We Live In An Age of Immediate 'Didyouseethat'ification.

We live in an age of Immediate Gratification.  Strike that.  We live in an age of Immediate 'Didyouseethat'ification. As most brands know all too well, the advent of social media has elevated the art of PR crisis management to dizzying heights!  Today, news travels at the speed of not just sound, but 'surrounded sound'. The definition of surrounded sound in today's marketplace means; something bad happens and citizen reporters armed with camera-enabled smartphones have you SURROUNDED, ready to SOUND off.

Maybe in the case of this most recent FedEx package pitching performance, PR crisis management traveled at the speed of GROUND surrounded sound ... FedEx GROUND that is! Forget here we go again, more LIKE here WE THROW AGAIN.  The combined social and mainstream media universes (or is it universi) are all a flutter about the most recent FedEx package pitching performance.  If you haven't seen it, check out the video here.  I'm struggling as to how FedEx didn't learn their lesson after the 2011 'Cranky Customer Computer Monitor Gate' incident. For those of you that don't remember, a FedEx driver at that time was seen pitching a particular package packed with a computer monitor over a gate.  I'm no transportation/shipping/logistics wizard but I'm thinking it's probably not a good iDEA to throw anything over a gate, starting with an extremely delicate piece of equipment LIKE a computer monitor.  How ironic that the FedEx driver pitching said computer monitor over said gate was in fact, the person being 'monitored'. 

Wouldn't you think that FedEx would have slightly altered the content of their driver training course after the 2011 incident? Example; cover topics addressing difficult delivery situations AND the explosive use of handheld camera technology firmly in the hands of a huge segment of the population. I'm just saying, feels LIKE a no-brainer right?  Here's an iDEA, add a new chapter to the training manual called; DON'T THROW ANYTHING, EVER, ESPECIALLY OVER A GATE! Or, THE EYES OF TEXAS, FedEx AND THE WORLD ... ARE UPON YOU! While this latest media gaffe is unfortunate, FedEx did do a good job of DELIVERING a SPEEDY response (sorry for the logistics pun) in an attempt to combat this most recent situation.