1. Southwest Airlines
Stephanie Colpo, Lauren Dixion, Shannon Pagels. Julie Walsh

2. Customer Service Key to
Southwest
•
The mission of
Southwest Airlines is
dedication to the
highest quality of
customer service
delivered with a sense
of warmth,
friendliness, individual
pride, and company
spirit.

3. Happiness = $
•
Life at Southwest:
Happy Employees=
Happy Customers.
Happy Customers
keep Southwest Flying

4. Leadership at Southwest
•
10 Directors, 2 Female
•
2011 Marked the
company’s 39th
consecutive year of
profitability
•
2011 Total Operating
Revenue= $15.7
Billion

5. Southwest Social
•
Extremely active on
company branded
social sites, their “Nuts
About Southwest” blog
and Conversations
Forum
•
More than 2,000,000
likes and 60,000 people
talking about the
corporation on a daily
basis

6. Southwest Social
•
More than 300 videos
surround their Rapid
Rewards Program
•
Posts vary in
frequency with at least
one post a day, every
day

7. Magazine Rankings, Fast
Facts
•
Airlines routinely left
off “Best Places to
Work” Lists
•
Southwest is stronger
in reputation rankings
than brand rankings
•
Highest Rank: 4 on
Fortune’s Most
Admired 2011

8. Magazine Rankings, 2012
•
Ranks 10 on Fortune’s
Most Admired
•
Ranks 26 on Harris
Reputation Quotient
•
Ranks 51 on
Reputation Institute

9. Magazine Rankings, Year
over Year
•
Declined from 4 to 10
in Fortune’s Most
Admired
•
Declined 2.28 points in
Harris’ Reputation
Quotient

10. Where Southwest Is...
•
1 in Brandindex’s 2011
US Buzz Rankings for
Airlines
•
Top ranking by Forbes
Brands American Men
and Women Desire
•
Glassdoor.com’s 50
Best Places to Work

11. Where Southwest is Not...
•
Interbrand
•
BrandZ
•
Fortune’s Best Places
to Work
•
Boston
College/Reputation
Institute’s CSR
Ranking

12. Southwest = Media Darling
•
Southwest stands out
among the “villains”
•
Tone of coverage is
positive to neutral
•
Positive reputation,
continued growth,
customer-service
focus

13. News Outlets
•
Features or mentions
in numerous elite
media outlets
•
NYT, WSJ, Forbes,
Fortune, CNN,
MSNBC
•
Hometown pubs catch
every detail

14. Coverage Focus
•
Airline Industry News
•
SWA Financial News
•
SWA Business
Operations
•
Flight-Specific
Incidents

15. Social Buzz
•
Despite operating in a
negatively perceived industry,
Southwest receives mostly
positive sentiment (84%
favorable)

Negative sentiment has never
reached above 17% in the
past year

Most conversation occurs on
Twitter (mentioned in 343
tweets per day, or 14 tweets
per hour)

16. Social Comparison
2,462,335 1,308,495
likes followers
8,097
8,244 likes
followers
324, 929 378,269
likes followers
35,612
9,677 likes
followers

17. Do you feel the LUV?

18. Recommendations
Reputation Public Relations
• Boost their R&D and •Maintain and continue to
Innovation efforts improve current reputation
• Continue to tout their CSR •Maintain close relationships
Green Initiatives with local media
•Continue to address negative
Social Media news as soon as possible
• Expand to additional platforms
• Establish Southwest member
exclusives

19. Thanks for the LUV!