Category Archives: Shooting yourself in the foot

United Breaks Guitars – a public relations nightmare

Posted on July 13, 2009 by David St Lawrence

Customers who are mistreated can use the Internet and YouTube to make their unhappiness known. If they are as persuasive and entertaining as Dave Carroll, it can result in a viral campaign of enormous power. United Airlines is discovering that … Continue reading →

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Orchestrated “grassroots” smear campaigns are business, not personal

Posted on September 22, 2008 by David St Lawrence

If you ever wondered how some of these stories about candidates seem to spread "spontaneously", this detailed analysis on the Jawa Report will give you more information than you ever imagined. The basic formula is that a professional PR firm … Continue reading →

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Strangely unreliable customer service at Countrywide

Posted on June 26, 2008 by David St Lawrence

Two years ago we ran into a Countrywide loan officer who didn’t have both oars in the water. We refer to this loan officer as Mrs. Glib because she made reassuring statements that were not supported by facts. I wrote … Continue reading →

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Aloha to another broken business model

Posted on April 1, 2008 by David St Lawrence

The closing of Aloha Airlines is a tragedy for the nearly 2000 employees involved. They were given less than 48 hours notice that they would be out of work. Here is the spin from Aloha management: Airline president and chief … Continue reading →

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