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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