The name "Kryptonite" could not have been more appropriate for a
case that demonstrated how the blogosphere can bring an otherwise
strong company to its knees. Late last year, Kryptonite (Canton,
Mass.) had to recall nearly 40,000 of its industry- standard U-Lock
bike locks after it was posted on the Web -- and quickly spread
throughout the blogosphere -- that anyone can easily break the
locks with a ballpoint pen (PR News, Feb 23). A subsequent exchange
program cost Kryptonite an estimated $10 million (as of late
February) but the costs of embarrassment cannot be calculated.
PR News recently spoke with Steve Down, Kryptonite's general
manager, about the new business realities brought on by
bloggers.
Do you think Kryptonite was the unofficial poster child for
companies burned by the blogosphere?
We've been one of the first companies hit by [the blogosphere],
so yes. When these [stories] break, it's very difficult the first
couple of days to judge what the problem of the product is and what
should be the adequate response. For us, the overriding principle
is to look after our customers, so we tried to protect brand
integrity and limit the damage to the company, which are
by-products of trying to do the right thing.
What do you think have been the biggest lessons from the
U-Lock recall?
This was a totally new experience for me and my team, and I
don't think anything can fully prepare you for this. We tried to
communicate as much as possible upfront, but could we have
communicated a little more? Yes, I'm sure we could have. But the
difficulty was that [being tripped up by the blogosphere] wasn't
only new to our company but to our industry and all industries. We
wrestled with the idea of going out in a clandestine way to try and
influence the blog but felt that wasn't the right thing to do
because we could have damaged ourselves even more.
How do you think blogs have started to impact the ways in
which companies communicate with their various
stakeholders?
When you are dealing with traditional media, there are some
balances. The difficulty with Weblogs is that anyone can put out
information in an anonymous way. [But] for any business, Weblogs
are a reality, and companies have to look at what they do and be
able to respond adequately to concerns that are raised in such a
forum.
If blogs are here to stay, what's the best PR strategy to
deal with them?
Awareness that these individuals and groups are discussing your
product and/or service is most important. You have to balance it,
though, because of all the anonymity among bloggers, and figure out
why they are putting a particular spin on things. But you have to
be ready to respond if there are specific issues being addressed
and [if the arguments] have enough momentum behind them.