Mistakes can happen but it’s in how an organization deals with it that can change a negative into a positive. It doesn’t sound like The Franklin made any effort.

That said, it would be best to avoid issues like scheduling snafus in the first place. Especially in a situation like this because folks are making decisions about when to visit.

Admittedly, in a situation like a change of schedule, the number of places where a change needs to be posted (online, physical locations, etc.) may be cumbersome. Automation would have helped mitigate the situation though.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Use a database-driven schedule for the website and ensure it’s up-t0-date.

2. Initiate a series of triggers to appropriate folks when a change occurs. An example would be an email to the sign poster people to let them know to change out signs at the museum.

Used right, automation is the friend of marketing and customer service.

@NarcisoTovar, it’s like a play right? Lots of moving parts and the one you think no one will notice is the thing all the people in the audience point out to each other. Water in a hotel room that’s not $4.00 and comes standard would be great, wouldn’t it?

@Matt, a reminder even for me as a marketer…that’s for sure. It’s never fun to be criticized because we overlooked something.

@Dave, my husband said the same thing! However, I thought telling several employees at The Franklin Institute plus a blog post was more than enough to get my point across. And we made the best of it…maybe one day we’ll make it back there, but who knows.

@Elizabeth, the thing that made it worse was that we didn’t know until after we had paid for our tickets. I suppose some folks would have asked for the money back and left. But, it had taken us an hour to get there…I was feeling a little bit trapped.

@Susan, sometimes the internal critics are worse than the external ones!

@JamieFavreau, I don’t think anyone is saying that communications is easy. Trust me; I too have overlooked small moving parts…we all do it (especially when under stress). That said, I think for an organization the size of The Franklin Institute they should have enough folks in communications and IT to make sure things are up-to-date. And I really don’t think the “subject to change” note is enough. They know that they pick certain shows every week, how hard is it to update the site?

@StacyLukas, Anal? You? Nah. Details do matter, that’s why we are paranoid as marketers and we review over and over and over… No matter it takes so long to get a project done or campaign kicked off.

@RobinFox, good advice!

@NadineBonner, that’s a great point, it didn’t cross my mind to think about parents who might have to explain to their kids why they can’t see what they had their hearts set on seeing. I’ve been living under a rock…I had no clue about the re-brand to a trendier name and back again!

@AnnaBarcelos, the Coleman commercial is a perfect example. If I were a betting gal, I’d say they had different agencies/departments handling that campaign. It happens all the time more often than not. I also think part of it is that we are involved in social media and we expect more (the Coleman ad), but companies and/or their agencies aren’t quite there yet.