The document discusses the era of customer empowerment, emphasizing the significant impact of social media and customer engagement on businesses. It illustrates this through the story of Dave Carroll, whose YouTube video about United Airlines' poor customer service led to a $180 million loss for the company, and highlights successful strategies by PepsiCo, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola in embracing customer feedback. The overall message is that companies must adapt to this shift by being humble, transparent, and willing to learn from their customers.

1. Do you have what it takes to survive in
the era of customer empowerment?
6 commandments to breathe by
3 remarkable stories to live by
THE
CUSTOMER REVOLUTION

2. We are living
in the age
of the
empowered
customer

3. Fuelled by the
widespread
adoption of

4. Fuelled by the
widespread
adoption of
cloud

5. Fuelled by the
widespread
adoption of
social

6. Fuelled by the
widespread
adoption of
mobile
technologies

7. Our customers
now have access to

8. more
information

9. more
choices

10. more
opportunities

11. The result has been a revolutionary shift
in the balance of power between
companies and their customers.

12. 01
UNITED
UNITED BREAKS GUITARS
THE POWER OF ONE VOICE
IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Here is a cautionary tale of how
one empowered customer
cost a company $180 million.
Be Humble

13. UNITED
breaks
GUITARS
UNITED
about. This means that unhappy customers cost businesses roughly $537,030,000,000 in
missed revenue!
Singer/songwriter Dave Caroll witnessed United
Airlines employees tossing his guitar on the tarmac
while luggage was being unloaded.
When he later discovered his $3,500 Taylor guitarÕs
neck had been broken he asked United Airlines to pay
for the repair. After nine months of pleas, they refused.
So, Dave made a song and produced a music video
which he put on Youtube. ÒUnited Breaks GuitarsÓ has
had nearly 14 million views to date.
The BBC reported that UnitedÕs stock price dropped
by 10% within weeks of the release of the video, a
value of 180 million!
The power of ust one unhappy
customer
about. This means that unhappy customers cost businesses roughly $537,030,000,000 in
missed revenue!
Singer/songwriter Dave Caroll witnessed United
Airlines employees tossing his guitar on the tarmac
while luggage was being unloaded.
When he later discovered his $3,500 Taylor guitarÕs
neck had been broken he asked United Airlines to pay
for the repair. After nine months of pleas, they refused.
So, Dave made a song and produced a music video
which he put on Youtube. ÒUnited Breaks GuitarsÓ has
had nearly 14 million views to date.
The BBC reported that UnitedÕs stock price dropped
by 10% within weeks of the release of the video, a
value of 180 million!
The power of ust one unhappy
customer
2. After nine months of pleas, United
refused to pay for the repairs. Dave
made a song and produced a music
video which he put on Youtube.
1. Singer/songwriter Dave Caroll
witnessed United Airlines employees
tossing his guitar on the tarmac
while luggage was being unloaded.
3. Publicly humiliated, United Airlines’ stock price
plummeted 10% after the video went online, causing its
share value to drop an estimated $180 million!
>
>
Be Humble

14. UNITED
breaks
GUITARS
UNITED
Be TransparentBe Transparent
Humility is the foundation of a successful strategy. The old dictum that the customer is always
right is no longer just a catchphrase to encourage good customer service—today,
the empowered, connected, web-savvy customer is often right.
WHY THEY FAILED
Companies that dismiss customer complaints as disgruntled,
isolated whining are likely to find themselves facing a much
more serious PR situation.
Be Humble

15. The question is:
What does this mean
for your company?

16. Treat your customers
like they own you.
Because they do.
Mark Cuban, Owner of the Dallas Mavericks
”
“

17. here are
3 stories to live by
remarkable

18. 01
PepsiCo
DEWmocracy
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Be Teachable

19. DEWmocracy
collective
INTELLIGENCE
01
PepsiCo
2.The flavor “Voltage” won the day, and
the result was what PepsiCo’s chief
consumer engagement officer has called
“one of the most successful product
launches in PepsiCo beverage history.”
1. PepsiCo launched its first
“DEWmocracy” campaign with an
online role-playing game that let fans
help design a new Mountain Dew
flavor’s taste, color and logo.
3. Mountain Dew’s Facebook followership had
grown by more than 500%, to 860,000. Today
the soda brand has more than 8 million Facebook
followers and the DEWmocracy campaigns have
become legendary.
>
>
Be Teachable

20. DEWmocracy
collective
INTELLIGENCE
01
PepsiCo
Be Teachable
DEWmocracy succeeded because PepsiCo recognized a key factor of the customer
empowerment era: it is an exceptional opportunity for companies that are genuinely interested
in learning about what their customers want through honest engagement.
Successful companies approach
the empowered customer with a willingness
to listen and be taught.
HOW THEY DID IT

21. 02
McDonald’s
OUR FOOD.
YOUR QUESTIONS.
Be Transparent

22. OUR
FOOD.
your
QUESTIONS.02
McDonald’s
Questions came in quicklyand furiously—
and the company didn’t dodge any of the
more than 19,000 questions submitted.
McDonald’s addressed the misconceptions
head on—involving customers and
embracing transparency in the process.
>
The “Our Food, Your Questions”
campaign invited questions directly
from customers about McDonald’s
food, with the burger chain responding
on a dedicated website.
Be Transparent

23. “Trust and reputation are becoming a fundamental part of building a brand and maintaining
a brand community,” says Alex Sévigny, director of the McMaster-Syracuse
Master of Communications Management program.
“The McDonald’s campaign is great in that
respect. It’s absolutely brave because it required them to give the
public a backstage pass to how things work.”
HOW THEY DID IT
OUR
FOOD.
your
QUESTIONS.
McDonald’s
02 Be Transparent

24. 03
Coca-Cola
THE HAPPINESS
MACHINE
Build Trust

25. THE
happiness
MACHINE
03
Coca-Cola
The key turning point in the commercial is the
moment when a girl at the Coke machine finds she
can no longer hold all the Cokes being dispensed by
themachineandstartshandingthemouttostrangers,
a scene that evokes the message of community.
>
With a hidden camera on a college
campus, Coca-Cola installed a normal-
looking Coke machine that dispensed,
not only a bottle of Coke, but many
Cokes to follow, plus a pizza, flowers,
a balloon animal and a submarine
sandwich and more.
Build Trust

26. Coke spent not a dollar promoting the ad after uploading it to YouTube.
The company put up one post on its Facebook page and posted one tweet to Twitter,
and trusted in the audience to make it go viral.
The ad went on to win industry awards and has been viewed more than
six million times on YouTube, not counting the various spinoff ads Coke
produced around the world from the related Happiness Truck project.
HOW THEY DID IT
THE
happiness
MACHINE
03
Coca-Cola
Build Trust

27. Customer empowerment is the invaluable chance
for companies to understand what their customers want
and to provide products and services in the way
customers want them.
The
bottom line

28. For open-minded
forward-looking companies,
customer empowerment is an
extraordinary opportunity.
The
bottom line

29. Now ask yourself:
Do you have what it takes
to survive in the customer revolution?

30. { }pause for effect

31. yes
no
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our manifesto, Warren Buffett. )
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32. Read
The Manifestofor Companies in the Age of the Empowered Customer
READ
THE MANIFESTO

33. The Six
Commandmentsfor Surviving the Customer Revolution
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Inside you will discover...
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THE MANIFESTO

34. You Want
More StoriesOn How Other Companies Survived the Customer Revolution
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We promise you won’t be disappointed :)
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37. Vision Critical provides a cloud-based customer intelligence platform that allows companies to build engaged, secure
communities of customers they can use continuously, across the enterprise, for ongoing, real-time feedback and insight.
Designed for today’s always-on, social and mobile-savvy customer, Vision Critical’s technology helps large, customer-centric
enterprises discover what their customers want so they can deliver what they need.
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