Meeting Customer Needs - Tale of Tiger's Big Adventure

The 'Tale of Tiger's Adventure" follows the story of a motivated airline employee going above and beyond to return a misplaced stuffed animal to a young child that left it in the Tampa International Airport (TPA). When analyzing the TPA's media impact in relaying Tiger's story, its apparent they were able to garner the immediate support of employees, airline travelers, and internet users alike.

In crafting the story, the media team wanted to add humanity to an already feel-good story. They were able to highlight the emotional and frantic call of the young traveler's mother, showcase the selflessness of the employee that photographed the Tiger throughout the airport during his lunch break and used his own funds to create the book, and show the faces of several TPA staff members as they 'assisted' Tiger in tracking down his family. For all intents and purposes, the TPA media team executed what they intended flawlessly. While Tiger's adventure was a hit on TPA's social media platform, the story went on to attract the attention of the Shorty Awards and national news media outlets. 

In its initial post of Tiger's Adventure, TPA received overwhelmingly supportive engagement from followers that went on to share the story further. One TPA staff member was also able to comment directly back to their mother through the official account, which further demonstrated that there are real people with authentic experiences manning TPA's social media platforms. It goes without saying that TPA sharing Tiger's Adventure was intended to be a feel-good story, but the organization in no way expected the popularity and positive feedback to be so long lasting and impactful. Tiger's Adventure was just one of countless unique experiences for the millions of air travelers and workers that enter TPA facilities each year.

With regard to analyzing the success of TPA's digital strategy and ability to meet customer needs, I would have to say that they far exceeded their own expectations. There is truly no way to know which stories will catch the attention of the national media channels, but TPA's media team ultimately did. While TPA expected positive feedback on their organic social media sites, they in no way could know how much the American and international audience wanted to show gratitude for a small selfless act that made a world of difference to one family. 

Reference

Zink, J., Nipps, E., Valentine, D., Osborne, C., & D'Aiuto, T. (2016). Tale of Tiger's big adventure highlights airports commitment to customer service. Retrieved from https://shortyawards.com/8th/boy-leaves-stuffed-tiger-at-tpa-returns-to-a-tale-of-tigers-big-adventure-see-more-at-httpww