2. Customer Service Key to
Southwest
•
The mission of
Southwest Airlines is
dedication to the
highest quality of
customer service
delivered with a sense
of warmth,
friendliness, individual
pride, and company
spirit.
3. Happiness = $
•
Life at Southwest:
Happy Employees=
Happy Customers.
Happy Customers
keep Southwest Flying
4. Leadership at Southwest
•
10 Directors, 2 Female
•
2011 Marked the
company’s 39th
consecutive year of
profitability
•
2011 Total Operating
Revenue= $15.7
Billion
5. Southwest Social
•
Extremely active on
company branded
social sites, their “Nuts
About Southwest” blog
and Conversations
Forum
•
More than 2,000,000
likes and 60,000 people
talking about the
corporation on a daily
basis
6. Southwest Social
•
More than 300 videos
surround their Rapid
Rewards Program
•
Posts vary in
frequency with at least
one post a day, every
day
7. Magazine Rankings, Fast
Facts
•
Airlines routinely left
off “Best Places to
Work” Lists
•
Southwest is stronger
in reputation rankings
than brand rankings
•
Highest Rank: 4 on
Fortune’s Most
Admired 2011
8. Magazine Rankings, 2012
•
Ranks 10 on Fortune’s
Most Admired
•
Ranks 26 on Harris
Reputation Quotient
•
Ranks 51 on
Reputation Institute
9. Magazine Rankings, Year
over Year
•
Declined from 4 to 10
in Fortune’s Most
Admired
•
Declined 2.28 points in
Harris’ Reputation
Quotient
10. Where Southwest Is...
•
1 in Brandindex’s 2011
US Buzz Rankings for
Airlines
•
Top ranking by Forbes
Brands American Men
and Women Desire
•
Glassdoor.com’s 50
Best Places to Work
11. Where Southwest is Not...
•
Interbrand
•
BrandZ
•
Fortune’s Best Places
to Work
•
Boston
College/Reputation
Institute’s CSR
Ranking
12. Southwest = Media Darling
•
Southwest stands out
among the “villains”
•
Tone of coverage is
positive to neutral
•
Positive reputation,
continued growth,
customer-service
focus
13. News Outlets
•
Features or mentions
in numerous elite
media outlets
•
NYT, WSJ, Forbes,
Fortune, CNN,
MSNBC
•
Hometown pubs catch
every detail
14. Coverage Focus
•
Airline Industry News
•
SWA Financial News
•
SWA Business
Operations
•
Flight-Specific
Incidents
15. Social Buzz
•
Despite operating in a
negatively perceived industry,
Southwest receives mostly
positive sentiment (84%
favorable)
Negative sentiment has never
reached above 17% in the
past year
Most conversation occurs on
Twitter (mentioned in 343
tweets per day, or 14 tweets
per hour)
18. Recommendations
Reputation Public Relations
• Boost their R&D and •Maintain and continue to
Innovation efforts improve current reputation
• Continue to tout their CSR •Maintain close relationships
Green Initiatives with local media
•Continue to address negative
Social Media news as soon as possible
• Expand to additional platforms
• Establish Southwest member
exclusives
