Customer relations podcasting

Looks like I'm going to re-blog my friend Jan twice today. She's oh so on topic.

Re: The Faux Press :: Politics, Law, Media & Marketing: Bill Marriott's Got a Podcast :: Why Smoke-Free Hotels

In a recent podcast, Marriott defends the decision to eliminate smoking rooms in all his hotels.

In another (one of his first, the podcast enclosed herewith), he addresses new Federal regulations requiring U.S. citizens to show a passport when re-entering the country from Canada, Mexico and a bunch of other places.

The big guys continue to buy into the blog / vlog / podcast fray. Hey, even the President and the Department of Homeland Security have RSS feeds.

Excellent.

The show notes for the smoking piece are:

"We really received a lot of comments on the blog about Marriott's decision last year to take all our hotels in North America 100 percent smoke free. That includes Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Marriott Hotels, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, our Fairfield Inns, and even our TownePlace Suites.

"One of our very best customers who smokes blogged back to me and said, "I'll never come back to a Marriott." Well, that's a tough pill for us to swallow. But we made this decision because we knew it's what our customers wanted. And it certainly is what our associates deserved."

This is precisely the kind of issue that is best addressed by the head honcho.

Well done, Mr. Marriott, though a more conversational tone might lend more credibility and warmth to your show.

Thanks to Joho Blog for the heads' up.

What I love about Jan is she always speaks straight to you. In this case she's speaking straight to Bill Marriott. Bill could learn a few things from Jan.

I don't really have much to add except that I agree with Jan. The biggest issue I have is staying "on topic". While smoking in hotels is absolutely a great topic for a podcast I really question wether the discussion of homeland security passport policy is an appropriate topic when representing a hotel in a podcast. Although, I must say, in this case I really love that Bill has the grit to discuss such an issue, and I have to acknolege that he is not any employee, he's Bill Mariott and it's his hotel he's representing so it's his right if he wants to potentially alienate customers over issues outside of the scope of his hotel chain.

Jet Blue - videoblogging for apologists

My good friend Jan over at FauxPress blogged the following about the Jet Blue's CEO posting a public apology on Youtube regarding their holding passengers hostage on a plane for some nine hours.

Thanks to Steve Bryant at NewTeeVee for pointing out another interesting executive video.

To Steve I say that Jet Blue's David Neeleman gets lots and lots of points for not reading from a script. So many folks these days are reading from scripts whose performances have left me cold. Hillary Clinton and Mr. Marriott come to mind. Not to worry, there's a learning curve to mastering authenticity, but you need a dedicated director on board to help you find and learn it.

[Note: Senator Clinton's YouTube announcement video linked from VoteHillary.org has been taken down for TOS violation. Oops.]

Furthermore, I don't need to hear, "I'm sorry." No-sir-ee. The only really meaningful response to a big-time screwup is action. Free flights, hotels, lots of free stuff for that kinda snafu. Let's see if Neeleman's words translate into motion, then re-evaluate.

Checking the JetBlue website, I found this text apology. Also found their new Bill of Rights, though the amounts of compensation do not seem high enough.

I just wanted to add two things.

1. Welcome to the new face of the corporate to customer relations.
   
   Video blogging has natural advantages over regular blogging and PR channels like the press releases or VNRs (video news releases).
   
   It's particularly enticing as a tool for corporate apologists because it's much more direct then a VNR and much more personable (therefore more empathetic) then a written apology. I personally believe this may be the start of a change in the way companies interact with their customers.


2. Welcome to the digital dark ages.
   
   Consider this emphasis. As Jan points out Senator Hillary Clinton's youtube announcement video for votehillary.org has been taken down for violating Youtube's terms of service.
   
   Normally this means a violation of copyright (the video came from CNN News), but regardless of why youtube removed it I just have one thing to say....
   
   It doesn't matter wether it was deliberate or accidental youtube's removal of such a video is censorship plain and simple.
   
   I would even argue that its being arbitrary or accidental is even worse then it's being a deliberate act. At least if it was deliberate it would inform us of youtube's policy on censorship thereby informing our choice as to whether youtube is an appropriate choice for us as individuals.
   
   On the other hand if youtube is going to randomly and arbitrarily remove videos then it ceases to have any value as a platform for free speech at all and should be considered merely a platform for trash we don't care about.... which... is generally how I currently regard it.
   
   Please, if you're going to post stuff to youtube post a public backup somewhere.
   
   This is what we all deserve for depending on a third party. Expect to see a lot more important reference material disappear from youtube in the future. The future of youtube is the proverbial 404. If you you really want something to stick around (if it's important to you at all) I suggest using a tool like vixy.net to grab it off youtube and save a copy on your own server.
   
   For example, here's the Jet Blue video in MP4: JetBlue-our-promise-to-you.mp4
   
   I've included it for the sake of archiving it, because without it this post doesn't make much sense.
   
   Not only is it on my server in case it disappears from youtube in six months time, but as an MP4 it's also podcast compatible and download able.