Apple’s PR Blunder
I don’t claim to be a PR expert…
…but I do know a thing or two about branding, and clearly, PR & branding are tightly interwoven. And like all forms of marketing, the role of social media is changing the game. I think about social media a lot, and when I read the headlines in the paper the role that social media plays in that headline often jumps to mind.
There is no greater example of this than when I read in Saturday’s paper that Apple was giving away cell phone cases to every owner of the new iPhone 4. Surely you have been following this story a little bit? What I don’t understand is how a company like Apple, how a CEO like Jobs, could have screwed this up so badly. Not the bringing a phone to market that has reception problems (Apple’s been pretty good about that since the 1st iPhone), but trying to sweep the issue under the rug. No company the size of Apple is ever going to be able to sweep a PR issue under the rug again. In these days of social media, the dirt spreads so fast you don’t stand a chance. You would think a forward-looking company like Apple would understand that. [full disclosure: I'm a big Apple fan and I own the 3GS and a Mac Book Pro]
Let’s review the time line: Apple receives complaints about reception problem and denies they exist. Apple admits there’s a problem but says its a software issue regarding number of bars being displayed. Apple admits that if the antenna in the lower back corner of the phone is covered by your hand, it can lose reception but Apple says that’s true of a lot of phones. Apple instructs its customer service staff via a memo outlining how to handle complaint calls that free cell phone cases should not be offered to complaining customers. The memo is leaked to the press. This past Friday, Jobs appears in a rare press conference, continues to deny that there is any issue and offers free cases to customers.
Could anybody but BP screw this up any worse? Jobs seems to be taking this thing on a personal level. He claims the media is attacking Apple because of their success! Well, Steve, open your eyes and take a look around. That coffee you smell isn’t the bitter aroma of the attack of giant media, it’s the sweet aroma of today’s social media keeping companies honest.