CHAPTER 16

Admit When You Screw Up, and Then Leverage Your Mistakes

On June 3, 2010, LOFT, a clothing brand owned by Ann Taylor Inc., posted pictures of a tall, blonde catalog model in the brand’s new silk cargo pants on its Facebook page with a click-to-buy link in the caption.

Nothing about the post was uncommon in social media, and it certainly was not uncommon for the fashion industry. But for whatever reason, fans responded particularly negatively to this post. While many fans acknowledged that the pants looked good on the model, they complained that the pants were “not universally flattering” and would “look great if you’re 5 foot 10 and a stick like the model in the photo.” Fans on the page began demanding that LOFT show the pants on “real women.”

Many companies, if not most companies, would have done nothing in response to the fans. The entire fashion industry essentially has been built upon images of super-thin models rather than real women, and few protests have changed anything through the years.

But two days later, LOFT posted an “I’m sorry” on its Facebook page along with pictures of “real women” wearing the pants that had been modeled on the page just days earlier. In fact, the female staff of Ann Taylor posted pictures of themselves wearing the pants (see Figure 16.1).

FIGURE 16.1 Loft Staff Models

The Facebook community rejoiced. Better yet, word spread quickly about what it had done, and LOFT ended up receiving lots of well-earned media attention from the fashion industry and the online world. Years later, a look at the page still shows mostly pictures of skinny models wearing LOFT clothing, but it also shows quick responses from LOFT staff to all comments and questions from fans—the good, the bad, and the ugly. The page also highlights a community that’s grown a great deal since June 2010—up to more than 1.5 million fans today.

What did LOFT do? Quite simply, the company admitted a mistake quickly and fixed it. By sharing pictures on Facebook of themselves, in different shapes and sizes, the staff showed they were willing to open themselves up to vulnerability and “be real” with their customers and audience. Not only did LOFT make up for its mistake almost immediately but it was able to connect on a personal level to those customers it had offended. It was even able to seize an opportunity the mistake gave it to stand out in a good way.

TWO SIMPLE WORDS GO A LONG WAY

Being able to say “I’m sorry” when you make a mistake goes a long way toward making up for your error. Companies are made up of people, and everyone makes mistakes sometimes, so it’s inevitable that companies are bound to do something to upset or otherwise anger their customers occasionally. The issue, and what’s particularly frustrating, is when companies don’t apologize and take care of the problem with speed.

Any guy who’s ever dated someone knows, after listening, being able to say “I’m sorry” is the most important ability in a relationship—it’s the same thing for companies. Especially when companies become large, are publicly traded, or have big legal teams, it can be difficult to have someone simply say “I’m sorry.” But it’s always the right thing to do.

HOW TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY

The best way to tell your consumers you’re sorry is to have the highest-ranking person at your organization, that is, your chief executive officer, say it through online video in a short film, which addresses the problem and how it’s going to be fixed. Having the CEO, or whoever else is your organization’s leader, speak tells customers that your company is taking the matter seriously. Responding on video humanizes your company in a way that no press release or letter ever could. And keeping it short and sweet is respectful of your customers’ time. Your CEO should be prepared to be as humble and natural as possible.

If your CEO is not good on camera, consider having another high-ranking leader make the video apology instead. This person should still be someone in senior management, and he or she needs to speak on behalf of your whole team. Also, your CEO could write a note, though this is likely to be less effective. Still, if a note is the best option considering your business leaders’ on-air personalities, then the letter should be as friendly and genuinely written as possible—try to keep the legalese and corporate-speak out of it.

PLAN FOR THE UNPLANNED

You know your company will make mistakes, but you don’t know when they will come, what they will be, and whom they will offend. The best thing to do now, then, is to plan for the unplanned. For many years, companies have had public relations firms or internal PR teams develop crisis communications plans. The major difference now is that word spreads much faster online than ever before. The longer it takes your company to respond to an issue, the worse a problem can skyrocket too. So, before you make the mistakes that you’re sure to make, create a cross-departmental team of people who will be able to swiftly handle whatever situation comes up and determine the appropriate social media response.

Teach the Lawyers How to Be Human

Lawyers and corporate communications executives have an uncanny ability to take the words “I’m sorry” and ruin them. And the worst time to argue with your attorneys is in the midst of a crisis. So it’s important now that your company plans out what kind of language you will and won’t be able to use when a crisis comes. Simple, direct language is almost always better than corporate-speak, especially in a social media setting. More relaxed language allows you to be seen as real, vulnerable, and human—and it’s way more difficult for customers to be angry at actual vulnerable, real human beings than at an “evil corporation” (as they’d likely see you, even if only at the time of crisis). Just let your lawyers know that in such a situation, you’ll want to say, “We’re sorry. We screwed up.” This alone will make you way more prepared than most companies.

Have Fire Drills

Just as you had fire drills at school so that in the event of a fire, emergency people would know what to do, the only way to prepare for inevitable crises is to have your own drills. Imagine the craziest of challenges. For example, a customer dies while eating at your restaurant, or an employee pulls out a rifle at your store’s counter (the crazier or more unlikely, the better). Of course, hopefully nothing like this will actually happen, but something else you haven’t imagined will.

So what’s the plan? Who meets from different teams—and how quickly? What happens if the crisis occurs on a Friday night? What if the vice president of communications is on vacation at the time? Social media is 24/7/365—you’ll need a plan to respond quickly, no matter what. How will you communicate with your customers? What about with your employees, partners, and vendors?

It may seem silly to prepare for something that may never happen, but if you don’t prepare for a social media crisis, and you’re very slow to respond, or simply respond poorly, when one does occur, serious damage can be caused to your brand. Think about British Petroleum’s (BP) response to the 2010 Gulf oil spill, for instance. If BP had responded faster, more seriously, and more genuinely on Facebook and Twitter, it may have much better protected its reputation—and its stock price.

DON’T STOP AT I’M SORRY

Saying you’re sorry is just the beginning of how you’ll deal with a crisis. More important than ever before is the ability to listen and respond to what people are saying on social networks. Hopefully, you’ll have integrated this process into your regular business practices by the time a serious issue occurs, but if for whatever reason you haven’t, you’ll need a plan to allocate more resources to online community management because your communities on Facebook and Twitter will surely see more traffic during a time of crisis.

Whenever possible, apologize individually to each person’s complaint, and continue to follow up. By swiftly responding and showing you care, you can actually take a serious mistake and end up with an even stronger reputation than you had before it happened. Mistakes and crises will come in different shapes and sizes as well—and you’ll want to have different levels of responses. But the most important thing to do, no matter what, is to genuinely care, show you care, apologize quickly, and then fix the problem.

JetBlue Messes Up Royally—but Says It’s Sorry

Airlines are among the most hated companies in the United States. Air travel is more often challenging than not, and the airlines’ brands bear the brunt of customers’ frustrations. JetBlue, however, has a strong brand—one that is well regarded and highly rated by its customers. In February 2007, the company experienced a major crisis when a set of storms and a wide variety of internal challenges over the course of one week saw hundreds of flights canceled and thousands of passengers stranded.

What could have been a total disaster for JetBlue’s reputation was saved by its fast, appropriate online response. Founder and then-CEO David Neeleman filmed a three-minute YouTube video in which he apologized and made a commitment to customers that nothing like this would ever happen again. The video was shared on Facebook and Twitter, and hundreds of thousands of people saw it. Neeleman followed up the recorded video with traditional media appearances, even including one on the Late Show with David Letterman. He was humble and showed that he was committed to fixing things.

Despite one of the worst weeks in any airline’s history, this potentially devastating blow to the brand has long been forgotten, and JetBlue quickly was restored as a market leader in customer satisfaction. Over the past few years, as social media has grown, JetBlue has remained one of the top airlines to use tools such as Facebook and Twitter to engage customers.

The Domino’s Brand Is Rescued from the Brink of Disaster

In April 2009, two employees of a Domino’s Pizza in North Carolina inexplicably filmed a video they shared on YouTube in which they did disgusting things with food they were preparing for customers, including wiping the food against different parts of their bodies. The video had a train-wreck quality to it: since it was so filthy, most people found it hard to eat anything for a while after viewing the footage. Yet hundreds of thousands of people did view the video, and parts of it appeared on national television broadcasts as well.

Domino’s responded immediately with a letter on its website apologizing. The company fired the employees and committed to prosecute them to the fullest extent allowed under the law. U.S. Domino’s president Patrick Doyle also issued a video apology, although it came a full week after the initial incident. But what else is a brand to do to respond to such a literally filthy crisis? As a quick-serve restaurant, its reputation for food quality wasn’t the best to begin with, and this was as horrible a situation as the company and its customers could imagine.

What Domino’s ended up doing was starting over, launching an ad campaign, supported by a three-minute-long YouTube and Facebook video, in which it showcased customers talking about how little they liked the taste of Domino’s. The video actually quoted people saying they thought the crust tasted like cardboard, along with other highly critical comments. Then the video showcased the Domino’s staff working together to create a brand-new, better-tasting pizza (see Figure 16.2).

FIGURE 16.2 Domino’s Turns It Around

The campaign actually made people feel like Domino’s, a corporate giant, was an underdog listening to its customers and trying to become a better company. That’s probably because it really was.

The three-minute-long video, too long for television advertising but perfect for YouTube, didn’t garner as many views as the disgusting video, of course, but at more than 700,000, it came close. Moreover, it humanized the brand and connected it to customers at a time when it was most needed.

American Red Cross’s Rogue Tweet

In February 2011, a member of the American Red Cross social media team accidentally tweeted a confusing, seemingly drunk tweet:

       Ryan found two more 4-bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer … when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzerd.

After an hour or so, the director of social media deleted the post and released an apology tweet shedding humor on the situation:

       We’ve deleted the rogue tweet, but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.

As an organization that deals with major disasters and devastation regularly, the Red Cross decided to make light of what it called “a silly little mistake.” The beer company mentioned in the tweet, Dogfish Beer, also helped to shed light on the situation and encouraged donations to the Red Cross using the hashtag #gettingslizzerd. The Red Cross’s calm and humorous reaction put this social media mishap into perspective and actually landed them significant donations!

A Likeable Screwup: The Gap

In October 2010, clothing retailer the Gap unveiled a new logo. The logo was immediately and almost universally hated by vocal customers across several social media channels. Thousands of people called it ugly, protested the logo, and even created fake Twitter accounts poking fun at the Gap.

Despite obviously having spent millions of dollars to create printed materials with the new logo, the Gap quickly realized its mistake, and within a few days, it posted a note on its Facebook page:

       OK. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowdsourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.

The informal, humble tone of its message told customers that the Gap was listening to them and cared about what they had to say. The quick decision might not have been possible from a less flexible, more traditional executive team. But in times of crisis, quick decisions are more essential than ever. The whole incident, while costly, improved the Gap’s overall reputation and likely saved it from an even costlier mess.

AS LONG AS YOU PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED AND CAN SAY YOU’RE SORRY …

Humans have an amazing ability to forgive one another for mistakes, and they can even forgive companies too (especially when they’re reminded that compassionate, understanding, and reasonable people are behind the company in question). The challenge as an organization comes only when you’re not prepared or you are inflexible in your ability to respond when mistakes and crises do emerge. As long as you create a plan in advance, and as long as you’re able to publicly, quickly, and authentically say you’re sorry, you can maintain a strong brand reputation in the face of any social media challenge.