A Visit to the Westin on Robson

Service Encounter Blog 4 – The Westin Hotel, Vancouver BC

Matt Vaillant

March 12^th, 2013

Chapter Covered: Chapter 11 Employees Role & Chapter 12 Customers Role

Chapter Concepts:

Ch. 11

• Service Culture (Pg. 3132
• Developing a Service Culture (Pg. 313)
• The Critical Role of Service Employees (Pg. 315-317)
• Emotional Labor (Pg. 320-321)

Ch. 12

• Customer Receiving the Service (Pg. 347-348)
• Customers as Contributors to Service Quality and Satisfaction (Pg. 354-355)
• Recruit, Educate, and Reward Customers (Pg. 365-367)

Date & Time: March 2012.

Price of Service: Approximately $165 for one night.

Satisfaction Level: 7/7

Likelihood to Return: 7/7

 

Encounter Description:

This, my final service encounter blog, takes me back to my most recent stay with a hotel. The encounter was with the Westin hotel on Robson St. in Vancouver in the spring of 2012. I was in Vancouver for a concert and had never stayed at a Westin before, so I decided to give it a try; I had been golfing a few times at Victoria’s Bear Mountain Resort, which was part of a Westin Property. In order to golf you need to walk right through the hotel, and it is an amazing property so my expectations of Vancouver’s Westin were quite high. Those expectations were almost completely met by just walking in the front doors; the hotel entrance was gorgeous, with a giant, curving, marble staircase leading into an amazing lobby. All the staff were friendly and thoroughly looked to be enjoying their jobs.

A crucial ingredient to success in the services industry is having a strong service culture. The norms and ways of an organization have a major affect on employees’ morale and how they perform. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 312). My immediate impression upon entering the Westin was that they had a strong service culture; all the employees I saw were very friendly and attentive to every customer they encountered. The front desk lady the I dealt with during check in was very accomodating and kind. A look over the Westin website quickly reveals the strong service culture they promote. Service clture can not be developed over night, and sutaining a service culture can be even more difficult. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 313). The section of the website titled ‘The Westin Essence’ outlines a very strong commitment to its customers to proved exceptional service. The first thing you see when you click on this section further enhances my point, “At Westin; everything we do is designed to help you feel your best. From our world-renowned Heavenly® Bed and our nourishing SuperFoodsRx™ dishes, to our energizing WestinWORKOUT and our revitalizing Heavenly® Spa treatments, every element of your stay is created to leave you feeling better than when you arrived.” (Westin Hotels and Resorts, 2013). When I was researching services marketing in the hotel industry, I found a very interesting article that discusses the Japanese aapproach to service. (link). The Japanese hotel industry is very interesting as they commit to offering service very personally tailored for each customer. (Belal, 2012).  

As I mentioned all the staff I encountered at the Westin were very friendly and behaving very much in line with the service culture. Service employees are arguably the most important contributor to the services marketing of any company. The employees are the service, the organization in the customers’ eyes, the brand, and the marketers. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 316.). A study from the International Journal of Business Administration found that one of the most positive contributors to service performance by employees was co-worker competence. (Gjerald, 2012). This shows how big a role hiring can play in service quality, service performance is a team effort and all team members need to be at a close competence level to keep from pulling anyone down. One of the biggest pressures put on front line service staff comes in the form of emotional labor. Emotional labour refers to the requirement of employees to be friendly, courteous, empathetic, and responsive towards people they have never met and in many cases will never see again. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 321). Having worked in service I know how difficult it can be to put on that happy face when your not having a good day. If any of the staff I encountered at the Westin had been having a bad day I wouldn’t have noticed.

Along with the importance employees in service delivery and performance is the importance of customers. Different services have different levels of involvement by the customers when they are receiveng the service. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 347.). My involvement in the service at the Westin was very minimal, basically just my physical presence was needed, and of course my wallet. I came and went as I pleased and overall enjoyed a very relaxing stay, it was great.

One thing that surprised me during my visit to the Westin was that I wasn’t given a questionnaire to fill out about my visit or asked by any staff what I thought of my visit. Customers can be major contirbutors to the future quality of service, co-creating service offerings with customers can be very effective. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013. Pg. 354). Some customers may not care but I think that the Westin could have taken a better approach to getting my feedback. Even just being asked a few questions as checkout would have allowed me to let them know how the service was. Luckily for the Wesin the lack of effort to receive feedback really didn’t affect my stay as it was a very positive experience. Another very important aspect to service performance is to ensure that you recruit, educate and reward your customers. If you want to customers to be involved in service creation and give input they need to cleary understand their roles and have some sort of incentive. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013. Pg. 366).

Overall I cant say enough about my stay at the Westin. The staff were very friendly and super accommodating at every point in my short visit, right from front desk staff to the cleaning maids. Next time I go away the Westin will certainly be one of my top choices.

References

 

Belal. (2012). Value Co-creation with Customer through Recursive Approach Based

on Japanese Omotenashi Service . International Journal of Business Administration , 4 (1), 28-38.

 

Gjerald, O. (2012). Basic Assumptions of Service Employees: Influence on Job

Performance and Market-oriented Behaviors . International Journal of Busines Administration , 3 (6), 1-12.

 

Westin Hotels and Resorts. (2013). The Westin Essence: For a better you. Retrieved

2013, from Westin Hotels and Resorts: http://www.westinessence.com/#/home/

 

Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler. (2013). Services Marketing: Inegrating Customer Focus

Across the Firm. New York, NY, USA: Mcgraw Hill.

Service Encounter #3 – Status Barbershop

Chapter Covered: Chapter 6 Building Customer Relationships

Chapter Concepts:

• Relationship Marketing (Pg. 147)
• Customers as Friends (Pg. 148)
• Confidence Benefits for Customers (Pg. 153)
• Social Benefits for Customers (Pg. 153)
• Economic Benefits for Firms (Pg. 154)
• Relationship Value of Customers (Pg. 156)
• Relationship Bonds (Pg. 162)

Date & Time: Originally May 2012, but it is on ongoing.

 Price of Service: Approximately $30 (including tip)

Satisfaction Level: 7/7

 Likelihood to Return: 7/7

Encounter Description: 

My latest service encounter takes me back to my last haircut at Status Barbershop. For years I had just shaved my own head so haircuts were not something I experienced very often. In the past the main determinant of where I got my haircut done was convenience, was it close? Busy? Quick? This was until I started hearing about Status Barbershop, a lot of my friends get their haircut there and all they did was rave about it. Not only were they continually happy with the end result they couldn’t say enough about the overall experience. To say the least my friends had been instrumental in my high expectations of Status.

From the moment I walked through the door at Status it was evident that customer satisfaction was their main concern. The marketing world is seeing a shift from acquisition-focused sales and marketing to taking on more of a relationship focus. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 147) It is much more beneficial for a company to build loyalty and retention than focus solely on new acquisitions. With this shift has come the development of many customer relationship management (CRM) programs. In a case study done by the Department of Economy, Management and Accounting, at Payame Noor University in Iran, they described three major areas affecting CRM implementation. These factors were; 1) Organizational Factors, 2) Strategic Factors, and 3) Cultural Factors. (Darvish, Kafashzadeh, & Ahmadnia, 2012). While Status is a relatively small organization these three factors still play into their customer relationship management. CRM needs to be organization wide, and at Status every single employee I came across seemed to have the same customer focus. For CRM to be a company wide expectation it also needs to be part of the overall businesses strategy and intertwined into the culture of the company. In my opinion customers statisfaction was a very clear-cut aspect their company culture. The owner of the shop was there, and was continually checking in on customers getting there haircut to make sure they were being treated right. “It’s all about the experience my man” is what he kept saying to me. Making himself very available to any customer comments or concerns.

Firm’s relationships with customers are always evolving and it is important for companies to realize this. One of the best places a firm can be with their customers is having customers as friends. As a customer continues to be loyal, firms start to aquire specific knowledge of the customers needs, allowing them to tailor service offerings for different customers. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 148). I have been very impressed with the efforts of Status staff to try and get to know me. In my opinion the reason Status was able to get to the customers as friends stage is due to the relationship bonds they have been able to develop with me. Relationship bonds are the factors that keep customers coming back because they want to’ not because they ‘have to’. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 162). Of the four levels of relationship bonds I believe that Status has reached level 2, Social Bonds. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 163). While a service such as a haircut is hard to tailor, Status staff has always made me feel that they value me as more than just another sale. I am not just a customer I am a client. A primary goal for this stage of a customer relationship management is retention, and Status has been very successful in retaining me as a customer.

Customers can benefit greatly from having a good relationship with a firm, such as their barber shop. The two benefits to me that stood out most in my personal experiences were confidence benefits and social benefits. Confidence benefits provide customers with feelings of trust and confidence in their firms. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 153.). Status has done an excellent job of creating these confidence benefits for me, I know that I will leave there happy and with an excellent haircut. Social benefits are when customers develop a sense of familiarity and even a social relationship with their service providers. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012 Pg. 153). When I go to get my haircut at Status I do have a sense of familiarity and I know what to expect. The staff is always very engaging and the finished product is always how I like it.

The benefits of providing exeptional service go beyond just the customers; the firm who provide that level of service are more often than not rewarded for it. They are rewarded with loyal customers and repeat business, there are strong economic benefits to top notch service. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 154). When Status is looking at the customers they are not trying to attract customers for just one haircut, they want customers that will keep coming back. The barbershop may have only made $15 dollars off of my first haircut but if I do not return that’s all they will ever make from me, which does not make my relationship very valuable.

 

Each customer is different, they all spend different amounts of money, and all return with different frequency. The relationship value of a customer is a concept or a calculation that looks at a customer from a point of view of their lifetime profitability. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2012. Pg. 156). It is important to recognize your firm’s repeat customers because they are of the most value to you. Repeat business is everything for a service firm and Status has done an outstanding job of turning me into a loyal customer. I may have only been $15 dolars my first time, but over the coming years that could turn into thousands. This idea of a placing a financial value on a customer has been gaining traction among businesses top executives. That being said there has been difficulty implementing effective incentives to enocurage top execetives to take a focus on customer relationships. (Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2011). This report presents the idea that long term compensation for top executives should have more of a weighting on customer relationships. (Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2011). I could not agree more with the main idea of this article. If you look at this relative to Status Barbershop, which is a small business, the owner’s compensation depends completely on his companies’ customer relationships. I think this is the main reason for generally receiving better service at small businesses, there is more of a personal incentive to build those long-term customer relationships.

Overall I think Status Barbershop has a very strong marketing services strategy. There customer focus is unmatched in comparison to the many barbershops I have visited in Victoria. I think that their customer focus will help grow the business, and I look forward to continuing to get my haircut at Status.

References

Darvish, Kafashzadeh, & Ahmadnia. (2012). Studying The Customer Relationship

Management: A Case Study at Persian Technology Firm . Case Study, Payame Noor University, Economics, Tehran.

Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg. (2011, September 29). Incentivizing CEOs to build

customer- and employee-firm relations for higher customer satisfaction and firm value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science , pp. 745-758.

Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler. (2012). Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus

Across the Firm. New York, NY, USA: Mcgraw Hill.

#2 of 4… IPhone 5 time, with Telus

This second in a series of four service encounter blogs takes me back a few months to my last significant encounter with my mobile provider, Telus. It was nearing the end of September and it was IPhone time again, this time the IPhone 5. It was perfect timing, as it was time for me to upgrade my contract. I was already pretty happy with Telus due to the fact that they had started accepting pre orders and I was guaranteed my phone on launch day.

Now my relationship with Telus is quite different from other service firms, such as restaurants or hotels, as it is not a one-time encounter but an ongoing service contract. Being that it is an ongoing relationship it is very important that Telus know what my priorities are when evaluating the service I receive. Measuring the relative importance of service dimensions helps managers focus their efforts accordingly. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 120). Too many companies make major mistakes by focusing their efforts and resources on attributes of the service experience that don’t matter to customers. Furthermore, mine along with most others; service expectations are very dynamic making the frequency of service quality research very important. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 120).

So it was finally launch day and time to get my brand new IPhone 5. Best Buy was opening early at 8 am to accommodate the launch, which gave me an hour and half to get my phone before I had to work. It was plenty of time, or so I thought. It was about 8:15 AM when Telus’ entire system went down, nation wide. Things were not looking so good; it was time to play the waiting game. All in all it was the full hour and a half that I spent standing around Best Buy’s mobile department, I was not impressed. Everyone has different tolerance zones for all sorts of different service attributes. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 133/34) My perception of Telus’ service quality on this particular morning was well outside my personal zone of tolerance.

In a major corporation like Telus that provides service to millions of customers everyday, complaint solicitation should be a big part of their evaluation measures. Complain solicitation is a way of communication with customers, about what can be done to improve their services. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 121). If Telus had some sort of complaint solicitation in place that was able to hear my issue it would have made things a lot easier. An easy way Telus could have done this was by incorporating come sort of trailer call or posttransaction survey. Trailer calls or posttransaction surveys are used to measure information about key service encounters. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 128/29). Being that it was the first time I had purchased a new phone or resigned a contract since my original sign up with Telus, it would be fair to call this a key service encounter. I really think there should have been some way for Telus to gather feedback from me. A very simple way would have been a quick 5-question text message survey with room to type and communicate my issues.

Complain solicitation and posttransaction surveys is one thing, the more important aspect is taking action on the issues that customers bring forward. It is vital to have a consistent system in place to build accountability and follow-up with problem resolution. (Spiegelman, 2010).  Being responsive is everything, especially when things get tough. Your employees have to be empowered to resolve and customer issues they may face. (Spiegelman, 2010).

Another area that has been lacking in my time as a Telus customer has been the use of any form of relationship survey. Relationship surveys differ from posttransaction surveys in that they take a more comprehensive approach and aim to get information on the customers overall satisfaction. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 125). A particular type of relationship survey is a SERVQUAL survey, which involves 21 service attributes grouped into five service quality dimensions. The dimensions are; reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013, 125). I think it would greatly benefit Telus’ customer satisfaction if they incorporated different comprehensive relationship surveys that were given to different customers, depending on how long they had been with Telus. It would allow both satisfied and upset customers such as myself to communicate our concerns. Below is a link to an example SERVQUAL survey used to gather data in regards to peoples expectations of service in Hospitals.

SURVEY (Qualtrics, 2013)

I eventually got my phone after another trip to Best Buy later in the day. Then, after a long phone call and some complaining I was able to get a few minor costs covered on my next bill to make up for the hassle. It was the least they could do after what happened, on a scale from 1-7, this experience would definitely get a 1. Besides the fact that I am stuck with Telus for the next 3 years, I would give them a 4, on that same scale for willingness to return. The consideration after the fact definitely helped this number as it could have been a lot lower if they had not show some level of accountability. Looking at my overall sastisfaction with Telus I would have to say it is in pretty good standing. I have had the unfortunate luck of dealing with some of the other ‘evil’ phone companies, so I really don’t have it that bad off with Telus.

References

 

Qualtrics. (2013). Q University: Service Quality Surveys . Retrieved 2013, from

Qualtrics: Sophisticated Research Made Simple: https://www.qualtrics.com/

 

Spiegelman, P. (2010, January). Connect with your customers: keep them happy or

someone else will make sure they are. Retrieved January 2013, from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204690

 

Zeithaml, V., Bitner, M., & Gremler, D. (2013). Services Marketing: Intergrating

Customer Focus Across the Firm. New York, NY, USA: Mcgraw Hill Irwin.

A night out at Ric’s Grill

My girlfriend and I visited Ric’s Grill in Victoria BC in early December for a special night out. I had heard some good things about Ricks in the past so when I saw a great deal on Groupon for a four-course meal for two, I bought one right away. Prior to the visit I was really hoping for a great experience, but the very low price of the Groupon made me question if they might be having trouble driving business. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

The highest type of expectation is desired service, which is a blend of what the customer believes “can be” and “should be.” (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013). My desired service was perfectly cooked food and a friendly, attentive server who made it an enjoyable atmosphere. Knowing that the desired service level is not always possible, I had a pre-determined adequate service level that would be acceptable. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013). That adequate service level would be timely food that was hot, a server that paid some attention to us, and a nice quiet restaurant environment; it was after all, a four-course meal.

Most of my expectations came down to both my personal needs and my personal service philosophy. Personal needs are those states or conditions most important to the well being of the customer. Your personal service philosophy is your underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, Sevices Marketing: Integrated Customer Focus Across the Firm, 2013). Having spent a number of years working various jobs that demanded excellent customer service, I tend to have a higher expectation of service, no matter the type of establishment. On this night my personal needs were centered on the experience as well as our appetites, neither of us had eaten for quite a while.

Another area that greatly affects the service experience is situational factors; situational factors come in two types, uncontrollable and personal. Uncontrollable situation factors are just as they sound, factors that are beyond the control of staff and management. Personal situational factors consist of short-term individual factors that make a customer more aware of the need for service (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, Sevices Marketing: Integrated Customer Focus Across the Firm, 2013). My personal situational factors in determining expected service levels were quite minimal. The only factor affecting me was the fact that I wanted it to be a nice evening for my girlfriend more than myself, making my need for adequate service a tad more urgent.

The final factor influencing adequate service is predicted service level, the level of service a customer believes they are likely to get. The predicted level of service has other factors influencing it including explicit service promises, implicit service promises, word-of-mouth communication, and past experience. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, Sevices Marketing: Integrated Customer Focus Across the Firm, 2013). With no service promises and no past experience the only thing I had to rely on to predict a service level was word-of-mouth. I had asked my boss about Ric’s Grill and he had nothing but good things to say about it. My boss had been a number of times on the mainland when it first opened and said the service was good and the food, especially the steak, was excellent. This positive endorsement from someone I know and trust really helped the prediction that I would get a quality experience.

Overall my experience at Ric’s Grill was great. Our server Aaron was friendly, attentive, and very accountable for the rare mistakes he made. At one point I ordered a couple of drinks before dinner and it took a little too long to get them, we watched the server walk by a few times. When he finally arrived with the drinks he said, “I’m really sorry about the wait guys, these ones are on us tonight.” Aaron handled the situation perfectly, once we had to ask a second time for the drinks he realized what he had done and took responsibility by taking care of the drinks. It really set the service apart, and on top of it the food was absolutely amazing.

The service we received from Aaron really was exceptional, which leads to the question posed in the text; should a company try to delight the customers? By delighting the customer the book means doing something to go above and beyond, and exceed the customer’s expectations; something disproportionately positive. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, Sevices Marketing: Integrated Customer Focus Across the Firm, 2013). In an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine famous entrepreneur Richard Branson talks in depth about customer expectations and how he is a firm supporter of exceeding customer expectations. (Branson, 2012). Branson says the key is to set realistic expectations for your customers and then don’t just meet them exceed them, preferably in unexpected and helpful ways (Branson, 2012). I strongly agree with Mr. Branson’s view when it comes to this question; I have always tried to exceed expectations in my different customer service jobs. Aaron could have just as easily brought us those delayed drinks and given a nice apology; I might have been a little bitter afterwards but I would have gotten over it and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Instead, by taking care of our drinks and showing that he cared about our experience Aaron exceeded our expectations, made for an enjoyable evening, and earned himself a nice tip.

Like I mentioned prior, my overall experience at Ric’s Grill was great; if I had to rate it on a 1-7 scale I would definitely give it a 7. The combination of amazing food and amazing service really made the evening; and Aaron exceeding our expectations really took the experience to another level. I was very happy with the end result, and my girlfriend and I enjoyed our evening immensely. I would also give Ric’s a 7 for ‘definitely yes’ I would return for another meal.

I was very satisfied with all aspects of the evening and will surely be visiting Ric’s Grill again in the near future.

Public Relations class comes to a close………… My fav 5

I have just finished my 2nd year Public Relations course at Camosun College and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. It was a long busy semester but definitely one of the better classes I have taken in my time at Camosun. I have learned a lot over the last 14 weeks but i’m going to tell you about my favourite 5 things.

1) Coming in I had an idea of what public relations was but not a full understanding. I quickly learned the importance of being able to write, one might not think it but writing is a very important skill to have for any career in PR. We wrote everything from these blog posts to media kit items and I believe it helped me take my writing skills to the next level.

2) In my previous marketing classes I had learned about targeting markets based on demographics but in this public relations course I learned a new concept, tribes. Tribes are about spreading ideas and creating movements, its a new way of connecting people.

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3) Media and the importance of knowing and understanding the media was very interesting to me. I have always followed the news and found the industry very interesting but had never really done much more than wonder about it. This PR class really exposed us to the media and the importance of it in public relations. Media and news was also a major topic in the professional interview I had to conduct with Brian Cant of Tartan Group.

4) Following the topic of media one aspect of the major assignment for this class was a media kit. For my group I had to do the press release and it was very cool. It exposed me to a totally different type of writing and I really enjoyed it.

5) In most of my business courses thus far there has been some sort of an ethics section, but I had never done anything quite like I did in this public relations course. We had groups and every group was assigned a different ethical scenario, we had a week to turn it around and facilitate a class discussion whether we acted it out or just discussed it. It brought with it some heated discussions and some opposing views but it was a great way to present the ethics portion of the class. It made me as well as the rest of the class really think about the different scenarios and what ethical situations can present themselves.

Overall my Marketing 225 class was a great class and definitely one of my favourites since I started at Camosun. I would also definitely recommend Susan Stanford to any student coming to the college.

Blackberry maker RIM in the news again, whats’ next?

Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM) is once again making headlines, although it seems this year they haven’t really left the spotlight of the media. Unfortunately for RIM most of the coverage they have been getting has been negative and it is no different this time around. For the 5th straight quarter RIM has fallen short of their financial forecasts, this time recording a loss and stating that they would no longer provide financial forecasts. For a company thats shares have dropped 80% since February 2011 you have to wonder whats ahead?

At first the new CEO Thorsten Heins ruled out any possibility of a sale, stating that RIM would re-focus and recover from the hard times they had seen. Fast forward a little bit and the sales rumours are once again surfacing after recording their first quarterly loss in 7 years. Right around the time that the once famed co-CEO Jim Balsillie has finally parted ways with RIM, it seems a sale is unavoidable. As much as it would be nice to see RIM kept as a Canadian company and succeed it seems highly unlikely, there have already been talks about partnerships, licensing their software, or an outright sale.

RIM is in a lot of trouble and most of it is owed to the failure to innovate, the Blackberry’s available today aren’t all that different from the ones 5 years ago. In a market dominated by Apple’s Iphone and the range of phones running Google’s Android software, RIM has struggled to keep up. It is sad to see a company that was once such a pride of Canada dwindling away, but it’s time RIM made a big move before its too late. After all their shares are sitting dangerously close to an all time low.

KONY 2012….not quite as amazing as everyone wants to think

In the last week we have seen the emergence  of one of the most viral videos to ever hit the internet. The video I am talking about is Kony 2012, a documentary about a Ugandan War Lord Joseph Kony aimed to make him famous and make the world take action to capture him. The video saw unprecedented exposure getting 75 million views in the first week alone and is now well over 80 million views. The video is a collection of footage over the last ten years of Jason Russel’s experiences in Uganda, who is the co-founder of the not for profit organization that put the Kony campaign together. That organization is called Invisible Children and was set up to bring awareness to Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The campaign and the organization behind it have caused quite a stir in the media and not all of it has been positive. There has been lots of talk around Invisible Children’s financial activities as well as the Kony 2012 campaign itself. Not to say there is anything wrong with bringing awareness to the heinous crimes of Kony and his army but it is the timing and nature of the movement that are troubling. Kony has not been in Africa for 6 years and the LRA is all but dissolved, confined to hiding in the jungle and sneaking into towns at night to steal food. What the people of Uganda need is healing not a resurgence of their horrible past under Joseph Kony’s reign of terror. The people are starting to move forward and this movement is only going to jeopardize that growth within Uganda.

As much as social media has connected the world in ways never thought possible and made information flow so freely, it has also taken a negative effect on society. This campaign is a perfect example, it went viral through the use of social media and all of a sudden everyone who shared it believed they were some sort of activist. People were sharing it, tweeting it, blogging about it, and posting statuses about it without doing anything more than watching the video. Activism is not a glorified job that can be done sitting behind a computer, it is a full time job that takes endless hard work and doesn’t come with much recognition. The Kony 2012 video is over produced and provides a very egocentric view, this is no way to make a difference, difference is made through action.

I saw the two founders of this organization interviewed by Piers Morgan and couldn’t help notice the arrogant attitude of both the young men but especially Jason Russel the camera man behind Kony 2012. (on the right)

What do you think??