United Airlines seeks to recover after brand nosedive

Stephen Whiteside

This event report outlines how United Airlines, the air carrier, is seeking to recover after a profound brand crisis.

On April 9th, United Airlines' brand was plunged into a sudden, severe crisis after footage of a passenger being dragged from an oversold flight – and bleeding from the mouth – went viral online.

"Obviously, it's been a really tough couple of weeks for United. And, obviously, if you're sitting in the marketing chair, it's even more difficult," Mark Krolick, VP/Marketing, United Airlines, told delegates at the 2017 Collision Conference, an event held in New Orleans over the first three days of May.

Mark Krolick, VP/Marketing, United Airlines

"We made some really bad mistakes – and that was clear. And...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands