United Breaks Guitars

In 2008, Dave Carroll, along with his band, The Sons of Maxwell were traveling from Halifax to Omaha. During their layover in Chicago, they noticed that their luggage, including musical instruments was being tossed around by the United Airlines bag transporters. One of the pieces being tossed was Dave’s $3500 guitar.
The group arrived in Omaha at 12:30 in the morning and was very tired. There were no United employees in sight and Dave’s guitar case looked undamaged so they continued on their way to their hotel. Later the next day Dave discovered that his guitar had been badly damaged. He contacted United and told them the story. United expressed their sympathy and told him to start a claim and go back to Halifax where his trip began, but United doesn’t really have a presence in Canada.
Greg continued in trying to solve the problem by remaining in contact with United, but they consistently misplaced his claim number and sent him on a wild goose chase giving him different numbers of employees to call- none of them really helping him. Finally after nine months of trying to at least be reimbursed for the $1200, he spent on repairing the guitar, United denied Dave’s claim and told him they would not take responsibility for his broken guitar. It was then that Dave promised United that he would write three songs, each with a video, about his experience with the airline and post them on the internet for the world to see.
So far, two songs and their videos are posted on the internet and have received millions of views. Many believe the “United Breaks Guitars” songs have had a considerable impact on United’s business. According to Chris Ayres of the Times Online in the U.K., the Dave Carroll mishap has cost United $180 million. Just days after the first song went online, United’s stock prices dropped by 10 percent.
This whole incident shows the impact of public relations. Good PR can have a huge impact for good on a company, but bad PR, as in this case, can have a huge impact for bad. When the publics’ view of a company is poor, then the business suffers. Even one person can have great power in hurting a company, especially with the internet where information is very accessible a spreads extremely fast. The story has gotten the attention of newspapers and people are blogging and commenting about it on the internet. Most of the blog comments are praising Dave, relating to his experience and are negative toward United.
United is probably kicking themselves that they didn’t take care of Dave’s concern in the first place. With the money they have apparently lost, they could have bought Dave 52,000 equivalent guitars. It goes to show that taking care of customers, even if it costs a good amount initially, is worth it. There will always be incidents in any company when an employee makes a mistake or a customer is in some way treated unfairly. This is almost impossible to avoid, but the companies that make it up to the customer are the ones that keep their reputation and business.
The incident that occurred in Chicago in the spring of 2008 may have seemed very minimal and insignificant to united Airlines then, but neglecting it and not treating Dave considerately has come back to haunt them.

Final Press Release 1: Announcement

For Immediate Release

Social Media starts Chapter in Cache Valley

Social Media Club of Cache Valley (SMCCV)

851 N. Main St.
Logan, UT 84321
www.smccv.net
661.772.7537

Logan, Utah- A chapter of the Social Media club now exists in Cache Valley. The Social Media Club, headquartered in San Francisco, has branched out and created chapters around the country. Shortly after a one was started in Salt Lake City, a group from Cache Valley started to go to their meetings. Preston Parker, one who attended, said, “after going a few times, we thought, ‘why don’t we start our own chapter in Cache Valley?’” They got together with four others in July and started the Social Media Club of Cache Valley. Since then, they have had two meetings and acquired 32 members. “Our goal is to help people become informed of social media and create a network of like-minded individuals.” The club discusses on-line reputation management, search engines, facebook, twitter and blogs. They meet every second Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm and their next meeting will be held at Club New York.

Alex Thatcher
alex.thatch@aggiemail.usu.edu
435.754.5443

Draft Press Release 1: Announcement

For Immediate Release

Social Media Club of Cache Valley (SMCCV)
851 N. Main St.
Logan UT 84321

Social Media Club starts chapter in Cache Valley

Logan, Utah- Social Media has just been made easier to learn about and use. The Social Media Club, headquartered in San Francisco, has branched out and created chapters around the country. Shortly after a chapter was started in Salt Lake City in January, a group from Cache Valley decided to attend their meetings. This group then started their own chapter in Cache Valley which now holds its own meetings. Meetings are every second Thursday at 6:30 pm and usually include guest speakers and refreshments. Topics of discussion include: on-line reputation management, search engines, facebook, twitter, and blogs. Preston Parker, one of the board members says, "Our goal is to help people become informed of social media and create a network of like-minded individuals." The club's next meeting is will be held at Cub New york.

Alex Thatcher
alex.thatch@aggiemail.usu.edu
435.754.5443

Letter to Cousin

Dear Dean,
Public Relations is the practice of bridging the gap between a company or organization and its publics. Instead of advertising, Public Relations exposes an organization through means that do not cost money. For example, a PR rep for a company is interviewed by a newspaper reporter and gives him information concerning his company that later shows up in the newspaper. Because PR deals with a third party, it provides more credible sources of information than advertising.

Most organizations that are affected by the publics view, have Public Relation specialists.

Alex