The role of marketing and communications has been in the news a lot lately with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the recent Pepsi ad and several back-to-back incidents with United Airlines. But let’s start on a positive note. A recent commercial by Västtrafik, a transportation agency in Sweden, was also making the rounds in social media and a variety of media outlets.
Fade in, powerful, ambiguous sleek contours of some sophisticated vehicle. Que dramatic music and the buzz of electricity. Words systematically emerge emphasizing the cutting-edge technology, such as “Electrified,” “Delegated Driving” and “Sustainable.”
It escalates to a dramatic finish. Two headlights and the text “The Future of Mobility.” As the lights come on, a bus is revealed.
It’s a fantastic ad for its creativity in mocking the buzz around self-driving cars. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the view.
People are talking about the possibility of futuristic vehicles driving them around while they can do things other than driving … yet that is something available to them in many areas right now. The irony.
It made me think of a tweet exchange from earlier this year. @UberFacts tweeted: “If each New York City taxi carried 10 people and if every patron agreed to ride-share, the city wouldn’t need 85% of its taxi fleet.” To which there was a reply: “Hi, this is called ‘a bus.’”
Granted in many areas the buses might not be as high tech and if it’s an area that’s woefully underfunded and you’re dealing with hour headways, you’re not going to win people over. But in how many areas is it that the preconceived notion is keeping riders at bay?
A similar concept for an ad was done by Capital Metro in Austin from several years back when it was launching MetroRapid (MassTransitmag.com/12325794). Also definitely worth the watch.
On to the negative side of marketing and communications gone wrong. While there are many things that contributed to the backlash faced by United, there were a number of articles pointing to a crucial contributing factor: the head of communications reports to the head of human resources and labor relations, not the CEO.
The airlines industry has a lot of scenarios that could be similar to public transportation, such as weather delays, unruly passengers, maintenance issues or catastrophic events. PR professionals have been chiming in online saying that for a company with the ongoing potential for crisis, there needs to be a direct line of communication between the CEO and the one most qualified in giving advice in crisis communications — the head of PR.
The last month has offered some good lessons to be learned from when it comes to communicating what we offer and being prepared for the worst.
