On May, 3, 2010 the New York Times ran an article titled "Boeing's Social Media Lesson". The article reported the story of a 9-year-old Harry Winsor who decided to send a crayon design of his own airplane, accompanied with a letter to Boeing, suggesting that they manufacture his plane. Boeing responded with a form letter. Harry's dad, John Winsor, the CEO of the ad agency Victors & Spoils took to his Blogger and Twitter pages to voice his discontent with what he considered Boeing's stern response to a 9-year-old. After the story received noteworthy attention online, Boeing responded to the situation in a friendlier (more social) fashion.
For the complete article see:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/boeings-social-media-lesson/
My Thoughts
After reviewing, I believe this is a case of both the online world putting a big bad company back in line, as well as, a case of cheap-shot (free) publicity for Mr. Winsor's ad agency at the probable expense of his 9-year-old's, Harry's, dreams and feelings.
Boeing admittedly receives submissions like Harry's on a regular basis, only from adults or other professionals. To protect their intellectual property, they send the same drab, standard, form letter to everyone from which a design was not solicited. I'm sure whomever read the letters at Boeing's headquarter could have noted the drawing and letter was from a youngster and could have responded on more sentimental terms from the beginning. What ever happened to decent customer service? Heck, some adults can't even comprehend the legality of such letters, do you think a 9-year-old would? Each customer is different. In the Western world, we embrace individuality and most successful companies that exist here knows this. Customers like to know that their specific concerns are specifically addressed. Boeing being late on the social, and social media platform learned the hard way. In today's world it is imperative for businesses to keep track of the social platforms out their to know both the positive and negative things being said about them for their own good.
As a commenter on the New York Times article expressed:
"When I was four years old, I sent a similar, handwritten note to NASA. Months later, I received a mysterious box in the mail. When I opened it up, it was full of all sorts of memorabilia: badges and pins from the various Apollo and Gemini missions, brochures, and assorted tchotchkes. It was like the best Christmas ever. It's amazing how far a little encouragement can take a kid."Source:
Brian
Denver, CO
May 3rd, 2010
If Boeing truly valued customers, since they were just getting onto the social media platform via Twitter, the least they could have done initially was something similar to the example above. This would have bypassed the negative publicity, but now they've learned the power of social media.
As for Mr. Winsor, how sad, it's almost like putting your business over your child. I'm sure he knew exactly what the outcome would be from Boeing, but wanted to create a case study for his own fame. Free publicity for his company? Yes! Good dad points? Hell no! One day Harry will Google himself and learn about this and might spite him. This story along with a follow-up of may make for a good commercial series though.
I don't think Boeing's response will make an airline company sway to some other designer. Boeing has been at the forefront of airplane design for years. They have a trusted reputation for having quality design. With airlines the customer service comes more directly on their part than from Boeing (the manufacturer). The only airlines I board tends to be made by Boeing (e.g. American Airline airplanes) and that won't change anytime soon. Just note I won't be sending my kid's drawing anywhere in the future, unless it's for something worthwhile and I do my research.
I believe the New York Times is at the forefront of e-marketing activities. They take great advantage of blogs, Twitter and Facebook to name a few. Publishing this story I don't think makes them hard-up for news. It was on a lighter note, something we need more sometimes, and it sure made much room for discussion.
