gave us were faulty. Your pictures weren't on them. The film wasn't even in them." My first thought was the cameras I had purchased in a gas station on the way there, but no. The faulty cameras came straight from the Sears Tower itself.
Needless to say, I was devastated. Not only were there dozens of photos from on the tower, but the entire rest of my trip was on those as well. I was so disappointed. I found an email address for someone in community relations in the Sears Tower and told them my story. I am a Junior in college now and I have still heard nothing. Those pictures has such sentiment value, but a sophomore from Ohio wasn't important enough to illicit a response.
Point of the story, companies now have the capability to react in real-time to what they are hearing from the public. Even if it doesn't seem important to your bottom line, consumers have the capability to make lemonade from lemons.
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