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Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines Part 1 Agenda 1. The Plot 2. The Cast of Characters Kevin Smith Southwest Airlines Customer of Size policy 3. Social Media Overview Comparison 4. The Twitter Fury 5. Discussion Questions 1.The Plot Saturday, February 13th, 2010 Kevin Smith boards a flight from Oakland to Burbank California as a standby passenger. Smith sacrifices the comfort of the two seats he’d purchased originally to get home earlier. Once seated, Smith is approached by the same Southwest employee he’d spoken to at the gate and is informed he is being removed from the flight in accordance to Southwest’s Customer of Size policy. Some conversations transpire, Southwest apologizes and offer a $100 gift voucher. Angry and humiliated, Smith hits Twitter with time to kill before his next flight. Sources: Schwalback, J. and Smith, K. (2010, February 13) Nuts About Southwest Blog (2010, July 29). 2. The Cast of Characters Kevin Smith 40-year old writer, director and producer and actor Critically acclaimed film Clerks – honoured at Sundance and Cannes. Also behind Cop Out, Red State, Chasing Amy, Mallrats and Jersey Girl. Indie darling with a loyal, cult-like following. Past controversies around film ratings and with GLAAD. “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a boatrocker” Sources: Wasserstein, B. (2006, July 16). Smith, K. (February 18, 2010c) 2. The Cast of Characters Southwest Airlines Domestic carrier based out of Dallas, Texas. Flew first flight in 1971 after numerous barriers to industry entry. Mission: “dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service, delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness and personal pride” Employee focused culture 12 straight years as industry leader in customer service. 35,000 employees $10 billion in revenue in 2009. NYSE: LUV Sources: www.southwestcom Albert, S. (2008, December 29). Southwest Culture “We’re All in this Together” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RI08CwiLjw Sources: www.youtube.com 2. The Cast of Characters Customer of Size Policy Customers who are unable to lower both armrests and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width. This purchase serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to process a refund of the additional seating cost after travel (provided the flight doesn’t oversell). Most importantly, it ensures that all onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating (Southwest, 2010). Sources: www.southwestcom 3. Social Media Overview Kaplan and Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internetbased applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content” (2010). U.S. consumers spent 210% more minutes on social networking in 2009 than 2008 Facebook continues to lead the pack in terms of overall usage Twitter is the fastest growing, its unique visitors increasing by 579% from the previous year and reportedly over 100 million users in early 2010. Sources: Nielsen Company, The. (2010, January 22 Haenlein, M. and Kaplan, A. (2010). 3. Social Media • 1.7 M Twitter followers • Blog My Boring Ass Life • Weekly Podcast • You Tube Southwest Smith Comparing Finesse • 1M Twitter followers • Blog Nuts About Southwest • Facebook • You Tube 4. The Response Kevin Smith’s Twitter Fury 3:52pm Dear @Southwest – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated? 3:54 PM I flew out on one seat… 4:00 PM I broke no regulation offered no safety risk… 4:03 PM …wrongly ejected 4:06 PM Thank God I don’t embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training) 4:10PM …IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWEST 4:18PM …You fucked with the wrong sedentary processed food eater! 4:41PM I’m on another one of your planes…waiting to be dragged off… 4:44PM I didn’t even need a seat belt extender… 4:52PM Quick! Throw me off! 4:56PM …arm rests are up because THE PEOPLE SITTING THERE PUT THEM UP…6:18PM landed…I was airlifted out… 6:20PM …sat next to a big girl who was chastised… 8:46PM “Loather of the Wide”… 8:49PM …recorded a very special edition of Smodcast… 8:58PM …I want nothing…” February 14th 10:23 AM. …I’m waiting to talk to @Oprah 11:06AM Fuck you… 11:25AM …WalMart at least carries XXX… 11:34AM …Your apology blog is insulting, redacted bullshit… 11:36 AM RT @janhoppes The Consumerist is running your story… 12:41 PM …hates fatties 12:55PM Articles ay I was given $100…Said no. 12:56PM …Mickey Mouse organization… 1:02PM …COMPLETE audio-tale… 1:13PM …Made my Mom cry. Baby Jesus too. 1:27PM RT @kerryel Us @NASA don’t fly Southwest because of crap-tastic service… 1:49PM …a paying customer 1:54PM Via @pobenschain …Cheaper airline = shittier service…new, honest tagline of @SouthwestAir February 15th 2:08PM I’m just saying, @southwestair might be coming for you next, Chin-chin… 3:28PM …did they ever get it wrong…and keep doing so! Sources: Position2, 2010. Discussion Questions 1. What were the key factors leading up to Southwest’s dilemma? And at what point did it become a “PR issue”? 2. If you were Southwest’s VP of Communications and Strategic Outreach, what steps would you take to respond to the incident? What and how would you communicate? 3. Given the sensitivity around weight, how would you anticipate public reaction? 4. What, if anything, should Southwest do about its Customer of Size policy? 5. Can one customer service “issue” have an impact on a reputational-sound company like Southwest? Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines Part 2 Agenda 1. Southwest Responds Twitter Blogs Personal contact 2. Kevin Smith’s not done 3. Public Response 4. The Metrics NYSE Customer Satisfaction 5. Final Scene 6. Discussion Questions 1. Southwest Responds By Tweet @ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I'm so sorry for your experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things right, please follow so we may DM! 4:08 PM - Feb 13th (Position2, 2010). Alerted to the situation through its social media monitoring and after trying to contact Smith via phone and direct messaging, Southwest responded by tweet – in 16 minutes. As Linda Rutherford, VP of Communications & Strategic Outreach explained, Twitter was not the ideal vehicle for a customer issue but “we were having trouble getting him to engage with us and there were millions of people talking…” Sources: Position2, 2010. Vocus (n.d.). 1. Southwest Responds Blogs Blog One – Not So Silent Bob Posted February 14th, one day following the event Apologized, explained decision, explained policy Blog Two – My Conversation with Kevin Smith Posted February 15 , following a telephone conversation with Smith Notable shift in tone Apologized, recognized captain hadn’t made decision, poor communication and promised to review “how this delicate policy is implemented” Sources: www.southwest.com, 2. Act 2 Smith’s Response 90 minute podcast, 24 YouTube videos and more tweets than can be counted Insincere, insulting apology The captain had not made the decision Southwest had lied – he was not too fat to fly 3. Public Response The news spread like wildfire: Media outlets of all sizes picked it up. In six days following, 3,043 blog mentions, 5,133 forum posts and 15,528 tweets. 3400 comments on Nuts About Southwest within one month of the incident. 36% supported Southwest, 26% believed the airline exhibited poor customer service and 38% said they would never fly Southwest again. Sources: Position2, 2010. 4. The Metrics LUV on the NYSE February 16, 2010 First trading day after incident Sources: Yahoo Finance 4. The Metrics LUV Customer Satisfaction -2.5% decrease Marked the first time Southwest’s scores had decreased in ten years While Southwest continued to lead its industry, it was one of only two airlines that saw its score fall in 2010, while most gained ground at an average of +3.1% Sources: American Customer Satisfaction Ranking, June 2010. 5. The Final Scene Smith’s Challenge: bring a row of seats to the Daily Show. If he couldn’t fit in one seat, he would donate $10,000 to a charity of Southwest’s choosing. If he could fit, they would own up, review its policy and train employees to be “more human”. Southwest’s Response: “We came out, we apologized, we stood by our policy and we acknowledged that it was implemented incorrectly (in our second blog post). We refunded all of his travel. And then it was over for us.” Sources: Smith, K. (2010c) Vocus (n.d.). Discussion Questions – Part 2 1. Was Southwest truthful in how it communicated the Kevin Smith incident? Why or why not? 2. Why, in your opinion, did Southwest end the conversation when it did? And was this the right thing to do? 3. Was Southwest’s response in keeping with its culture? Why or why not? 4. As part of the Southwest leadership team, what steps would you take to prevent a future “too fat to fly” incident? 5. How does social media amplify the importance of public relations principles?