Thomas Dolby’s mea culpa - what brands can learn.

You know what time it is. Long-ass weekend rant time.

Saw Thomas Dolby last night. Visually cool with funky camera work similar to the way Peter Gabriel used video on Secret World Live, not to mention his re-mixed song catalog. Dolby’s computer set-up has to be perfectly timed or everything will be out of sync. (Here’s his audio set-up and his video rig for the geeks like me out there. Intense.)

Thing is, it got out of sync almost immediately after he started his first song. Reading his blog for some time though, I knew this could happen, as he had discussed the tour and some of the problems with fans on a daily basis.

So when it happened, it was what came after that was more amazing, because I’ve never seen anyone really do this, let alone a brand. He stops the show. Apologizes, then calls a roadie out with a box full of T-shirts and throws a few out to the audience. “Every time we make a mistake, you guys get shirts.”

Funniest thing I ever saw. Was it curing cancer? No. It was just a little gesture that went a long way to repairing goodwill – before anyone booed.

Of course we all didn’t get them, and I’m not suggesting Pepsi throw me a t-shirt when I happen to get a flat soda from 7-Eleven. But the main thing is he acknowledged the goof, then set out to repair the damage to the customer almost immediately. It totally chilled the room out and the good vibe was restored. That’s right. I said vibe people.

And it could apply to any brand.

Tahoe, are you listening? Come out and say, “We know people hate SUV’s, but we just thought we could have people share in our message with consumer generated mayhem. Do they? No. They’re too in love with the sound of their own brand to think anyone could possibly have a problem with their product. Look at the fallout.

Ford. Come out and say “You know what? Things are tough for us right now. We let go a lot of people to try and save the company. Hard thing to do, but we had to it.” Do they? No. Instead, we get a fucking muppet named Kermit at the Super Bowl.

Nearly all brands that make mistakes shouldn’t wait for customers to call them on it. Come out and acknowledge it before we do. This morning I caught a relevant post on consumer satisfaction over at adverb. A story also notable for what happened after. (Granted, that was in reaction to a specific complaint, but a cool story nonetheless.) Mr. Dolby’s reaction is slightly different in that he actually got out in front of a potential customer satisfaction problem before it became one.

Regardless, both stories show how brands can do more to take care of their customers by just coming clean rather than pretending everything’s just fine.

Tags: advertising, brands, Thomas Dolby, viral