SpaceX Reputation Blasts Off with Landing Flame-Outs

[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications]

In our crisis management presentations, we talk about how your reputation in a crisis can come through intact – and perhaps even enhanced – if you handle crisis communications correctly.

No matter what you think of Elon Musk, we can agree that his company, SpaceX, has endured spectacular reputation hits with every cataclysmic, fiery crash landing of its orbital booster landers. The company’s mission is nothing if not audacious – “revolutionize space technology with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.” A baby step of that mission hinges on rocket reusability, which the company finally achieved – 16 times.

Musk and the SpaceX crew decided to celebrate their success by releasing a blooper reel of its failures. Reputation conclusion: a successful tech company not afraid to poke fun at itself. It’s a technique that may work for other tech companies, but certainly won’t work in 99% of crises. Why does it work? Because in this instance, no lives were lost, no one was hurt, and the only monetary loss was private SpaceX money.

It’s not often we get to say this, but Musk’s celebration of his own company’s failure is downright refreshing. So refreshing, that in the comments on the video – so far – expressions of appreciation and enjoyment far outnumber social media’s usual mouth-foaming snark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ&feature=youtu.be