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My previous post linked to an article that pointed out how B2B buyers are likely to Google a prospective supplier — and what turns up is your reputation.  And a single bad act can outweigh many good acts — just ask Jet Blue.  Virgin America had their reputation damaged last week.  Once again we see the role of social media in spreading word of “bad acts” far and wide.  I like that Sviokla’s post on an HBR blog, “Real-time Brand Management — Lessons from Virgin America’s Hellish Flight“  (March 18, 2010) provides a nice analysis and implications for marketing managers.  The story addresses brand management, service failure and recovery, and social media.

This is actually “old news” by now (it was hot in spring 2009) — but I missed it the first time around and maybe you did as well.  It shows how the web can amplify the voice of a single complaining customer.  The video has more than 6 million views!  The story is best told by the protagonist, musician Dave Carroll, in his own words, copied from his website and quoted below.  I have placed the first video “United Breaks Guitars” below that.

“In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.”