Case Study Topic: Handling a Public Relations/Publicity Crisis As mentioned in class, Marketing/PR Departments at companies of all sizes are faced with publicity crisis on a regular basis. Many appear in case studies like those we covered in class. Cyber attacks, product recalls, product malfunctions, etc. How companies respond to adversity is critical to their success in overcoming the crisis as well as to their long term image to their public (customers, employees, stockholders, community, etc.). For this final case study, students are to select a company that has been in the news recently for dealing with a publicity crisis related to their company/organization. Some examples include: Cyber security issues at companies like Chili’s, Yahoo, Target, Michaels, EBay, Spotify, PF Changs, etc., videotaped footage of United Airlines security dragging a passenger off of one of their planes,Tesla’s self-driving car that was involved in a fatal crash or a basketball game brawl at a recent NCAA game. Some questions/comments you may want to consider are: · Describe the publicity issue that the company you selected had to go through. How did they address the issue? In your opinion, what did they do right? What did they do wrong? · What ramifications happened as a result of the negative publicity? · How much damage (financial, employees, customers) did this PR issue cause? · What was the SWOT for the company before the PR issue? · What was the SWOT of the company after the PR issue? · Should customers be weary of shopping/doing business with this company post PR issue? · What do you recommend the company do now (post PR issue) from a public relations standpoint? Approach this case study in the same way as the case studies you have done in class. While there is no universal way to write a case study, make sure you cover the basics of a case study including: 1. Brief background/Situational Analysis of the company 2. Problem Statement/Key Issues 3. Competitive Situation/SWOT 4. Alternatives/Options 5. Recommendations A couple of paragraphs on each topic should suffice with the major emphasis placed on what you’d recommend they do from a marketing perspective. UNITED AIRLINES BAD WEEK COST BUFFETT AND OTHER INVESTORS MILLIONS Background Although each airline is structured differently, and it is difficult to assess and quantify the performance of an entire airline, Delta Airlines, and the United airlines have stayed in a steadfast competition for the last 5 years. In the year 2014, United airlines was seen lacking behind Delta airlines and was struggling to keep up with the pace, however, in the last 3 years, airlines have become a strong competitor for Delta airlines where the competition can be seen side to side. The United Airlines is the world's third-largest airline and has gained significant value in the last years, where Warren Buffett is considered the largest investor for the airlines. One of the most crucial and critical part of m.

1. Case Study Topic: Handling a Public Relations/Publicity Crisis
As mentioned in class, Marketing/PR Departments at companies
of all sizes are faced with publicity crisis on a regular basis.
Many appear in case studies like those we covered in class.
Cyber attacks, product recalls, product malfunctions, etc. How
companies respond to adversity is critical to their success in
overcoming the crisis as well as to their long term image to
their public (customers, employees, stockholders, community,
etc.).
For this final case study, students are to select a company that
has been in the news recently for dealing with a publicity crisis
related to their company/organization. Some examples include:
Cyber security issues at companies like Chili’s, Yahoo, Target,
Michaels, EBay, Spotify, PF Changs, etc., videotaped footage of
United Airlines security dragging a passenger off of one of their
planes,Tesla’s self-driving car that was involved in a fatal crash
or a basketball game brawl at a recent NCAA game.
Some questions/comments you may want to consider are:
· Describe the publicity issue that the company you selected had
to go through. How did they address the issue? In your
opinion, what did they do right? What did they do wrong?
· What ramifications happened as a result of the negative
publicity?
· How much damage (financial, employees, customers) did this
PR issue cause?
· What was the SWOT for the company before the PR issue?
· What was the SWOT of the company after the PR issue?
· Should customers be weary of shopping/doing business with
this company post PR issue?
· What do you recommend the company do now (post PR issue)
from a public relations standpoint?
Approach this case study in the same way as the case studies
you have done in class. While there is no universal way to
write a case study, make sure you cover the basics of a case

2. study including:
1. Brief background/Situational Analysis of the company
2. Problem Statement/Key Issues
3. Competitive Situation/SWOT
4. Alternatives/Options
5. Recommendations
A couple of paragraphs on each topic should suffice with the
major emphasis placed on what you’d recommend they do from
a marketing perspective.
UNITED AIRLINES BAD WEEK COST BUFFETT AND
OTHER INVESTORS MILLIONS
Background
Although each airline is structured differently, and it is difficult
to assess and quantify the performance of an entire airline,
Delta Airlines, and the United airlines have stayed in a steadfast
competition for the last 5 years. In the year 2014, United
airlines was seen lacking behind Delta airlines and was
struggling to keep up with the pace, however, in the last 3
years, airlines have become a strong competitor for Delta
airlines where the competition can be seen side to side. The
United Airlines is the world's third-largest airline and has
gained significant value in the last years, where Warren Buffett
is considered the largest investor for the airlines. One of the
most crucial and critical part of maintaining a good brand image
is in dealing with the negative publicities for all brands. What is
important is that under such circumstances, the company
remains true to its words and states facts. The basic relation
between the consumer and the producer is that of trust. A
consumer relies on the producer because they think that the
producers understand their needs and requirements and
therefore develop the product accordingly.
Problem statement: Like a grape vine, negative remarks and bad

3. word of mouth can affect the reputation of a brand and thus can
hinder and affect the sales of the product.
Key issues
Financial specialists in United Airlines parent United
Continental Holdings Inc., which incorporates popular very rich
person Warren Buffett, had an unpleasant week. As pictures of a
traveler being persuasively hauled off a plane a weekend ago
were stepped permanently on financial specialists' recollections,
United's stock failed to meet expectations the aircraft area by a
wide edge.
Joined's stock shed $1.81, or 2.6%, since last Friday, while the
NYSE Arca Airline Index facilitated only 0.2% over a similar
time. By correlation, the S&P 500 file lost 1.1% during the
week. A lawyer for David Dao, the traveler, hauled off a United
Airlines flight, said at a news gathering that Dr. Dao endured a
blackout during the episode and will probably sue. Dao's girl
Crystal Pepper additionally talked about the cost the episode
has taken on the family.
With about 314.6 million offers remarkable, as per FactSet,
United's value decrease has shaved $569.5 million off the
transporter's market capitalization this week. Buffett claimed
28,951,353 portions of United as of Feb. 14, as indicated by a
documenting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
With 9.2% of the offers extraordinary, Buffett was by a long
shot the transporter's biggest investor, as per FactSet. In the
event that his possessions stay unaltered, Buffett would have
lost $52.4 million this week on his United wager and $135.2
million since Feb. 14. CEO Oscar Munoz, who attempted to
extinguish the advertising fire by freely saying 'sorry' on
various occasions, claimed 207,772 United offers as of Feb. 28,
an SEC documenting appears. That infers about a $376,000
misfortune this week; however, has increased about $237,000
since United rejected a month ago to permit two preteen young
ladies from getting onto a plane for wearing stockings.
While the producers rely on the consumer for the remaining
brand loyal if they are satisfied with the product, and the basic

4. basis of this trust is that the consumers believe that the
producer is honest and true with them. However, what is more,
significant is that the majority of the consumers rely on the
feedback and the reviews of others before trying a product for
themselves. And positive or negative comments and reviews on
a product are regarded to be of high value and therefore play a
major role in the sales and preference of a product.
Competitive situation
In the year 2014, the market cap for Delta airlines was $31
billion, and the United airlines were at a market cap of $18
billion. While the United airlines gained a significant share in
the market the same year in the last two quarters to almost
cover 51% shares after bearing a massive loss for an entire
quarter, implying that it was back on track. For the year 2015,
Delta Airlines announced a historic sales income of $5.9 billion
before tax, while the United airlines made a profit of $2.3
billion in the year and reported that the year recorded the lowest
number of cancellations.
The income for united airlines was $3.8 billion before tax.
Although the gap between the two airlines for the year was big
in terms of calculations but when it is to viewed on a general
level, the progress of both the airlines seemed to be improving
in terms of the quality of service in comparison to the airfare
the airlines were providing. There were other similarities
between the airlines as well; both of the airlines were
concentrating on the service of the airlines and reported
maximum pre-taxed earnings. There was maximum earnings by
the employees and also the employees experienced the
maximum job satisfaction for the year.
For the year 2016, United airlines again announced the lowest
number of flight cancellations, lowest number of flight delays
and the lowest number of reported incidents of mishandling of
the luggage by the airlines. Where Delta airlines reported a
lower profit for the year but continued to concentrate on the
service and had the lowest number of flight delays and flowed
the safest levels. Overall, the two airlines continued to satisfy

5. the consumers and recorded years of improvement and hard
work in the three years, where the service was gradually
improving.
Alternatives
By definition, non-financial merits are the rewards and perks
that are offered in addition to the financial rewards that are not
monetary. The function of non-financial merit in a service
industry such as the airlines means that the reward is more
focused on the service and quality of the time and the flight and
mainly the time that the consumer spends on and during a flight.
The entire experience that a consumer gains from air traveling
is considered the non-financial reward. The consumer pays for
better quality and standard service in order to spend a good time
and save up on time, while the airlines receive the payment for
providing the service and experience to the consumer. In 2014
both the airlines were catching up to meet the competition and
marked a significant place towards the end of the year. In 2015
both the airlines improved their service and raised profit form
recording one of the highest sales in the year due to higher
consumer satisfaction. For the fiscal year of 2016-2017, Delta
airlines continued to work on the same platform but United
airlines however, experienced turmoil in their operations. A few
incidents towards the end of the year 2016 and the beginning of
the year 2017, some political opinions and a few changes in the
rules and regulations of the airlines led to a few incidents that
created some difficulties for the airlines.
Recommendations
As per reports some passengers who had paid were not allowed
to board planes, a few passengers were kicked off the flights
and some were even dragged across the airplanes for not
following some unnecessary requirements of the airlines. The
biggest concerns were regarding the passengers who were
subjected to victimization because of racial discrimination.
These provocations led the United airlines to encounter a bad
public image and because of the range of volatility in the stock
and commodity markets the airline's shares faced a drop. Apart

6. from the airlines Warren Buffet's separate invest in the company
were also harmed and there were massive drops in regards to the
upside caps. As one of the largest investors in the economic
market Waren Buffett is considered as one of the most
influential investors in the world and his activities of investing
and his decision making is given value and makes changes in
the market. In my opinion however, Warren Buffett should
continue his investment share in the holdings and shares of the
company. The first reason is that as per the report of the United
airlines for the first quarter of the year 2017, the company
claims that despite bad publicity the airlines has been
experiencing profits and there has not been much change in the
sales. The second reason is that Waren Buffett might influence
the market by his decision of continuing to be a part of the
United airlines and this might give him an edge to effect the
market in future. Thirdly, the airlines are expanding at the
moment and Warren's decision of leaving the airlines might
result in huge losses for him as well. His stocks might lose
value and this may take his chance of investing in airlines
further.
References
ir.united.com. (n.d.). United Airlines Reports Full-Year and.
Retrieved from ir.united.com:
http://ir.united.com/~/media/Files/U/United-Continental-
IR/earning-release/2016/ual-2016-q4-earnings-release.pdf
Levine-Weinberg, A. (2014, 9 30). United Airlines Is Not the
Same as Delta and American. Retrieved from fool.com:
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/09/30/united-
airlines-is-not-the-same-as-delta-and-ameri.aspx
newsroom.united.com. (2017, 1 17). United Airlines Reports
Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter 2016 Performance. Retrieved
from newsroom.united.com: http://newsroom.united.com/2017-
01-17-United-Airlines-Reports-Full-Year-and-Fourth-Quarter-
2016-Performance