I've spent my entire professional life as a television network publicity and corporate communications executive at such places as Fox, GSN and Lifetime TV. I get a rush dealing with live broadcasts, tight deadlines and press conferences. I think I enjoy my job so much because I love working with the press. In addition to all that, I enjoy being an industry blogger and a social media expert and leading my own consulting firm in Los Angeles. 
A Valuable Example in New Media PR – Thanks to Media Pro, Kevin Smith
For anyone who works in public relations, the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines situation is well-worth studying to learn how to properly handle crisis communications in the social media playground.
For those who are able to be near me, they hear me all the time say that the PR methods I used to follow are no longer applicable. That former business model is over and we’ve entered a new wide frontier where our learning is often played out in the public.
Yes, there are some same principles of crisis communications that are applicable to handling bad press in new media. For instance, the first rule of thumb – being ahead of the story does indeed always stand. But, since the new tools are immediate, that rule is often not able to be utilized.
Thus, there is so much to learn from this situation which some media have labeled “Fatgate.”
Kevin Smith Knows How to Communicate
In a nutshell, Kevin Smith, the director and writer of such cult-classics as “Clerks” and “Dogma,” boarded a Southwest flight taking off from Oakland headed for Burbank on Saturday, Feb. 13. Since he was loaded on a “stand by” basis, he was unable to purchase a secondary seat, which he normally does and after boarding, he for some reason was wrongly ejected off the plane by the pilot citing that he was a “safety risk.”
Smith, a savvy promoter and communicator, immediately tweeted about the situation and his outrage against the action. Keep in mind, Smith (twitter name @ThatKevinSmith) has over 1.6 million fellow twitterers that follow him. So his words were heard instantly.
Since Saturday, Smith and Southwest (SWA) have been going back and forth about the situation. Each have blogged extensively about it and it’s become quite the mess, but it’s an excellent lesson for us PR professionals in how to handle a bad situation from an influencer.
I highly recommend you read Kevin Smith’s account of Southwest’s apology and compare that to what Southwest Airlines has posted on its blog about the situation. You can also follow their twitter feeds, Southwest is at @Southwest Air. And to add more salt to Southwest Airlines wound, Smith has a video podcast and so he’s been using that platform to tell his story to his community as well as the world.
There are so many good lessons to take away from this situation, which Smith hopes is over. I could go on and on about this, but to keep this post brief, I’ll hit on some topline PR points.
1. THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. No matter what century we are living in..this basic principle always applies and I’m surprised that Southwest Airlines forgot that main point. No matter how hard Smith hammered SWA, SWA should have not defended them selves. They should have gathered their facts first and then contacted him when they knew exactly what happened. And they should have kept their comments private and let Kevin tell his fans about it.
2. KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH. SWA should have known in a matter of minutes how astute Kevin Smith is at communicating to his large and passionate community. They should have realized that he is an articulate communicator and savvy with new media. He may have reacted strongly, but who wouldn’t when he being accused of being too fat to fly. Smith knew that once that “name” was out there, that he could be labeled that for life.
3. GET ALL THE FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. Again, I want to hammer this point home. When dealing with any crisis it’s imperative that you have all the facts before any response is made. This is especially true when dealing with a media savvy individual. For instance, the photo below was taken by Smith while on another Southwest Airline flight on the same day. Why could he fly on that plane and not the one he was ejected from previously?
In my opinion, SWA’s corporate communications executives have made a few blunders by immediately reacting to Smith without having their complete facts. And then later, when someone named Linda from SWA tried to extend an olive branch over the phone to Smith, she told Smith that the people sitting next to Smith complained. Smith was spot on with the assessment of the people that were next to him and it didn’t match up. She knew he had all the facts and she didn’t. He heard her sigh on the phone. For more info, read his blog post.
4. ALWAYS BE HONEST. No matter what be honest. With the advent of social media, it calls for you to be authentic in all you do. People are much more savvy at telling when one isn’t transparent. If you make a mistake, apologize. Don’t speak around it especially when you offend someone. (Like accusing Smith of being too fat, which apparently Linda said wasn’t the true reason to Smith over the phone.) He just wants that apology and it hasn’t come yet.
SWA Acted Very Corporate in this Situation and Were Not Their Friendly Selves
5. THE PROPER RESPONSE. I understand that Southwest was getting inundated with messages to respond to Smith, however, less is always best. They could have simply wrote on their blog that they are dealing with the situation personally with Smith and left it at that. And they could have co-authored a response that both would post. A respectful response would have been so much better than the moaning that has gone on.
I could go on and on about this subject, but really, I am surprised at how Southwest handled this situation. I do understand that they have a standing policy about a person’s proportions. But, perhaps its time to change them or update the policy or explain it more clearly. I’ve flown SWA numerous times and they have a physical compartment in front of the check-in area that displays the size of the proper carry on luggage. If they have that then they should have something to measure a person’s waist in private and not have board them just to later reject them. How unprofessional.
That’s my two cents worth on the subject…I’d love to hear your take on the how you think this situation should have been handled.
As Always,
Cindy
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