PR Squared: Influence 2.0

This is a perfect example of the Influence 2.0 trends that Cymfony's e-book describes.

As a PR person, how would you counsel Comcast to respond to this Consumer-Generated Media?

You can't deny the event. You can't deny the customer service atrocities. You certainly can't retaliate against the consumer.

The only thing to do is to get better.

Or, watch this video ignite a firememe.

Burn, baby, burn.

UPDATE: I thought about this last night. Here's what I'd counsel Comcast to do, if I were their PR guy...

Buy the rights to this video (and song).
Promote the sleepy technician in the video to a "Special Ops" team that digs deep into Comcast's Customer Service issues, with a report due in 6 months on How to Make Things Better. (He should not necessarily lead the team, but, he'd be its public spokesperson. Why? Because he's the poor bastard who had to wait on-hold with his own company! And he'll always be The Guy From That YouTube Video.)
Turn this YouTube video into a "Comcastic" commercial that airs in all major metros served by the cable operator. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts should walk on-set (with this video still frozen in the background), apologize, and commit to do better. "To be 'Comcastic' for every user."

You could argue that this video is a tempest in a teapot, but every Comcast user (myself included) knows that their Service really does suck.

In the Influence 2.0 world, it's incumbent on consumer-centric companies like Comcast to get ahead of their challenges before they become a meme.

(Here's another such nightmare.)

Tags: comcast, youtube, influence+2.0, cgm, customer+service, pr, public+relations, pr+2.0

Comments

Great suggestions, Todd.

Don't you think the service tech is as responsible as the people who put him on hold, though? I don't know the details of how Comcast works, but it would seem his falling asleep is as much an indictment of him than it is the folks back in the office.

Posted by: John Wagner | June 23, 2006 03:09 PM

I am more sympathetic to the dozing dude. If Comcast's road techs had a special # to call for support, he'd have been in-and-out without a catnap.

Not that he SHOULD have fallen asleep...

But, hot summer day + looong wait on the phone + cozy couch = sleepytime.

Posted by: Todd Defren | June 24, 2006 11:29 AM