One of the things we have to do both as PR and crisis communication professionals is to explore how not only the field is changing, but specific industries. We are living in an exciting time where we are seeing technologies advance as well as industries, which is one reason why I am actually going to have a section for each of my classes focusing on disruption technologies and industries and how it is connected to PR.
This came about actually after heading a great professional give a talk a month ago. I had the chance to hear Kyle Lacy speak at the LDA Digital Media Summit last month (was great to finally meet him after following via Twitter and Instagram for a while!). What struck me about Kyle’s presentation was the role disruption technologies have changed traditional business practices, but also have positioned the customer in the control seat with some of these features.
One of the things we are seeing right now is one of the companies that really has brought this up to the forefront in PR, social media, and news circles. This of course is Uber.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBY5Lbcc5wE[/youtube]
Uber has been in the news for a lot of different reasons – some of them are reflected in this post from Digiday and PR Daily. However, they have been a successful case of a start up that has disrupted the taxi industry and put the control of how people travel via car. And it has been of course reported recently how much revenue they have received and how much their drivers receive as well, according to Business Week.
Is Uber experiencing a crisis as a brand? You can say as a young emerging brand, they are at a point where they are at a crossroads type of situation and it really does come down to how they act and how this is consistent with the messages they are saying. Several of the incidents they have been involved with (listed here) do raise some concern.
So, what can Uber do? There are several things at the moment they can address. First, they have to consider sustainable measures and what they can do to take control of the narrative as well as making sure their actions reflect how they are perceived. Second, there are a lot of voices out there that are being associated with the company (Ashton Kutcher and Uber Executive Emil Michael). Both are financially connected and aligned with the brand – their comments and actions are tied to the Uber brand.
I think this is going to be an ongoing case and brand we are going to see come up both in classes as well as professional circles. We are seeing pushback from industries that see brands like Uber as a threat because they are disrupting the dynamics within the industry. In addition, we are seeing various entities and industries come together to formulate their own views and opinions about the situation both in person, but especially on social media. We will indeed have to see what happens here.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen