Analysis: Sam Lucas on Peluso

A brand is a promise, and crises involving consumers must be dealt with by remaining true to that promise

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What is that they say about the best-laid plans? No matter how much attention and effort is paid to launching a new brand campaign, something can always go wrong. In Travelocity's case, a mistake made outside their organization—a fare that was misfiled in April, 2005, that allowed passengers to fly from Los Angeles to Fiji for just $51—put their new campaign, which focused on Travelocity's customer service, to the test.

Any time a crisis emerges, there are bound to be different audiences within an organization who don't see eye to eye. Legal counsel, for example, may be cautious about setting certain precedents, especially when the fare was so clearly a mistake and a user agreement protected Travelocity. Others might worry about bottom-line concerns—the approximately $2 million it could have cost Travelocity to cover the fare, had they not negotiated costs down with the supplier, is hardly chump change.

But a brand is a promise to consumers, and as the steward of that brand, Michelle Peluso absolutely did the right thing. Although it was important for her to listen to her team and weigh their concerns, she almost had no choice but to honor the fare, especially given the campaign that Travelocity was about to launch.

Peluso and her team managed to seize a bad situation and turn it into a positive. The tech department innovated on their processes, putting in better quality-control measures that would help to prevent such an incident happening again. And Peluso took the smart and savvy approach in speaking with consumers. She embraced the chance to speak to them directly by writing a message to frequent fliers on message boards. That sort of one-on-one dialogue between management and consumers can go a long way toward re-establishing trust in a brand.