Debunking the Bic pen and bike lock

Speaking of corporate PR...

I admire a lot about what I read here.  Donna Tocci, the PR manager at Kryptonite (the company that famously had to address a major flaw in its flagship bike lock product) stands up strongly, authentically explains and appropriately defends their actions (note her lack of PRspeak) and talks about what can be learned. 

One of my favorite exchanges is this one:

Q: A few weeks? Why didn't Kryptonite announce its Lock Exchange Program faster, to help alleviate the damage?

Well, the Internet moves at real time but companies sometimes can't - not 'won't', but can't. If we'd announced what we wanted to do before we had the back end in place and couldn't back it up, that would have been the bigger PR nightmare, right?

Yes, exactly.  How intelligent. 

And look how Donna stayed on in the comments section to address the armchair quarterbacks.

NICE work, Donna.  And thanks, Dave, for a very good breakdown of the case.

Comments

[Donna Tocci]

Thanks for the kind words! Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Donna