Focus on Reputation

So what happens when a company advertises the cost for something that’s mistakenly far lower than the actual cost?

With the reliance on their legal-jargon fine print, many companies wiggle and worm their way out of these types of mistakes. But others view it as a marketing opportunity to build good faith.

That’s what happened to an airline that advertised flights online from Toronto to Cypress for $39 return instead of $3,900. They discovered the mistake 12 hours after the fact. Not surprisingly 2,000 tickets were quickly sold, with some shoppers buying a handful at once.

Initially the airline tried to cancel the $39 ticket, but rather then face a reputation debacle, they decided to honour the price, absorbing a $7 million loss.

A few short years later, that same airline was positioned for a larger company to buy into the airline.