The Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America was kind enough to invite me to present on the recent spate of consumer uprisings that have vexed Netflix, Bank of America and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The presentation I delivered wouldn't have made much sense since there were few words on the slides, so I've created this version includes incorporates my speaking points.

1. Backlash
When Former Fans Fight Back

2. The Original Backlash
 Soft drink market stagnated and Pepsi
was gaining market share
 Coca Cola Co. launched “New Coke” on
April 23, 1985
 Backlash – 400,000 calls and letters

3. It (Only) Took 79 Days
 Brought back original formula as “Coca-
Cola Classic” on July 11, 1985
 New Coke Rebranded “Coca-Cola II” in
1992
 Coca-Cola II discontinued in 2002

4. What has Changed
What Hasn’t Changed What Has Changed
 Organizations still aren’t  Ease of feedback –
that smart Tweets, posts and e-
 People still have strong mails
affinity for their favorites  Ease of sharing feedback
 Taking people by surprise from others
remains risky  Speed – What used to
take months now takes
days

5. Recent Examples of Backlash
 Netflix restructuring hikes prices
 Bank of America plans $5 ATM fee
 Congress considers Stop Online Piracy
Act
 Verizon plans $2 convenience fee
 Susan G. Komen for the Cure
announces new funding criteria

6. Common Reaction:
They had to know this
wasn’t going to go well.

7. Unknowns Can Be Tricky

8. Typical Backlash Lifecycle
 Step 1: Action
 Step 2: Discovery
 Step 3: Early media involvement
 Step 4: Outrage and disbelief
 Step 5: Demands
 Step 6: Acquiescence/Apology
 Step 7: Lingering disgust

9. Typical Backlash Lifecycle
Step 1: Action
6 Step 2: Discovery
Step 3: Early media involvement
7
Intensity
5 Step 4: Outrage and disbelief
Step 5: Demands
4
Step 6: Acquiescence/Apology
3 Step 7: Lingering disgust
1 2 Time

10. Bank of America Situation
 A DigitalMR analysis found that Bank of
America receives 1/3 of all the negative
comments online about US banks
 A change.org petition gathered 300,000
signatures
 An estimated 846,000 consumers switched
banks in reaction to the bank fee controversy
 Nonetheless, Bank of America announced fee
increases for new accounts in March 2012

11. Komen Situation
 More than 100,000 tweets were sent in
regard to Komen during the controversy
 They were dominated by critics of the
move.
 Just three of the top 28 hashtags support
Komen's move.
Source: The Signal using a new tool called "influencers" created by the Yahoo! Labs Content Science team

12. Source: The Signal using a new tool called "influencers" created by the Yahoo! Labs Content Science team

13. Analysis of Twitter Impact
 Influencers are Twitter users who tweet a
lot on a particular topic, are retweeted and
have a big following
 In this controversy, influencers were a
combination of official organization Twitter
accounts, journalists and unaffiliated
tweeters
 This was initially top-down, then became a
broad-based push in last two days
 Pro-life groups never gained traction, with
just one influencer on the list
Source: The Signal using a new tool called "influencers" created by the Yahoo! Labs Content Science team

14. Influencers During Controversy
 Feb 01, 2012:  Feb 03, 2012:
 Ppact Planned Parenthood • Dailykos Daily Kos
 IPPF_WHR Planned Parenthood
 Rtraister New York Times journalist
• HuffingtonPost Huffington Post
 NPRHealth NPR Health • Ppact Planned Parenthood
 HuffingtonPost Huffington Post • BreakingNews BreakingNews.com
 David_Feldman Comedian • ProducerMatthew Reuters journalist
 Nancyfranklin New Yorker journalist • Iowahawkblog Unaffiliated
 Marikatogo Moveon.org
• Someecards Some E Card (card
mocking Komen)
 Feb 02, 2012: • jayrosen_nyu Unaffiliated
• US_JUST Activist group • Julieklausner Unaffiliated
• JessGrose Slate journalist
• Dcdebbie Unaffiliated
• Shannynmoore Unaffiliated
• Ezraklein Washington Post journalist
• Slate Slate
• edstetzer President of Lifeway
• taradublinrocks Unaffiliated
• JessicaPhD08 Washington Post journalist
Source: The Signal using a new tool called "influencers" created by the Yahoo! Labs Content Science team

15. Results of Backlash
Before After
Netflix restructuring hikes price DVD spinoff killed
Bank of America plans $5 ATM fee Fee pulled
Congress considers Stop Online Legislation pulled
Piracy Act
Verizon plans $2 convenience fee Fee pulled
Susan G. Komen for the Cure severs Funding restored
ties with Planned Parenthood

16. Fact Check:
The vast majority pays
little attention

17. About 40% Tuned In
 Pew Weekly News Interest Index Poll, Feb 5,
2012:
As I read a list of some stories covered by news
organizations this past week, please tell me if you
happened to follow each news story...A controversy
over whether the Susan G. Komen breast cancer
charity would cut funding to Planned Parenthood.
 20% Very closely
 20% Fairly closely
 22% Not too closely
 36% Not at all closely
 2% Don't know/Refused
http://www.people-press.org/question-search/?qid=1804572&pid=51&ccid=51#top

18. 9 in 10 Said Other Stories Bigger
Facebook, 2% Refused, 17% Elections,
23%
Other, 8%
Economy, 18
%
Super
Bowl, 15%
Afghanistan, 6 Komen, 11%
%

19. Very Similar Data for Netflix
 Pew Weekly News Interest Index
Poll, Sept. 25, 2011 - How much if
anything, have you heard about Netflix
announcing that it will divide into separate
businesses for DVD rentals and streaming
video…
 20% A lot
 32% A little
 47% Nothing at all
 1% Don't know/Refused

20. Younger, Affluent More Aware
9% Age 50+
28% < Age 50
14% HHI < $50K
HHI $50K+
30%
0% 10% 20% 30%

21. Similar Moves Without Backlash
 Hotels raked in $1.8 billion in fees in
2011
 Airlines assess fees totaling $5.7 billion
annually
 Ticketmaster assesses fees of up to 25%
on tickets
 TSA steps up security searches
 eBay introduced a 9% fee on shipping

22. DNA of a Backlash
 Prior sense of ownership
 Surprise
 Lack of understood/accepted rationale
 Shared outrage
 Slow and/or ineffective response

23. Backlash
Daniel Keeney, APR
DPK Public Relations
www.dpkpr.com
@dpkpr