http://consumerist.com/5311943/dave-carroll-says-no-to-guitar-hush-money-from-united?skyline=true&s=i

A challenge that United maybe should address is getting its message out through social media channels, in addition to the traditional media.

Also someone on Twitter pointed out that the video appears in the top Google search results for United Airlines:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=united+airlines&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

One tweet by Stuart MacDonald (former Expedia exec) points out that this will likely not damage their reputation, simply because it’s already bad, and that is what helped the video go viral:
http://twitter.com/stuartma/status/2570946122

Some food for thought.

Thanks for the comments. It is much appreciated.

However, I believe ‘damage’ is an accurate word in the context of United’s brand.

The title of the song is ‘United Breaks Guitars’ and it is repeated over and over again in the chorus to the point it’s now embedded in my head.

Heck, I’m humming the tune right now.

Also, to United’s credit, they even said that are using this experience for training purposes, so they’re even acknowledging the hit they are taking and the weakness of their position.

That said, we’ll see what we can do on some of the post analysis of this incident and we’ll post the results.

Forgive the pun, but keep watching our tweets and blog postings and stay tuned…

Todd Defren did a great follow up on the Motrin Mom debacle that raised a similar stink in the social media realm (though, admittedly, with a lot less crossover into traditional channels). In the end, the shitstorm didn’t really seem to have a big effect on the brand’s reputation.

The speed with which videos like the United Breaks Guitars can go viral is impressive, to be sure, but that same speed often seems to ensure nothing stays on the main pages for too long.

I’m hoping someone looks back at this story in six months to see if there was any related drop in United’s business. By then, YouTube and the blogosphere will probably have crucified three or four more companies.