What Happens When Sh*t Happens?
At OMFGCO, we believe that every decision is a brand decision. In this series, we explore how the reality of a brand is often very different than what it appears to be. A brand is more than a logo or a color palette. A brand is more than a social media manager or a web page. From a broader perspective, a brand is defined by how it treats people, and ultimately how people feel about it.
All of these subtleties influence how your brand is understood. Beyond what your product or service actually is, these are the experiences that people have (and share with each other) that become your brand.
What Happens When Sh*t Happens?
When I say, “United Airlines,” what comes to mind? Do you see their logo? The delicious airline food? Or does your mind instantly flash to the image of security officers pummeling a customer and dragging him off the plane? Our guess is the latter. United Airlines’ behavior has impacted their brand much more negatively than their public relations department can handle, and far more than a pretty logo can fix. Given the frequency and consistency of these problems, they must be coming from the top (or from their core). These aren’t rogue employees — they’re employees acting as they’ve been pushed to act.
AT&T and Verizon spent $6 billion on advertising last year. If you ask people what they think about them, they will likely forget that they had decent reception out in the woods, responding instead with a story about the time they couldn’t figure out how to cancel their plan, and what a pain in the ass that was for them. They will talk about the surprise roaming bill they had back when roaming was still a thing (like 15 years ago?). Even after all that advertising, AT&T and Verizon still can’t make these stories disappear.
Except for the different mascots in their ads, auto insurance companies are all pretty much the same, right? Most people choose their auto insurance according to how much it costs per month. That is, until they get into an actual accident. It’s at that moment that they find out if their insurance company is really there for them, or if they’ve instead been making monthly payments to a company that will take advantage of them when they’re most vulnerable.
Unpleasant moments are often the ones people remember most about a brand. Our brains are actually hard wired to operate like this from multiple generations of genetic training. Paying attention to the bad stuff helped keep people alive. Knowing this, it is wise for a brand to anticipate these moments, and provide the best care when it matters the most.
Your Current Relationship Is Your Future Relationship
Donald Kenney, Ace Hotel Portland’s General Manager, trains and leads his staff with the mantra of Generosity. He selects his team carefully with this in mind, entrusting them to think for themselves and take ownership of their responsibilities. He empowers his staff to use their own best judgment when helping guests, especially when things go wrong.
By being generous with his crew, they, in turn, can be generous with their guests, which makes people love Ace even more, and thus the gospel is spread. Everyone wins.
When helping train the staff for the newly opening Ace Hotel New York, Kenney faced impending disaster: the hotel was opening while still under construction (which is a common move to get some cash flow going), and they were overbooked. That meant they had to book the guests at another hotel and eat the cost. This was a double whammy, not only for the expense and inconvenience, but also for the bad taste that it could leave in people’s mouths.
So what did he do? He asked our own Jeremy Pelley, a designer for Ace at the time, to help create a gift for each of them. Together they created a custom gift certificate for a complimentary stay for a future date, a handwritten note, a fresh Gala apple, and a custom t-shirt that added, “I almost stayed at,” to the ACE NYC shirts they’d already had made.
The result? People didn’t complain or boycott Ace — instead, they focused on how lucky they felt. They talked about the amazing, custom, hand-painted shirt they got, the free stay, and how thoughtful Ace was for the customized gift. Disaster averted.
But what do you do if people take advantage of your generosity? What if your employees give away too much to people who have only been slightly inconvenienced? How do you rectify it?
You don’t. It’s the cost of doing business.
By maintaining and upholding the value of generosity, you are demonstrating that the long game is more important to you. By giving away a night’s stay or a t-shirt in the short term, you show that you don’t sweat the small stuff. People pick up on this important subtlety, and reward it with loyalty. As your brand loyalty spreads and grows over time, you’ll earn back all of the money you invested up front in cultivating goodwill with your audience.
You are not just selling your product — you are selling your reputation. And the critical moment is less about when things are going well, and more about when they aren’t. Sure, people feel bad for the victim, but they also care just as much about what somebody did to respond to the tragedy.
Sh*t Breaking is an Opportunity
The good news? You don’t have to be the Villain, and they don’t have to be the Victim. You can establish your reputation as an empathetic brand that respects people as people. We are all human beings first, and customers second. No matter how much planning and precision you apply to your product or service, you will experience speed bumps and curveballs — that is part of life. By setting up your company to improve the perception of its brand in these situations, you earn trust, and when bad things happen, your customers will be more likely to empathize with you, realize that it is not the norm, and give you the benefit of the doubt.
Many businesses are willing to spend $1 to predict and prevent ways their product and service will break, and $2 to tell consumers about the best features, but aren’t willing to spend 10 cents to delight those customers who they’ve unintentionally let down.
It’s time for brands (maybe all of society?) that we re-examine these choices and reprioritize them. Sure, each business is different, but this level of customer engagement stems from deeply held personal and professional core values, and it can’t be faked. There is no question, for every company and every brand, how you treat people continues to matter more. Your brand — and the world — is relying on it.
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Original illustration © 2018 OMFGCO
