In 2003, a Cadbury chocolate manufacturing plant in Mumbai discovered that two chocolate bars had been infested with worms. And he told them, outright, what he was going to do to make things right. He acknowledged the massive inconveniences his customers were facing. Though the backlash was still fairly severe, Neeleman was up-front about the company's mistakes. He also included monetary compensation for the missed flights, and presented a list of action items the company would take to help affected passengers. That's when CEO David Neeleman took action: Instead of blaming the weather and issuing a robotic, formulaic response, Neeleman wrote an apology letter to JetBlue customers and introduced a new customer's 'bill of rights.' As you can imagine, airline travelers were livid. JetBlue makes up for a massive inconvenience.īack in 2007, a major ice storm on the East Coast led to JetBlue cancelling more than 1,000 flights over the course of five days.

He dropped whatever he was doing to visit the site and manage his company's response in person he also filled customers in about the details as soon as he could. Branson's human side shone through here his response was immediate and passionate. He later wrote an extended post on the matter, expressing his shock, explaining the situation and resolving to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. CEO Richard Branson, immediately upon learning of the tragedy, wrote a brief message about his personal grief even as he prepared for an in-person flight to visit the crash site to meet with the people involved. One pilot was killed and another one was injured. In 2014, when Virgin Galactic attempted a manned test of a space tourism craft in the Mojave Desert, an anomaly resulted in a terrible crash. Virgin Galactic recovers from a deadly crash. This was, and is, a fantastic example of averting disaster, owing to Taco Bell's fast, completely transparent and multi-channel response to the controversy.ģ. Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed commented on the strategy, stating that it 'sets the record straight about the high quality of our seasoned beef and the integrity of our advertising.' In response, Taco Bell made several statements and released videos showing the true makeup of its seasoned beef product: 88 percent beef and 12 percent 'secret recipe.' Taco Bell also disclosed the ingredients of that 'secret recipe,' and the lawsuit was dropped. The lawsuit alleged that the brand's 'seasoned beef' product was only 35 percent beef, implying that Taco Bell had been lying in its advertising. Taco Bell makes a secret recipe public.īack in 2011, Taco Bell's parent company (Yum! Brands) was facing a lawsuit over the content of its meat. We deeply apologize for our mistake.' Her response was heartfelt, apologetic, straightforward and, most importantly, immediate - which may have prevented an even bigger PR disaster.

There was no thought given to the insensitive email subject line we sent Tuesday. Related: The 12 Worst Social-Media Fails of 2016Īdidas spokeswoman Maria Culp immediately recognized the error after a few customers pointed it out, publicly stating, 'We are incredibly sorry.

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