Do the right thing

Responding to brand challenges with integrity

I was recently caught up in the Bank Holiday weekend British Airways travel debacle where due to technical glitch my flight was first delayed and then on the day of departure, cancelled. Just what you need at either the beginning of, or in my case end of a holiday. Naturally I went straight to the app to get some clarity. Sadly it wasn’t working and kept me stuck in a bewildered limbo. Next I went to the website, same deal there. No information, unhelpful FAQ section and no numbers to call. Eventually found a contact number for British Airways using Google which (of course) told me they were too busy to answer.

So off we went to the airport to see if we could get some idea of what was happening there. No BA staff anywhere to be found, just pretty indifferent airport staff who told us we had to wait over 6 hours for a flight.

While this experience was one of frustration, uncertainly, and disappointment, it did make me think about how brands deal with circumstances that adversely affect their customers. Things inevitably go wrong and no brand is 100% perfect in the way that they perform. But what makes the difference is how brands deal with issues and respond to customers in situations where the ball is dropped. 

The behaviour that makes a difference should be inherent in a brand’s culture and clearly defined in its strategic foundation. Staff should possess the qualities that align with a brand’s behaviour and personality, and new candidates benchmarked against cultural criteria to make sure that in all eventualities the integrity of the customer experience is maintained. Systems and operations should be guided by the cultural dimension of a brand’s experience. If a brand’s behavioural criteria is responsive, diligent, and supportive then everything that it puts out into the world should emulate those traits.  

If customers can rely on the expectations they have of a brand that they align with, then the connection and allegiance has a better chance of remaining steadfast, even in situations where things go wrong. It’s how the brand responds that matters most. In the case of the BA flight cancellation the experience was bad right up until the point when we stepped onto the plane and a kind chief steward picked up on our dismay and made a point of coming to see us on the flight to find out what happened. He embodied everything we’d expected of a brand that we’d flown with for decades and trusted to deliver a quality experience. He was kind, empathetic and proactive, doing his utmost to make up for the poor experience we’d had by delivering clarity on who to contact about the experience, completing the report forms for us and making sure we were looked after during the flight. This one person made things right in our minds and restored our confidence in that moment.

Behaving in accordance with brand culture and doing the right thing can mean the difference between losing or retaining customers. Even when an airline as big as British Airways messes up it only takes the positive action of one person to embody the brand’s values and rebuild the brand connection with customers. This guy certainly reinstated our faith in a brand that had always been our first choice in air travel. So make sure you invest in your cultural integrity and prevent your audience flying away to the competition when things go pear shaped.