Boeing's lack of insight regarding the answer letter for little Harry could have cost them more than negative word of mouth, although it did not affect directly their revenue or sales, it surely did affect their image. When a company reacts negatively towards a customer most likely the customer will respond back with the same attitude. It's only logical, for every action there is a reaction. Furthermore, their lack of optimism and encouragement could definitely affect a child’s passion for certain things. Picture it like this, imagine Boeing giving a positive response to Harry’s airplane models and concepts, wouldn’t that motivate the kid to pursue greatness? How do they know if this kid in 15 years is not going to be a revolutionary airplane designer with groundbreaking ideas? They don’t. And because of the negative response, little Harry decided to work for their competitor “Air Bus”. Wouldn’t that be a sight?
It’s incredible to see how such a small thing like this can impact such a big company, we thank the internet for it’s capability of connecting millions of people who share, thoughts, ideas, feedback and opinions. To certain extent, it brings justice and truth to those who seek it.
I believe that Boeing should have been more sensible to Harry; the consequences of negativity are always going to outweigh any positive action. Good thing they realized this and decided to rewrite a more appropriate letter for this situation.
http://e-marketingforsensiblefolk.blogspot.com/
Boeing Website
I would partially blame this on Boeing's Company Culture. With the first letter that was sent back to the child, the sender must not have felt it was in his duty to respond to the child in a way that a kid would understand it. To them, a letter is a letter, and there is only one way to respond - the business way. This just proved that Boeing only cares of protecting themselves and not who people of all ages - appreciate their service and what they do. In a sense, they lost touch with their human side (as a corporation) and is just thinking in a corporate way (i.e. business and money). If Boeing trained their employees to appreciate what they do, and show that millions of people appreciate their services and products, I am pretty sure this would not occur.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, the Boeing probably has strict guidelines on how to send out letters to those that send in new idea's and designs. The sender was just probably following corporate policy. I am pretty sure that Boeing has changed that policy by now, with so much publicity they have received from this incident.
What made it blow up so fast, was the fact that the father KNEW the power of social media and Boeing DID NOT. As said in the article, Boeing just started their Twitter account 2 weeks prior to the incident. Boeing must have been startled by how much momentum this incident has caused.
This should be considered a lesson to all corporations, and it is a good thing that a big corporation, such as Boeing, is caught up in this mess because if it was a small corporation - the larger ones would have probably pushed little lesson to the side.
I agree with the points you made about Boeing's image being hurt. I also thought the idea of Harry being employed by "Air Bus" 15 years from now was pretty funny. That would be the icing on the cake for this whole situation. Boeing messed up, plain and simple. Joseph Van summed it up well with this statement from the above comment "In a sense, they lost touch with their human side (as a corporation) and is just thinking in a corporate way (i.e. business and money)."
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about the internet and marketing is the fact that a lot of these services are being provided for much cheaper than what we are used to paying for traditional methods of marketing. If you have the time to invest in building your social networks and you are able pick up some tricks along the way to help speed up the process, they can be a very powerful tool.
I couldn't believe that Boeing did not have any time invested into building social media networks, such as Twitter. These networks are growing and will continue to be important in today's society.
-Max
Harry experience is another example of how "small things like this," as Brian said, definitely have an impact on the company image. Now, social media is a great tool for consumers as well as companies, but ignoring its strategic/tactic capabilities can contribute to drown the image and message a company wants spread. Hopefully Boeing learned the lesson.
ReplyDeleteAfter all having been put in the spot isn't that bad, Boeing received public attention (bloggers attention) and kind of free publicity. As well as Winsor ad company who probably will have more clients.
I agree with you guys about how their cold response did hurt Boeings image. Although I believe it was a way for Boeing to show people that they are changing there company culture. Before this incident Boeing was a stern and professional business entity that did not really have any regards for childrens drawings. They dismissed Harrys drawing without a second glance and probably would of continued with there ways. Boeing used this as a learning experience and realized that they had to change there ways and get with the times. They realized that even though he was a kid they needed to treat him with respect and keep there image untarnished.Besides that Boeing handled the situation great and made sure that Harry was satisfied.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views in your post and also found the idea of Harry working for Airbus in the future funny. I agree that it's better to take some action just to keep a satisfied customer and maintain a positive public image. It certainly didn't cost that much effort to call Harry, email the father, and come up with an extra form letter catered to children. I just hope some won't use crowdsourcing as a way to mob companies in the future like some people sue companies for just about anything just to make some money.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mention that for every action, their is a reaction. In my blog I talk about the risk using employees to manage social media brings to the corporation. Your saying works perfectly with the fear that an employee will intentionally or unintentionally ruin the reputation of the company. (http://emarketingwithelizabeth.blogspot.com/2010/09/good-bad-about-social-media.html)
ReplyDeleteAs far as your mention for Boeing to be more concerned with encouraging the future of America since they might potentially be a big competitor one day,do you truly believe every big corporation should set aside time and energy for the possibility that in 15 years something might come out of that idea, an idea that they have already perfected?
I agree. Optimism towards your customers is key mentality all companies should possess if they plan on staying in business for long. Social media has clearly revolutionized situations like these, giving extraordinary leverage for consumers to voice their mishaps with companies. Their voices are heard loud and clear and this case should serve as a reminder of this reality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with motivating a child to achieve excellence. It is true that Harry might have a passion for planes. They may even be able to hire him in the future if he becomes a great engineer. I also agree that attracting negativity to your company is a big mistake. In this case, not responding age appropriately caused huge conversation on the social networking site, twitter. Not only did it cause people to start talking about the company's neglect toward Harry but it brought negative publicity toward the company.
ReplyDeleteI really don't see how it has harmed their image. They were unsure how to handle this pretty unique situation, big deal? It's not like whoever was responsible for writing the cold reply to Harry was able to look up in a handbook somewhere exactly "how to respond to a 9-year-old boy who wants us to design his air crafts." And you certainly can't hold that against Boeing for not including it in such a handbook. It's an innocent story that a lot of people found some sort of interest in so it became popular, but I don't believe it did any harm.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree with Adam Swain on this one, not to say that i support their "cold" response, but had this been an adult, we probably would have never heard about this story. The fact that it was a 8 year old is the only reason this has become an issue and seeing as how this was a unique case, because not every 8 year old is sending drawings to companies, it should be treated like an isolated incident of you will and Boeing's reputation or sales has not been tarnished one bit.
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