There are times when brands big mistakes and it becomes their responsibility to apologize for the loss they did directly or indirectly and assure customers that something like that will not happen again. The way how people accept their mistakes tells a lot about the character and it is same for brands too. Below are 5 instances when brands said sorry to their customers:
1. Coca-Cola
In 1985, Coca-Cola announced regarding changing its secret formula to a sweeter soft drink. Customers hated this and rushed to shops for buying the stock that had the old taste. Even Pepsi tried to take advantage of this situation. Later, Coca-Cola accepted the mistake and decided to revert to the old formula. Then-president Donald R Keough gave a speech about this on TV.
2. Samsung
Samsung faced problems due to the complains the company received about overheating batteries that burst into fire. The smartphone maker came up with full-page apologies in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post
3. Netflix
When Netflix was looking to transition from DVD delivery to a streaming service it had a few missteps along the way.
The company made a system in which its streaming and DVD delivery services would become different entities with separate billing agreements. Before this, members were subscribing to both for $10 per month. But after the split, it led to 60% price increase for current members who wanted to use both.
But CEO Reed Hastings took the charge of the situation and wrote an open letter on the company’s blog. He explained everything in a simple manner and users enjoyed having the option of signing up for multiple services with one bill.
4. Apple
In 2015, U.S. pop artist Taylor Swift announced a public boycott of Apple Music on Twitter due to the service offering a one-month free trial of its streaming feature and not paying artists for that. Apple replied the tweet sensibly and solved the issue.
We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
5. Airbnb
Back in 2015, Airbnb received negative comments for racial profiling and discrimination taking place on its site. Social media was filled with hate against the company and addressing this problem emails from CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky was sent to all the users. You can read the content of e-mail in the above image.
