JetBlue: Good PR or Bad PR?

Everyone’s an armchair PR expert.

Even our blue-haired aunts with scant knowledge of the game of high-stakes, world-class reputation management will say, “as long as they spell your name right,” when weighing in on a peculiar situation that produces gobs of ink, not necessarily for all the right reasons.

Yet in stories corporate flacks don’t plan, what constitutes positive coverage? What makes a brand mention negative?

The line isn’t as clear cut as you may assume. It’s often fuzzy...and intriguing.

When the shit hits the fan, and the fan is a General Electric model, I like to know how pros in the field perceive the overall “impression” for GE. In thse sort of situations, I go to sharp-witted colleagues who share my kooky gallows humor in an exercise called “Good PR or Bad PR?”

For example, the terrorist released to cheering flag-burning crowds is wearing a Nike T-shirt, the bold swoosh clearly visible in a wire photo seen around the world.

For Nike: Good PR or Bad PR?

Lest you believe our e-mail parlor game for a virtual posse is a cynical endeavor among a heartless group, you're only partially correct.

Good PR or Bad PR doesn't only produce sorely-needed levity in a world gone mad. The exercise spawns creative and surprising insights…as with JetBlue.

I don’t have to recount the incidental details of Steven Slater, the fed-up flight attendant who concluded one particular trip from Pittsburgh – and a two-decade airline career – in a blaze of glory reverberating from A1 of The New York Times to Japanese TV news.

You undoubtedly know the pertinent facts: the surly passenger’s bag-bonk to the head (items in the overhead bin do indeed shift during flight); the final near-giddy, now-famous, profanity-laced, adios muchachos PA announcement infinitely more entertaining than any connecting flight information; two beers swiped, carry-on bags hastily grabbed, emergency chute activated for a glorious amusement-park swoon down toward unemployment.

That these details are a now-familiar rehash is half the point here.

How the heck does news like this travel so far and so fast?

What’s the tipping point for the bizarre to go main-stream?

How does a disenchanted and dangerous JetBlue employee become an overnight working-class folk hero?

And more importantly, for Jet Blue, Good PR or Bad PR?

According to Ken Ross, who oversees communications at Netflix: “Good PR for JetBlue. Alert flight attendant decides to test functionality of escape slide under real-life circumstances. Slide deploys properly and provides safe escape...inspires confidence that in a real emergency, equipment would work...good PR for JetBlue.”

That, ladies and gentlemen, is world-class spin.

Reading Ross's take, Tod McKenzie, former senior Public Affairs exec at PepsiCo added: “Said attendant also demonstrates JetBlue's commitment to fostering positive employee morale by celebrating small triumphs with a Bud Light.”

Others, like Showtime PR boss Chris DeBlasio, wondered, "Was it necessary for some media accounts to include the fact that the accused was found in bed with his partner at a seaside apartment in Rockaway?"

To which Pete Millerman, a writer in Brooklyn responded, “From a 'good journalism' standpoint? It was completely superfluous reportage - the type of thing a principled copy editor or journalism professor would red 'x,' or call you out on. From a perspective of picking up the NY Post and reading the news? It was a hilarious and awesome tidbit, made the story juicier, fleshed out the whole scenario in another dimension, and added to our already vivid mental picture of the maniac's personality.”

Mindy Kramer, Director of Public Relations at Office Depot, just wanted to know, “Why was he allowed to have two carry-on bags? I mean come on, that's just not fair.”

The arrest photo nabbed the attention of Molly Choi, who runs marketing and for Cape Classics, an importer of fine wine: “Is Slater giving that tattooed cop directions on how to fasten his seat belt by inserting the metal buckle till he hears a click, and adjusting it by pulling on the loose end of the strap?”

Our PR Peanut Gallery buzzed with jokes and astute observation...much like the rest of the country.

Some noted JetBlue is a fun, clean airline, offering complimentary in-flight DirecTV, which provides a wide image-halo berth when an employee has a bad-air day.

Ironically, passengers at 38,000 feet would watch the bemused Slater neighbor interviews, the psychiatric breakdown sound-bytes, and the late-night free-for-all meltdown recaps.

On balance, it’s presumably good PR, so long as the DTV signal is clear and the viewing passengers’ free nuts and diet Coke are well within their “to be consumed by” date.

My overall take is Good PR – at least in the groundswell of support for the man the Post dubbed “wing nut,” particularly in cyberspace, where legal restrictions of the “ongoing investigation” have muted the usually chatty Jet Blue social media mavens.

But Slater himself (“Jet Blue-Natic” in another Post headline) doesn’t need spin. The foundation for his sainthood has been set already. By his former employer.

When a flight makes global news, it’s usually tied to catastrophe or passengers locked on the tarmac for half a day without water or Facebook.

And when a departing employee becomes known worldwide, he’s likely fleeced millions, manipulated an industry, or truly “gone postal.”

By those measures, Slater’s potentially dangerous but in-the-end relatively harmless actions, are downright refreshing; a happy ending, in more ways than one.

He went bonkers in the maniacal high style you'd expect from Will Ferrell in Anchorman's film cousin Flight Attendant. If anything, during the sweltering summer of Satan’s lair, Americans want to be entertained.

The Slater narrative on the tarmac of JFK in front of his gleaming, modern terminal in an otherwise dirty, crowded, ill-designed airport – grabbing the farewell frosties, jumping into bed with his partner immediately after an operatic “take this job and shove it moment” – helped expand the story and earn the Daily Double -- simultaneous covers of the New York Post and the Daily News.

But do not underestimate the assisting power of the JetBlue brand – those clean, fun, youthful, slightly rebellious pioneers cracking jokes as we streak across the harshly unfriendly skies while watching free television!

Imagine a ValueJet flight attendant cursing out coach and busting home via the deployed chute after a non-water landing. Don’t think she’d be the object of fawning t-shirts and adoring fan pages.

In a New York Times column dissecting JetBlue's Slater response, Stuart Elliott reported “the tone of comments about JetBlue, as elicited by the Zeta Buzz online media mining technology, was 70% positive and 30% negative on Wednesday, compared with 59% positive and 41% negative on Tuesday.”

Comments about Slater were even more glowing -- at 93% positive, according to Zeta, which was better than both the New Orleans Saints after winning the Super Bowl and one Chesley B. Sullenberger III, of “Miracle on the Hudson” fame for successfully landing a US Airways bird downed by geese on the frigid Hudson River in January 2009.)

So, good for Jet Blue. For doing nothing -- except giving Americans free onboard TV and building a great brand. You've unexpectedly attained Good PR.

As for our peanut gallery’s suggestions to JetBlue?

The best advice may have come from J. Christopher Kervick, a Connecticut judge. “The PR depends on what they do from this point forward. ‘We care about our employees and are making the full array of employee assistance programs available to him, etc. While we regret any inconvenience to our passengers, we believe they can certainly all understand the day-to-day pressures our flight attendants are under.’ That kind of thing.”

That kind of thing indeed. If any of us grow mad as hell, can’t take it anymore, and go out in a blaze of glory in a certain region of New England, may be wind up in front of this wise judge.

___

Andrew Giangola is author of the critically acclaimed new book, THE WEEKEND STARTS ON WEDNESDAY: True Stories of Remarkable NASCAR Fans, available online and wherever fine books are sold. He is currently attempting to contact Steven Slater to write his life story, GOING OUT WITH A BANG (double entendre intended).

Sports Business Daily's Author Q&A

NOTE: THIS STORY RAN TODAY IN SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY; PRETTY COOL TO BE IN DAYTONA BEACH AND SEE THIS:

Catching Up With NASCAR Exec And Author Andrew Giangola

NASCAR Dir of Business Communications ANDREW GIANGOLA this week debuts his new fan-friendly NASCAR book, "The Weekend Starts On Wednesday." The 300-page book, with a foreword from TONY STEWART and an afterword from KYLE BUSCH, includes stories about the sport's fans and a plethora of photos.

Giangola took time recently to chat with Staff Writer Jessica Collins about his first published book and how his encounters with fans have blossomed into lifelong friendships.

Favorite NASCAR track: It doesn't get any better than Talladega and Bristol.

Car you drive: Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

Last time you got a traffic ticket: I was going zero miles an hour while "blocking the box" in a traffic jam getting into the Holland Tunnel (in N.Y.) this past summer.

Favorite NASCAR book (besides your own): LIZ CLARKE's "One Helluva Ride;" JEFF MACGREGOR's "Sunday Money;" DAVID POOLE's "Tim Richmond: The Fast Life and Remarkable Times of NASCAR's Top Gun."

Gadget you couldn't live without: BlackBerry.

Q: Where did the idea for the book come from?

Giangola: I joined NASCAR in 2003 and fan loyalty is obviously such a big thing in the sport -- it's what we sell the sponsors on, it is really the glue that keeps the sport going. In my PR job I've always been talking about NASCAR fans … and as the years passed by I got frustrated with "Who are these fans? Why are they so devoted?" I was thinking about them in platitudes, and I wanted to go explore their fandom and loyalty. I was also hearing great stories, spectacular stories. … So I went to (NASCAR VP/Corporate Communications) JIM HUNTER and said, "Why don't we do a book, and I'm happy to write it." Jim immediately embraced the concept, so I kept collecting stories.

Q: What was the biggest challenge in writing the book?

Giangola: Time. I'm one of those authors who doesn't have the luxury of retiring to the beach house and be able to tap it out with the surf crashing in the background. … While I was working races and once the media center closed down for the day I would go out to the campgrounds and the infield and I had a camera and I would take pictures. I got some really good stories that way. … It took about two years (to write the book). I would try to do as many stories as they came in or I got the idea. I would go to my hotel room and write at night and I actually wrote a few of the chapters on my BlackBerry.

Q: If someone could only read one chapter of the book, which one would you want them to read?

Giangola: "A Purple Heart and a Titanium Leg" because, for one, the military never gets enough attention and acknowledgment and exposure. The second reason is John's story is so amazing and his attitude is so amazing. If you read that chapter, he's literally imploded and his body was shattered from his heels to his shoulder blades. The fact that he survived and then RICK HENDRICK -- who didn't publicize what he did at all -- comes in and reads his story in the newspaper and gives John the homecoming he never had and gets him home for Christmas. … These stories (in the book) are of sorrow and heartbreak but also of redemption and jubilation, so I think what's unique about the book is that through NASCAR and fans you do see a slice of America. Hopefully we can illuminate some truths about the sport and its place in America and a cross section of NASCAR nation.

PHOTO: Giangola (l), With Miss USA Kristen Dalton (r),Who Is Featured In His New Book
(TOO BAD YOU CAN'T SEE THIS. Gaby says I was "leering" which I hope is an SAT word to make the insult at least personally worth it.)

Q: Was there anything you wanted to add to the book that you thought twice about because of your role with NASCAR?

Giangola: I certainly needed to be careful. The infield is a place that gets very crazy at night and sure you could write a caricature of what the infield is like, but I tried not to get very tabloid-ish there. I wanted to tell it like it was and NASCAR didn't put any restrictions on me. I think one thing that I did, and they approved it, is that we tackled some sensitive issues like how fans felt about moving races to different parts of the country. … This is not a 300-page press release. It is not a book that reads like corporate speak or like it came from some PR guy, and I am so grateful to NASCAR for letting me do that -- for letting me use my sense of humor and unique way of looking at things.

Q: Do you want to write another book?

Giangola: Absolutely. The question will be how will I find the time? I have a few ideas for books in motorsports and if NASCAR supports the topics I definitely would love to write another.

Q: What advice do you have for anyone looking to write a book?

Giangola: To find and use your voice on a topic that you are passionate about. Readers can just smell anyone going through the motions, but passion for the topic can jump off the page. Putting your words on paper can make some people feel very vulnerable and exposed, but you got to take a chance.