Expedia promotes Christchurch travel offer with picture of cathedral wrecked in earthquake
Travel brand Expedia has this morning made the extraordinary blunder of emailing its Australian database to promote cheap holidays in New Zealand – and illustrated the offer with a large image of Christchurch Cathedral’s spire, which was destroyed in yesterday’s disastrous earthquake.
It has been widely reported that several dead bodies are likely to still be among the rubble of the cathedral.
The email went out at around 9am, Sydney time.
One possibility is that the email was prepared several days ago and sent out automatically with nobody at the travel company thinking to prevent it being sent. Mumbrella understands that Expedia’s email marketing operation is based in the UK rather than locally.
However, at the time of writing, the offer was also still being promoted on Expedia.com.au’s home page using an image of the cathedral.
10.59am update. Nicolas Chu, Expedia’s GM for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement:
“Expedia sincerely apologises for the unfortunate timing of this communication, which was removed from our website as soon as we became aware of the contents. The fact is that these promotional emails are built and deployed from our team in London and this one was deployed before the earthquake hit. It goes without saying that we are extremely saddened about the devastation the earthquake has caused to the people of Christchurch and Expedia apologises for any insensitivity towards the people of Christchurch, which of course was not our intention. We are working with Expedia customers who are planning to travel to or from the affected area to make alternative travel arrangements.”
Expedia has now closed its 72 hour sale.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Clearly an automated over-sight non story.
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Hi Daniel,
I’d argue that the story is what’s just landed in thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of email inboxes.
I’m not sure that consumers care whether it was an automated oversight. They wouldn’t be aware of that.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
agreed. in the greater scheme of things, this just isn’t news.
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A fail yes. But this mistake and is CLEARLY automated – All that can do now Expedia is appologise (obviously) & learn from it.
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One possibility is that Expedia’s internal systems automatically queue up travel offers when the price of travel to a destination falls suddenly. If that’s the case, the system definitely needs human oversight, as human tragedies would be a obvious cause of major changes in the price of travel.
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* All that Expedia can do now is appologise (obviously) & learn from it.
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who can predict an earthquake certainly not weeks before – when an ad campaign is generated
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Definitely an automated email but you need to remember that this is not a small localised incident, it has made world news. Also the quake happened some 20 hrs before the email was sent so I would think it would be natural to check all outgoing marketing.
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Automated blunder for sure. Someone should have thought to stop that before it went out though.
Actually, on ChCh travel, I just saw that Air NZ is laying on $50 flights to and from Christchurch on the domestic network until 8am Friday morn.
Having family their myself, I’m feeling pretty helpless over here in Sydney. Not much anyone except rescue workers can do at this point though I think.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/a.....e-ck-86692
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Dear Tim, dear Daniel,
We’re very saddened about the quake situation for the people of Christchurch. Our newsletters are deployed from London and the mail-out commenced before the quake hit. We would never issue anything like this intentionally. We are working with Expedia customers in the area and those who are planning to travel imminently to this part of New Zealand to help make alternate arrangements. In the meantime we have postponed the sale.
We apologise for any offence this morning’s newsletter may have caused.
Nicholas Chu
GM Expedia Australia & New Zealand
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Automated emails can still be stopped.. You’d think if you were running a campaign about New Zealand it would have been one of the first things that came to your mind yesterday.
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I think recipients of the email will realise it was a mistake. QI on the ABC last night had a whole section on earthquakes. Unfortunately, these things happen.
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So all travel operators and other industry that support the NZ economy should stop advertising and promotion?
Sounds like a great plan, you should make a run for the NSW elections while you’re at it……
*YAWN*
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i doubt they woke up yesterday and thought it would be a good idea to send it. Its a mistake, nothing more
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Literally, shit happens.
It’s not as if Expedia meant any malice.
This is more akin to http://www.flickr.com/photos/royaltech/622753936/ and is more a blooper than anything else.
I bet you a large proportion of the recipients wouldn’t have known that it was a church in Christchurch anyway…
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I agree with Daniel.
I received the email at 9am this morning and my first thought was “oh, poor Expedia, some-one forgot to cancel the eDM” – I think that would be the first thought for most people, they hardly did it on on purpose!
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While this is appears to be poor form from expedia, I do sympathize with them. I agree with Daniel, this is an oversight which isn’t really newsworthy – especially when you consider how quickly the apology statement was released.
Lets accept that it was a mistake by expedia, but let’s also give them credit for responding so quickly, and turn our attention to those who need it most – our brothers and sisters in NZ.
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Slow news day, Tim?
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Expedias hotel brand, Hotels.com, managed to stop a similar promo. It can be done.
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I think most real people wouldn’t think twice about it, they would look and think oh what a shame it is gone now. Non item. Journos on the other hand,…
Real ad content blunders promote cannibalism http://i52.tinypic.com/xgi8lf.jpg
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talk about a story to fill the void of having any decent media news to report.
Expedia should have been more alert, but a poor story none the less.
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Yes it’s a mistake. Yes they apologised. But this is a mistake that so easily could have been avoided – it’s not a print item that was too late to pull, it’s in an online environment that is very easy to stop. I think it’s very poor of Expedia’s marketing team. @*YAWN* – of course not, but right messages at the right time is a good start for any campaign.
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I’m with 99.9% of comments here. It’s simply an unfortunate mistake to make. Most people will be sympathetic.
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I note that a number (but not all) of the comments sympathetic to Expedia’s mistake appear to be coming from the same IP address…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Here’s a comment Timothy, and not from the same IP address mentioned above, but from one you love so much.
By publishing this oversight, you have really dug the bottom muck out of the barrel.
Maybe give Mark Riley a heads up on your “find”
Cheers,
Stuart
Mumbrella has gone to poo, comment validated.
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I first noticed this dumb digital problem a couple of years back when Air NZ crashed an A380 during ‘testing’ killing all crew (no passengers). The story was on the SMH website and guess what ad was served on the page? You guessed it – fly to NZ on Air New Zealand. Hmmm… Now, no one served that ad on purpose either.
All this talk about data and clever analytics in the ad industry but it is, actually, dumb marketing. In both cases the digital agency/ad agency should be asked where is the risk management for your clients?
Just sayin’
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We got the email this morning and laughed at how stupid Expedia was so I have to side with Tim on this and say that I think it is a valid news story for Mumbrella to run. If not this kind of news and marketing observation, then what??
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This just shows what can go wrong when marketing isn’t driven from the market it’s intended for. It IS really poor form and shouldn’t have gone out. And the apology from Expedia is lame as well – as a consumer I don’t care that it’s sent from London…that just means you couldn’t care less about me, who lives in Oz.
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What is with everyone saying this isn’t a story? This is a story.
The company is directing people to holiday at a destination and a cathedral where people are dead and may still be trapped inside.
It is very poor form. Automated email or not… there should be someone at Expedia who checks everything before it goes out.
The other thing is travel companies build their brand on providing expert advice… not on sending people to travel destinations that don’t exist. What will happen next? Expedia will send us to Tunisia with a photo advertising people dancing in the streets in harmony?
Yes it was probably an oversight, an error but it has big implications for their brand and company.
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I cant wait to get their emails promoting bargains to Egypt, Libia, Burma, etc
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I think you are insensitive in posting this article. Why not spend the time and effort creating content that would be helpful or empathetic to such a tragedy?
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I agree, it’s a story about marketing and what happens if you don’t triple check your comms!
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Really disappointed with another IP comment. More disappointed with the article. Well done Tim.
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Blame the earthquake, insensitive bastard.
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Why’s everyone getting all up on mUmbrella / this Tim guy for publishing this? As far as I can tell, this 100% fits the description of covering news on Australia’s media and marketing. Automated or not, it was obviously brought to the attention of Expedia by recipients of the email who were offended and hence a public apology had to be published. I’d call that media news. In fact, programs like ABC’s MediaWatch have published bloopers based on much less. For example, last year MediaWatch reported that NineMSN’s website was displaying advertisements for their “Hot women in the workplace” entertainment piece juxtaposed right next to the article about the sexual harrassment case against the head of David Jones. People love reading about these sorts of slip ups!
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It’s a completely valid story to appear on Mumbrella.
Company makes comm’s error; company issues suitable apology within a reasonable timeframe; story ends.
And hopefully the company makes changes to its external comms dispatch processes as a result of its untimely error.
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Why is it that so many marketing folk don’t display any PR sensibility?
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Yawn or not, it illustrates poor process. It went to the Australian and NZ data bases and quite a few kiwi friends were upset by it. An ad should not go out without being checked in the last hour or so. This article illustrated that for me.
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Bad, bad, bad eDM. Easily stopped, and if they hadnt had great dynamic images imbedded that changed the Christchurch image automatically even after the email was opened would have been a lot worse.
Just cause we as advertisers/marketers realise that its just a mistake and we shouldnt be ‘hatin’ doesnt mean that it was a royal fuckup that shouldnt happen and that they dont have the right processes in place.
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This email went out to NZ as well as Aus.
Plenty of people I’ve spoken to here thought it was a pretty poor effort, and the excuse (sorry – apology) was just as bad.
The content was changed within 2 hours of the story appearing. If they can react that quickly, why didn’t somebody think for a nanosecond before the bloody thing was sent out?
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This is definitely an appropriate post for Mumbrella.to publish. This instance highlights that digital companies should be very aware of their processes and how to intervene anything on ‘the schedule’ to avoid a blooper like this.
Expedia have apologised and I am sure are feeling a little red faced. I am also sure that they will learn from their mistake.
Good on you Tim, (if you can’t publish something like this then what can you publish on Mumbrella…?) 😉
Keep up the good work!! (I have learn’t from this.
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The other interesting point is that imagine if you had a relative trapped under the rubble who was possibly dead? And here Expedia is advertising “cheap trips” to where your relative is dying. I’d be devestated.
Also, is Expedia’s trip “Cheap” because Christchurch has fallen down? Taken advantage of cheap holidays now – go to natural disaster zones!
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It’s clearly an oversight on Expedia’s part; I don’t think anyone would suggest they’d done it on purpose. The issue is that it’s – also clearly – an oversight that simply shouldn’t have been made.
There was ample time for someone to say, “Eek, natural disaster!” and pull up all outgoing Christchurch-related materials to check and/or cancel them. But no-one did.
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A mistake yes that could not be predicted, but it is how it is dealt with that people will remember Expedia.
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this is definately news… and very bad form. Such an easy thing to fix…
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So why not go old school and start displaying the IP addresses Tim?
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HA!, Since I have already had my fair share of crazies from this site tracking me down personally to discuss my comments further, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t do that Tim!
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FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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