Thursday, July 09, 2009

Prediction: Brand vs Customer video wars

Here's a case at hand: United vs United customers

"Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, decided to write a song about the incident, called 'United Breaks Guitars' and posted the video on YouTube, which has been viewed nearly half a million times since July 6.

United caught wind of the video and apologised to the singer for the dispute, issuing a statement via Twitter, which read: "This has struck a chord [with] us and we've contacted him directly to make it right." source Revolution



After watching this one can only sympathize with the makers of the video.
I wouldn't be surprised to see in the near future more videos like this one coming from ordinary pissed off customers using digital media and expressing their grievances in an artistic way . For example: private videos that make fun of bad customer service in a restaurant, or unfair treatment of insurance company, or just about any product or service a consumer finds a fault with.

This video is a kind of celebrity endorsement for it.

Benefits:

For video makers - fame and recognition
For customers - improvement of the product (brands can't afford to ignore it)
For brands - improvement of the product (and customer relationships)

here's a link to my previous post about a pissed off customer burning his creditcard and making a public statement about it.

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