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4-2 Blog: Effectively Impacting the Consumer Through Digital Media

Tale of the Tiger: Customer Service


When a stuffed animal is left behind at an airport, adults see no value in it. It simply gets thrown in a lost and found to either be claimed or eventually thrown out. However, to a small child that stuffed animal is their comfort and means the world to them. That is something that Tampa International Airport understood when a little boy left behind his tiny tiger friend. Once the toy tiger was found by the airport’s operation manager, he went above and beyond simply returning the tiger to the rightful owner. Instead, he gave the tiger a little adventure while he waited for his human to return.

Once the boy was reunited with his Tiger, he had a book of all the photos to see every adventure the tiger took while he was away.

What was done successfully to meet the wants and needs of the target audience?

Let’s face it, airports have a bad reputation.  In a post 9/11 world, we are stuck with tight restrictions and security checks – not that this is a bad thing overall – that cause longer and more difficult check-ins. We have to arrive hours before the flight time to be considered on time. There are delays. The place is always crowded. You get the point. Most of the time, travelers just expect their need to fly elsewhere to be met. They expect if they leave something behind it will simply get turned in and sent back to them.

When the Tampa International Airport operations manager had the boy’s tiger go on these adventures, he met the boy's wants for adventure and fun. Of course, his basic want was to have his tiger back; however, this went above and beyond the childhood want of adventure and imagination. The other target audience, travelers of Tampa International Airport, also had their want for adventure satisfied. They had their need for a soft story and exceptional customer service met. Going forward, they knew this airport would have the customer’s best interests in mind.

How was the social and consumer experience addressed?

The story was posted by the airport on Facebook and Twitter, where it quickly received national recognition. The airport did not intend for that to happen, nor did the employee who spent his whole lunch break creating the photos. He wanted to make something good out of the boy leaving behind his tiger and the airport just wanted to show this soft moment to the loyal customers they have. The social experience of a feel-good moment was shared. Other consumers could see the experience firsthand through social media. It was obviously successful by the response that the airport received to the post. The story was shared on major media outlets such as Good Morning America, ABC News, Time, People, NPR, Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post, CNN, New York Daily News, and Yahoo Parenting to name a few (Griffin 2015).

How were the digital media followers handled?

This story sat well with digital media followers. On the airport’s Facebook alone, 115,000 people liked, shared, and commented on the story (Griffin 2015). The airport engaged in conversations in the comments with customers. The airport’s page even personally thanked people that initially shared the post! Telling one sharer, a staff member’s mother, thanks mom after she commented on how great the story was (2015). The airport did not stop there with the story for their digital followers though. A few weeks later, the airport posted updates on the story. They gave their followers more insight into the employee who took the time to create such a great experience. In return, consumers commented on other exceptional experiences they had with the company.

Is there something that could have been done differently to make that experience more efficient?

The overall idea was brilliant and excellently executed by both the employee and the airport. Since this was not a planned-out stunt, but rather a spur of the moment thing, I think there could have been some ways to optimize this experience for the audience. The airport could have had the tiger take over the social media account. Posting each picture at a time with a caption and a specific hashtag for the whole thing, such as #TaleOfTheTiger. Perhaps a new photo every hour showing the daily adventure at the airport. Not only does this show pieces of the airport, but it shows how the tiger experienced. The big reveal could have been the ending article on everything that happened.

Current Social Media

Currently, the coordinator of their social media is really on-trend. Instead of seeming like a boring airport Instagram, they treat it like an every day person’s Instagram. They create and post memes – something out of the box for the business they are in. This seems to work in their favor too. On Instagram alone, they have over 37,000 followers! Their posts average thousands of likes and a decent amount of comments for an airport.




References

Griffin, J. (2019, August 25). A boy's lost stuffed tiger goes on an airport adventure. https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tourism/a-boys-lost-stuffed-tiger-goes-on-an-airport-adventure/2233803/. 

Tiger tale grabs global headlines. Tiger tale grabs global headlines | Tampa International Airport. (2015, June 18). https://www.tampaairport.com/tiger-tale-grabs-global-headlines.


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