BU 642A - Strategic Marketing: A Case Study of Boeing 737 Crisis

This report addresses the strategic marketing challenges faced by Boeing 737 following the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft due to the Ethiopian Airlines crash. The report identifies the negative impact on Boeing's brand image and proposes a resolution strategy focused on offline marketing and branding to counter online negativity and retain customers. It summarizes an article emphasizing the importance of offline conversations and influencer engagement in shaping brand perception. The suggested strategy involves evaluating offline sentiments, leveraging email marketing, and highlighting the technologies used in Boeing's aircraft to generate positive reviews and rebuild customer trust. The report concludes that a balance of online and offline strategies is essential for overall brand image and success.

STRATEGIC MARKETING STRATEGY
BOEING 737

Problem Overview
The company Boeing has been a renowned name in the industry of the designing,
manufacturing and selling of the airplanes, rockets, satellites, missiles, rotorcraft, and comms
gear across the various regions around the world. It is significant to note that the 737 Max
was the company’s fastest selling aircraft in the history of the company Boeing. The fact is
evident by the ordering of more than 4500 aircrafts by 100 different flight operators across
the globe. The company has been in news following the grounding of the global fleets across
the world. This was done following the crash of its model Boeing 737 Max 8 in the crash
named as the Ethiopian Airlines Crash. The model was the latest in the company's successful
737 line. The group is further inclusive of the Max 7, 8, 9 and 10 models. The impact of the
crash was extreme enough that the both engines had got buried at a depth of 32ft (BBC News,
2019). The crash investigation has highlighted the fact that the pilots has been facing
difficulties to deal with Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which
was an automated safety system.
Following the Ethiopian Airlines Crash the company has been facing the issue of the aircrafts
being forbidden from taking flights. According to the reports, the region of the North
America would be most affected and would face the disruption because of the aircraft being
earlier used by the Southwest Airlines, Air Canada and American Airlines which are the three
largest operators of the 737 Max aircrafts in the world (daCosta, 2019). The following picture
highlights the number of the operators having three or more flights of the said company.
Thus, the main issue of the company can be stated to be that following the crash, the brand
Boeing has been deeply affected in terms of the online image of the company. Thus, the
impact of the crash can undermine the goodwill of the company resulting in the loss of the
customers of the company.

Resolution Overview
At present, following the wave of the negative sentiments about the company on the various
online platforms, the company must engage in the development and implementation of the
offline marketing and branding strategies. The said strategy would not only counter the online
negative branding of the company, but would also aid the company to retain its customers.
The strategy has been suggested because the company’s said airlines were already popular
among the customer air operators and the grounding would also result in the disruption and
mismanagement for the customer operators as well, forcing them to search new aircraft
manufacturers that are capable enough to carry the load as same as that of the Boeing 737.
Article Summary
The article sheds light on the significance of the knowledge of the branding and the manner
of the purchasing decisions by the customers. Thus, the article sheds light on another aspect
of branding and marketing that is through the offline platforms. The article states that while
the company may have a certain online brand image, but the actual offline image can be
entirely different and the same deeply affects the revenues and profits of the entity. It has
been stated that face to face conversations and recommendations with the consumers are one
of the most effective means as the results are long lasting and cover wide variety of the
consumers (Fay, Keller, Larkin & Pauwels, 2019). Thus, the article states that a close
evaluation of the online and offline sentiments together is necessitated to determine the
efficient marketing strategy.
The significant point raised in the article is that often the online and the offline sentiments are
inversely proportional to each other. Thus, another metric that has been suggested to be
measured by the entities is the extent and the nature of the talks carried on offline by the

“influencers.” Accordingly the managers of the modern global entities are suggested to
amend the marketing strategy taking into account the market segmentation, customer service
and other parameters to make the social media and offline strategies in same line.
The suitability of the idea in the article to be applied to organization’s strategic issue
It is quite evident that the company has been facing quite amount of backlash on various
online platforms following the crash of its aircraft in the popular Ethiopian Airlines Crash. As
the company’s flights have been currently grounded, the company may face a major
disruption in the sales. In order to combat the negative publicity of the brand on the online
platforms, the company needs to change its corporate marketing strategy for the retaining of
the customers (Roberts & Zahay, 2012).
The idea is suitable because of the following reason. There are already quite an upsurge on
the online platforms about the company and hence, the online marketing strategy would not
work for the company at present. In order to maintain the customers and influence their
decision positively, it is necessary for the company to reach to the consumers through the
offline means. For this, it is vital for the company to first evaluate the offline sentiments and
determine the effective conversation drivers as suited for the business of the entity Boeing.
The marketing and branding strategy can be further designed by making use of the techniques
like the email marketing campaigns and identifying the accounts that generate more
conversations to create a positive image of the company. The said accounts in relation to the
company can be related to the technologies used by the entity in their aircrafts to further
generate knowledge and positive reviews of the company as against the competitors. Hence,
it can be concluded that a balance of the online and offline is essential for an overall image
and the branding of the entity.

References
BBC News (2019). Boeing 737 Max: What went wrong? Retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47553174
daCosta, A. N. (2019). Boeing grounded: What it means for air travel. Retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47549327
Fay, B., Keller, E., Larkin, R. & Pauwels, K. (2019). Deriving Value From Conversations
About Your Brand. Retrieved from: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/deriving-value-
from-conversations-about-your-brand/
Roberts, M. L., & Zahay, D. (2012). Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline
strategies. Boston MA: Cengage Learning.