Have to give Dos Equis props for quick and personal communication. I received the email below in response to the events at The Most Interesting Academy event. Time will tell if the apology and whatever they are planning to make it up to Austin will be enough.
Here’s the email in it’s entirety. The Examiner post she’s referring to is here. So I ask you, what could they do to atone? Is their reputation already tarnished beyond repair or not?
Dear Tyler:
I am the Corporate Communications Director for Heineken USA and I read your Examiner.com piece on the Dos Equis event near Austin, TX last evening. We are taking this matter seriously and I wanted to share the note below from Kheri Tillman, the VP of Dos Equis for Heineken USA with you and your readers.
Sincerely,
Tara Carraro
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Heineken USA
We want to sincerely apologize for the experience you had at the Dos Equis event last evening in Austin, TX. We did not expect the response to our invitation would reach this magnitude and we did not properly handle the number of people who arrived at the event.
Clearly this event did not meet your expectations or ours and for that we are genuinely sorry. This is not how we wish to treat our loyal consumers and we only hope that you will let us try to make it up to you.
We are working on plans to try and make this right and will be back in touch with you before the weekend with more details. We appreciate you taking the time to let us know how you feel and are working hard to put plans in place with the companies that managed this event for us to ensure this never happens again in Austin or any other city.
Sincerely,
Kheri Tillman
Vice President, Dos Equis
Heineken USA
Designed by Inspired Roots
Yeah, they’re really freaking about the PR nightmare (as they should be). They posted that same message from Tillman on that Facebook group. Kinda disappointed that they didn’t offer up solutions in the email.
Tara said that she would have more information today about what they are going to do about it. I was impressed that she included a personal message and has been emailing me back and forth, even if the apology was boilerplate.
What I am still not understanding is the whole “overwhelming response” thing. If a venue can only accommodate 2000 people then you only give out 2000 tickets or have an RSVP list for that number of people. It is not difficult math. I was one of the 10th people on FB to RSVP and could not get in. What is the point of RSVP then? Why were we told to show up early to ensure admittance if there is RSVP or tickets? Unless they were letting people in that did not have a ticket and were not on a list …. then I reiterate, what was the point of RSVP or tickets? This gave a false sense of security that you were an expected guest for this party. Without this “glitch” in the event planning the complaints would be unmerited, it would’ve been a first come first serve type of thing. So rather than being put at ease that Dos Equis has responded with an apology so promptly, I am even more irritated that we are being brushed off with “overwhelming response” mumbo jumbo and it is an insult to our intelligence that this would be a sufficient excuse.
[...] cautious optimism. I am impressed that they are taking this seriously; the communication has been swift and personal. We’ll see how much they have learned from their Most Interesting Academy logistical [...]
Here is the latest message from the top… While it may seem odd that we throw a party in an effort to make up for a party but as noted below TABC leaves us few options. There is a massive effort to make amends and do a new event for those who will give us another chance enjoy a night on us. Stay tuned for more details Thanks, have a great weekend…
Jason Hicks
Director Of Events – Rare
On behalf of Dos Equis, we would once again like to apologize to everyone who did not get into the event or who had a bad experience Wednesday night and let you know we are taking full responsibility for the disorganization.
Although we know it’s impossible to alleviate the frustration felt by all, whether you had to wait in line for hours or were turned away after finally getting there, we know we owe you an honest explanation.
In keeping with producing the most unique events for the brand we selected the Falkenstein castle location. We thought only a limited number of people might take the long drive out there on a Wednesday night. Therefore, we heavily promoted the event to ensure we filled the venue, which unfortunately resulted in a RSVP list far greater than the capacity of the venue. A crowd much larger than we were prepared to handle, showed up at both the Austin bus pick up location and at the castle. Consequently, this all led to a horrible experience for hundreds of people and ruined their entire evening. And for all of this, we are truly, truly sorry.
We have spent the past two days reading each and every email, blog, and Facebook posting, and talking to some of you on the phone and we feel terrible. We are working hard to find a way to show you how sorry we are (while working within Texas alcohol beverage law which severely limits what companies can provide to consumers).
Therefore, in an effort to show how important you are to us, we are planning a special event (think of it as a Most Interesting Apology Party) for all those on the guestlist who had a bad experience and were not able to make it into the castle. Obviously planning the details and logistics of this event will take a little time, so we’ll work closely with the promoters to keep you in the loop, and further details will be shared next week. If you would like to attend this event please email the promoter that invited you, and they’ll make sure you get a ticket.
If you have ever attended any of our previous events, you know we always try to give you the best experience possible, and we hope you accept our apology. If there is anything you would like to share, please email me at dosequis@heinekenusa.com.
Sincerely,
Kheri Tillman
VP, Dos Equis
Heineken USA
[...] Equis swiftly reached out to the negative commenters. They also released an apology and promised a make-up party. DO512 and Rare magazine also both [...]
[...] by now you’ve heard about the PR failure this event became and the subsequent apology. You may even be aware that they are planning a party to apologize. Good for you! Here are some [...]