Jet Blue's Story Booth

Room 116 has some good photos and a post about JetBlue's new story booth in New York City. Inspired by StoryCorps. This is another great example of how brands can create a dialogue with their customers. Think of the power of the JetBlue stories. They can drive innovation, inspire marketing and all kinds of other things.

Comments

[jimmy]

I think it's pretty lame that JetBlue stole the idea from StoryCorps without crediting them one bit. That's bogus corporate BS if you ask me - and they have lost a customer.

[eric]

Jet Blue should look elsewhere for their ideas. StoryCorps is an exceptional idea that delivers poignant results, and it shouldn't be borrowed or stolen or molested by corporate America so that potential Jet Blue customers can feel warm inside about Jet Blue.

This is not " another great example of how brands can create a dialogue with their customers", but rather, an example of stealing a great and warranted concept.

I can't wait until the Coco Cola bottle shaped recording booths.

No more jet blue for us!

[Lis]

I am boycotting Jet Blue (I have let them know) and I am telling my friends to do the same. I do not care about the crediting, because I think it would just further taint StoryCorps which is my main concern.

[Ally]

I am also boycotting JetBlue. The lack of respect JetBlue has shown to a worthwhile organization(please check it out at Storycorps.net) is appalling. Storycorps did not consent to this alleged "dialogue", and is in fact disapproving of it.

[Zan]

Striving to create warmth around your brand by being callous towards an organization that respects and honors individuals is a lazy strategy. It's easy to be inauthentic, and JetBlue is taking the easy way out. Bring back good, genuinely creative advertising!

[JM]

This is terrable. I am not impressed.
Storycorps has done an excellent job of fostering real human diologue. Don't promote Jet Blues project as a great example in advertizing, it is only an example of unoriginal, unethical theft.

[frequentflyer]

I travel a lot on different airlines. JetBlue has the best customer service and have always treated me 100 times better than any other airline out there.

How many other companies have the same type of adverstising as someone else. I bet you don't boycott them. Examples: buy one and get one free; mobile phone adds, they are all the same. Car ads.

I think it is great that JetBlue is willing to put themselves out there to hear what their customers have to say, good or bad. Hopefully they take what they hear and use it as a tool to continue the great service and improve where needed. I think if more companies did this we would receive better customer service.

[frequentflyer]

One more comment.
How many of you even heard of storycorps.com until JetBlue promoted their story booth! Great advertisement for Story Corps!!

[Bryan Chiao]

Check out today's Wall St. Journal. An article about Story Corps and JetBlue! I wonder if this was related to all the talk on the blogs.

[Joanne Del Grande]

StoryBooks KUDOS to you for your means of FREE advertising by hopping on JETBLUE's Back..Your company and JetBlue are two different commitments to peoples life stories. Does your non-profit organization ask for any donations!

[Joanne Del Grande]

StoryCorps KUDOS to you for your means of FREE advertising by hopping on JETBLUE's Back..Your company and JetBlue are two different commitments to peoples life stories. Does your non-profit organization ask for any donations!

[john winsor]

Bryan, I'm sure it is.

[Graham Hill]

John

I am amazed.

A number of commenters suggest that a relative newcomer like StoryCorps invented the collecting of customer stories (which they themselves acknowledge they didn't) and somehow have an inalienable right to be the only one allowed to collect customer stories in a booth (which they clearly don't).

I remember a similar story collecting exercise carried out by British Airways in the mid-80s at airports around the world. Customers could sit in the booths and tell BA anything they wanted to about their travel experience. Just like Jet Blue and StoryCorps today.

Story telling is a primal human characteristic. So is collecting them and sharing them with others.

Jet Blue AND StoryCorps are just following in the footsteps of countless other organisations who have sought to learn from their more vocal customers. We should be celebrating any organisation that actually listens to its customers rather than pillorying them for copying an idea as old as time itself.

[John]

Graham -

I couldn't agree with you more. Storytelling is at the heart of what it means to be human. For anyone to say they own the idea, or even developed it, is naive, at the least.

[ida]

JetBlue, famous for its secret handing over personal information to the government, is just showing another side of its unethnical corporate culture. StoryCorps is not about collecting customer stories, but rather social history. JetBlue is just trying to rip off the idea of StoryCorps by following it around and setting up its own pathetic promotional booth next to it. I don't know what kind of sad empty inner life people have if they feel the need to go and talk about their emotional ties to a faceless corporatation. Therapy or simply getting a life might be a better alterative. StoryCorps is about human connections and experience. JetBlue is about pr. There is a big difference. I am certainly never using their airlines again.

[Contessa]

Amen, Ida!

[Laura]

Three years after the fact, I would like to point out that Local Projects in New York created BOTH StoryCorps and the Jet Blue Story Booth. In fact, both are featured on Local Projects website. We should celebrate the sharing of good ideas as long as we aren't infringing on anyone's rights of creative ownership - and that is not the case here. Research before you write - it's more bullet proof than finger pointing and crying corporate.

[John Winsor]

Laura -

Great point. Thanks for pointing that out.

JW