John Dutch1006090 Professor Goodwin March 14, 2014 Qantas Airlines: Twitter Nosedive 1 Over the last year.Executive Summary Qantas Airlines is experiencing unfavorable publicity as the result of an ineffective and poorly timed social media campaign. Qantas is advised to invest in social media training programs in order to mitigate the risk of a future public relations failure. Situation Qantas Airlines is in the midst of a communications issue that is negatively affecting their public image.000 passengers after grounding their entire fleet. The intended outcome will help preserve Qantas’ customer loyalty. Public discontent over these issues was brought to light after Qantas launched a public contest through Twitter. As well. Thousands of upset customers quickly turned the competition into a tirade of harsh comments towards the airline service. it is recommended that Qantas Airlines continue the contest as planned in order to determine the most pressing customer issues. repair their public image and ensure continued long-term profitability. controversial photographs. Rather than monitor these tweets. They are facing the risk of increased damage to what is regarded as one of Australia’s strongest brands. union disputes and the stranding of more than 68. To rebuild their image and avert any additional harm. Qantas began thanking users encouraging them to continue to keep contest entries coming. With this. the company became inundated with problems involving a number of engine troubles. As public acrimony grew. a parody YouTube video was released castigating Qantas and their executive counterparts for their poor communication with the 2 . Qantas needs to implement a publicly advertised customer improvement program that seeks to enhance the quality of service by resolving these issues. The entire incident has exposed several underlying organizational issues at Qantas Airlines. Olivia Wirth and her team are ineffective in executing valuable social media campaigns. consequences of this PR disaster could evolve into a prolonged erosion of sales and profitability. Thus. Wirth and her team could have examined the volume and general opinion of tweets about Qantas in order to measure the overall sentiment about the airline. they should seek to rebuild the trust lost from the contest and the 3 . and ultimately a tarnished reputation for one of Australia’s strongest brands. Qantas now faces the potential alienation of loyal customers and the continued exposure of past problems with the airline service. the company must develop a plan of action in order to avoid further brand value erosion and unfavorable public sentiment. More importantly however. Next. Analysis: Immediate problem and underlying issues The immediate problem of this incident is the negative media publicity that is continuing to develop. From an administration perspective. Objectives Currently.public. Qantas is experiencing a situation that could ruin their reputation as the world’s leading airline. Prior to the campaign. The public has taken to Twitter to voice frustration and discontent over the airline’s recent setbacks. the predominant objective for Qantas is to avoid any further abrasion to their brand image. Strategically. Wirth and her team have demonstrated poor management of Qantas’ social media outlets as evident by the fact that no one was left to monitor the Twitter contest. Evidently. full-service airline. The second alternative course of action is to continue the campaign despite the surrounding negativity. This is the ideal course of action because it 4 . they will be able to salvage their declining brand value and reestablish themselves as a reliable. Qantas will then need to follow up with a media address following the contest to demonstrate that they are in control of the situation. In doing so. a major drawback to this alternative is that it fails to directly address the negative feedback and public concerns. There will always be critics with every successful company and thus Qantas should not let this detract them from providing value to their customers. Qantas could choose to refocus the campaign away from their brand and more towards the actual contest. This address needs to outline that Qantas is learning how to best communicate with the public and will use this experience as a learning lesson. The most significant downside present in this option is that the continued contest criticisms may inflict additional damage to Qantas’ brand image. Alternatives To quell the immediate problem and avoid any additional devaluation to the Qantas brand there exist two distinct alternatives. To fix this. This will avoid any additional damage to the company’s image.previous incidents over the last year. Although very practical. A simple hashtag change from #QantasLuxury to #WinYourLuxuryTravelKit could help remove any negative brand associations and possibly solicit more favorable comments. Recommendation The recommended course of action requires Qantas to continue the contest as planned awarding the prize to the best entry. The first is to end the campaign and quietly select a winner amongst the genuine entries. To do so. Qantas will need to assess the negative feedback and confront the criticism head on. The public will respond positively to this plan as it shows Qantas taking responsibility and directly engaging complaints in such a way that shows the company is genuinely trying to solve customer concerns. A quick response evokes a sense of credibility with customers and the media. As this develops. Action Plan To be effective. the program should continue in the form of discount coupons coupled with surveys to be filled out on an incremental basis. Internally. Qantas should then seek to make the necessary changes addressing the feedback as it is received. This will help rebuild customer loyalty and create long-term profitable relationships. the aforementioned plan must be executed immediately following the Twitter campaign. These improvements should be publicly advertised via all possible media channels and should outline that customer concerns have been heard and have been effectively dealt with. Thus. Qantas needs to implement an improvement program focused on addressing these concerns in order to enhance the quality of their service. Next. Qantas’ PR team must construct a statement via all media channels publicly acknowledging customers that their feedback has been heard and that they are developing a program dedicated to improving the quality of their service.provides the company with a viable opportunity to improve their service. This cannot be achieved by simply changing the hashtag. Rather. The improvement program should be implemented within 2 weeks to allow ample time for 5 . Qantas needs to invest in social media training programs for PR employees in order to mitigate the risk of a future PR disaster. Qantas must compile and rank a list of the most pressing concerns received during the campaign. Qantas to compile feedback and prepare necessary resources. It should be noted that quality control improvements should be implemented over the next month and publicly advertised via all media channels. Ideally. The anticipated outcome is a restored brand image and continued long-term profitability. Analyzing financial statements from 2010 through to 2012 as well as customer survey feedback will be used as metrics to measure success. Conclusion With the recommendations set in motion. To mitigate this. survey feedback will need to convey an overall positive theme to verify that the desire outcome was attained. The net result is long-term profitability and an increased bottom line but more importantly. this will rebuild loyalty while also attracting potential consumers. Qantas should consider leveraging their brand strength to secure the necessary capital. As well. The overarching risk associated with this plan is need for significant monetary resources. the plan will help the airline better manage their social media channels to avoid a similar PR failure. Qantas Airlines will be able to improve the quality of their service by assessing negative feedback and customer concerns. financial success will be achieved if both revenue and income remain at or above levels before the crisis. 6 . In turn. the rehabilitated public image and restored brand value of the worlds leading long-distance airline service. From a brand value standpoint. The final step is to institute an 8-week training program educating PR employees on the fundamentals of proper social media management.