I am not a good flyer. But when your daughter is spending a semester abroad in London, you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the city with a personal travel guide, so my husband and I recently bit the bullet and climbed on an airplane to fly over the pond. We had a great time for five days, and then it was time to come home.
The flight back was a little harrowing. And a truth for nervous flyers: alcohol helps. A glass of wine was free with the meal, but when I asked for a second, the flight attendant told me it would be $7. It was a little bottle and it was bad wine, so I hesitated.
This is when the story shifts to PR and the ways in which small, seemingly insignificant actions can affect a company’s brand and reputation, particularly in this era of social media. Another flight attendant was walking by, looked at me, said “Happy Mother’s Day” and handed me the bottle of wine. After we landed, as we were leaving the parking service, the cashier handed me a red carnation along with our change. “Happy Mother’s Day,” she said. Several years ago, that would have been the end of a nice story.
But if you add @usairways, #MothersDay or #ExpressPark, these random acts of kindness might morph into public relations wins (or losses, but that’s another story). Just witness what happened recently when a server at a Chili’s restaurant took a little extra care in serving an autistic customer. That story went viral and has now been seen by millions of people. It’s the kind of publicity money can’t buy, which has always been one of the drivers of the PR industry. We tell positive stories about our clients and hope people will notice.
I’m cynical enough to know there are brand managers out there who try to orchestrate “spur-of-the-moment” events and work to make them go viral. But that seldom works – it’s the authentic, organic stories that have traction. And wouldn’t it be nice if this growing PR tool had the effect of making people nicer? Even if some of this kindness is manufactured – does it matter in the end? Nice is nice. Thanks for the wine and the flower.
#randomactsofkindness