Do traditional crisis communication practices change when cyber activism is involved?
That was the subject of a case study that I presented at the IAOC research conference in March that I would like to share with you to start off this topic. I was intrigued by a crisis situation that played out in September and October 2004 that involved Kryptonite, a leading manufacture of bike locks (http://www.kryptonite.com/).
For today’s blog entry, I’m going to provide a brief account of this case study and then on subsequent days I’d like to discuss what some of the current research suggests about cyber activism and, of course, get your take on this case…and other business cases.
Basically, Kryptonite experienced a product failure when it was discovered by a lock owner that a cheap Bic pen could open some of Kryptonite’s expensive and highly praised U-locks…
How it Started….
Sept. 12, 2004: The First 1 Hour and 44 Minutes – “This is the most absurd thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
It all started when bike enthusiast Chris Brennan, known as “Unaesthetic” on Bike Forums (http://www.bikeforums.net/), was telling a friend about the recent theft of custom-made wheels from his 2004 Bianchi bicycle. His friend asked if he knew that a Bic pen could open Kryptonite locks.
Unaesthetic didn’t believe it – at first. But when he tried it at home on his Kryptonite Evolution 2000, it worked. In fact, he said it was as easy as using a key and took less than 30 seconds on his first try.
Unaesthetic’s disbelief soon turned to anger, then concern. If this could happen to him, it could happen to thousands of other cyclists. He sat down at 10:16 p.m. and typed out an urgent post on an Internet bike site called Bike Forums where hundreds of bike enthusiasts swap information about all things related to cycling.
Unaesthetic’s headline warned: “Your brand new bicycle u-lock is not safe!” The post, under the username Unaesthetic, stated (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=67493&highlight=Kryptonite):
This is the most absurd thing I’ve seen in a long time.
As you guys might remember, I recently had the nicest set of wheels I’ve ever had stolen from me. Today, I was hanging out with a friend and we got to talking about that – he said his friend showed him just recently how to open a U-Lock with a ballpoint pen.
Of course I didn’t believe it. That is until just thirty seconds ago when I opened my own Kryptonite Evolution 2000 with a Bic ballpoint pen!
This has to be the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen. Try it. Take the end off the pen, jam it in the lock, wiggle around and twist.
Please tell everybody you know and make sure they do something about it right away. The thieves probably already know this trick but from what I’ve heard it’s fairly new. I figure the information is going to get out anyway and so it’s better to let the honest people know first and hope this problem gets fixed (Unaesthetic, Sept. 12, 2004a).
It took only 16 minutes before responses began to appear. Early posts to this discussion thread, which are dedicated to a specific topic, expressed surprise and asked more questions. “How did you do this? I just tried it – all I did was mess up a ball point.”
Ultimately, this discussion thread included 1,193 posts, which is fairly sizeable when compared to most threads on this site. This discussion thread was pasted into other bike-oriented websites and quickly circled the world. Within hours of the first post, evidence showing the validity of the Bic claim was posted including first-person accounts of successful “Bic-ings,” photo stills and how-to videos. By the third full day of the first posting, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe issued stories on the that ignited more national coverage.
Here’s a quick timeline of the first four full days of this crisis:
First Hours: Sept.12
- First post to BikeForums.net
Day #1: Sept. 13
- Response postings to BikeForums.net
- No official response from Kryptonite
- Video “Bic-ing” e-mailed to customer service
Day #2: Sept. 14
- More postings to BikeForums.net
- No response from Kryptonite
Day #3: Sept. 15
- Video “Bic-ings” link on BikeForums.net
- http://www.bikeforums.net/
- Kryptonite first answers news media inquiries
Day #4: Sept. 16
- National Media:
- 437 posts on thread (35% unique posters)
- Kryptonite disseminates first news release
- Kryptonite customer service e-mail posted by discussion member to thread
Tomorrow, I’d like to talk about Kryptonite’s response to this crisis based on my interview with the public relations manager. I welcome your comments!
