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| Ditto @ United Airlines |
These chapters reminds me a lot of the Meek Mill vs Drake beef that went down this past summer. Just like United Airlines waited far too long to comment on Dave's sudden fame, Meek Mill posted his rebuttal two diss tracks too late. To me, it seems obvious that companies (or in this case, rappers) should respond as quickly as possible or risk ruining their reputation forever. Nobody cares about something once it is over, and nowadays, news is old almost as soon as it is discovered. Like Taylor guitars and Calton cases, Drake took advantage of the spotlight shed on him by Meek's initial ghost-writer accusations by quickly producing responses that earned him respect and gained him favor with the general public. Because the argument was largely based on Twitter, the conversation surrounding it was largely real-time. This immediacy raised the stakes dramatically. In the eight days that it took Meek to write his own song, there had already been thousands of memes made condemning him. His slowness cost him his reputation, and by the time he did respond, it was practically irrelevant; the rest of the world had already rallied behind Drake. It is essential for companies to learn from this. Unless they want to suffer their own scary hours, they must be able to respond in real time.
Adopting a real-time mindset is practical for everyday life, not just PR and/or marketing. Success stories are always about people that took risks and were able to live in the moment. Just like ER doctors must react quickly to save a patient, even if that means taking a risk and foregoing planning or procedure, it is essential for organizations to make snap decisions to keep themselves alive and in the game. Even
Fortune companies will not last forever. My generation is nearing the age of takeover in the business world, and the generation behind us will continue to challenge us for better strategies and response times. If big companies are not careful, they will be overtaken by those with savvy social media and PR teams.
A bit of a side note: I am not a fan of the narrative style of this book. It is my opinion that the author refers to his other books and his writing process for this one more often than is necessary. There are also some common grammar mistakes that were a bit off-putting, e.g., using "light years" as a measurement of time rather than distance (page 36). It distracts from the message that the material is trying to convey. Of course, I may just be too picky.
Until next time!
Kathryn
