Dave, according to Bike Biz magazine, which was part of the online furor you describe, the "Bicpick" was first reported by a British bicycle magazine in 1992. http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=4637

Why didn't Kryptonite institute a lock exchange program and take the faulty locks off the market at that time? In light of this information, how do you interpret Donna's claim that they "took this very seriously from day one"? The 2004 media firestorm must have had played an important part in their decision to replace the faulty locks.

Why didn't you ask her about the delay?

Thank you, Dave and Donna, for your time in creating a really fabulous post. It's a must read for everyone in the PR business.

In spite of the fact that most people heard about the faulty locks through conventional media, the news initially came from the blogs, which were at or near the center, the place where the stone hits the pond. The rest of the drama radiated from there. And it's at that center with the "more influential bloggers" where Donna has established her first line of defense.

When blogs are at the place where the stone hits the water, they can be an incredibly important PR medium.

Hey Rebecca:

Dave didn't need to ask me those questions because you just did! :) I'll be happy to answer them for you.

Carlton (BikeBiz) probably covered this situation more often than anyone so I'm glad you reference one of his articles. He and I were in almost constant contact during those first two weeks so he has some great Kryptonite info.

If you look at the article you reference he mentions that the article from 1992 went away quickly and does not mention Kryptonite by name. I'll add to that by telling you that nobody at Kryptonite saw that article when it was published. Since Sept. 2004 we have seen it and it does not state as clearly as everyone seems to think about a pen and a lock.

There was no delay in how we dealt with this internally, Rebecca. Most bloggers will tell you that where they differ from our thinking is in how we dealt with the situation in 2004 online - or rather how we didn't deal with it there. That's been debated more than once for sure!

Why believe me about not knowing about the article? You don't know me and seem to be skeptical of what I'd said to Dave, which is fine, I expect that. However, you are a business person so I'll ask you these two questions as that: Would any company who knew a security product might be defeated in this manner continue to sell a product line for a decade plus with products that had an anti-theft protection offer up to $3,000 just crossing their fingers and hoping nobody found out about the issue? Yikes! I have to think that no company would take that gamble.

Also, in Europe many of the insurance companies insist bicycle and motorbike owners have security devices that have been tested and approved by independent testing agencies before they will give insurance discounts to them. The idea being that the approved devices are some of the best on the market, therefore providing a better than average deterrant to theft. Sold Secure is one of those agencies and is based in the UK. They not only tested and passed many of our locks, but approved them at the highest levels right through 2004. They certainly wouldn't have done this if that article was as prolific as it is being made out to be.

I don't bring these two items up to be defensive, but I know it is the nature of the blogosphere not to trust the PR person - EGADS, not that! ;) These are examples of things that make sense that aren't something I'm just 'spewing' for corporate speak to support my statement.

Hope that answers your questions, Rebecca. If not, please do post again. I'll be buzzing by again and would be more than happy to answer any follow up questions you have.

If not, thanks for the questions and have a great holiday season!
Donna

Dave, way to get it right. Donna, I have to apologize as I was one of those spreading the myth of the Bicpick "disaster", but I can tell you know that I'll be evangelizing your method of response and approach. Also, kudos to you for continuing the conversation here on Dave's blog.

James - thanks for your comments here and on your site! Tried to post over there but I don't have a wordpress account.
Happy Holidays.
Donna

In response to my comments at http://www.thinkjose.com/article/kryptonite-is-its-own-kryptonite

Dave and Donna,

I apologize if I seem harsh, that is not my intent. It just seems a bit strange that over a year later we finally hear the real story. Perhaps I am falling victim to the myth that has been perpetuated for quite some time. After hearing accounts of the old story from reputable sources such as Hugh Macleod at Gapingvoid, Seth Godin, Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion it makes it hard to shift the thinking. If this is all true with no corporate bs -which I assume that it is from your conviction- then I think we need to spread this and rewrite the story across the internet. This could be turned into a powerful positive opportunity to reconnect with a disenfranchised group of bloggers-etc.

I agree with you and Donna that the blogosphere is not the end all be all of mediums, but merely another outlet for messages. I think that Donna is off base by saying that her target audience only reads blogs from friends and family and not "corporate blogs". There is no division in the blogosphere it is one giant entity and when you search for something in Technorati, icerocket, or even google you get results from everywhere. Granted the Kryptonite target audience is more focused on certain items within the blogosphere but the interconnectivity of the web allows stories to float very quickly from business to education to entertainment and back again. Unlike other mass media the internet allows two way conversation to take place in a rapid manner. Its not the end all be all but it is one of the few mediums that allows anybody, anywhere to talk back instantly. Like what you and I are doing right now.

So all of this to say I apologize for my skepticism and I do believe in the power of honest storytelling. I think we need to spread this and change the myth to the real story---even if the myth is more exciting to talk about.

I think Donna could be a huge hero to the company if she set out on a campaign to tell the true story. Talk to Seth, Hugh, Steve, and the other thought leaders that have been telling the story and have them tell your side of the story. Should make for an interesting discussion.

Thanks

Jose Castillo

If a person has told me the story and I believe it to be true, why do I need to revisit it? Kryptonite didn't feel the need to. It was because Dave wanted to get an inside view to communicate back to the blogosphere that we now have Donna's insights.

What I or anyone thinks about Kryptonite's response is irrelevant. What matters is that everyone can take something away from this.

The extent to which Kryptonite chooses to do so is its right. It is NOT for the blogosphere to dictate how corporates respond. To do so is arrogant in the extreme. And smacks of control - the very thing the blogosphere hates.

Blog enthusiasts forget a couple of things: Outside Microsoft, 99% of the people I know don't know who Scoble is and care even less. Is the same true in the US? And I guarantee that outside the blogosphere, Hugh is a nonentity.

The fact blogebrity groupies think A-list bloggers are visionaries is hyperbole and a form of hero worship that contributes little. By definition, you can't say a person is a visionary until after the event. That smacks of a certain frenzy.

Dave is correct to demonstrate how the issues are evolving. Some question his motives. I can tell you right now: Selling services to corporates about how to respond to new media. I do the same but to one of the toughest markets on the planet. I use blog technology as a metaphor not an end in itself. To do so at this stage would be corporate suicide or a guaranteed blank stare.

Blogs are NOT mainstream. Yet. Their headline numbers belie the fact that many die within 3 months. There are only a handful of blog sites that matter - but to their terribly narrow audience.

Podcasting isn't on the radar, despite the ra-ra around it.

That is not to say the long term impact remains static. Far from it. But to insist on this or that to large and powerful companies is a guaranteed FU pal. It's immature. Like the blogosphere. If you think that's a skewed view of someone who's clueless, then assess the maturity of the top podcast for yourself from a business point of view. I can see the pitch:

'Tell me about the most important podcast show out there.'

'Well, it's an adult comedy show.'

My view is that collectively, we can be influential as part of a greater whole. The degree of influence may well increase over time. no-one would argue with that. But not by adapting to corporate speak or resorting to threats or profanity.

But by using the brains that got us to this position in the first place to do good. You don't do that by 'telling' anyone what to do. You do that through learning. Which requires a two-way conversation. That's mature.

After all, how many executives take advice from juveniles? Not many I'll bet.

Hi Jose:

Thanks for posting such a well thought out reply. I'd like to address a couple of points in your post, too.

This isn't the first time that the Kryptonite story, from my perspective, has been told in blogs. Jake over at communityguy.com and I talked last April about this and he has a few posts about it here:
http://www.communityguy.com/index.cfm?date=4/2005

In July, there was quite a lengthy conversation over at Shel Israel and Robert Scoble's Naked Conversations site. You can view the numerous posts here:
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2005/07/index.html

And now here, with Dave. I think we've pretty much covered it all in these three exchanges.

Your suggestion to talk to the 'reputable' sources you have listed is a good one. However, I've tried, on more than one occassion, to start a conversation with one of them and it hasn't been allowed.

Also, this story is more than a year old at this point. This incident does not define us as a company by a long shot. Kryptonite is moving on from this whole situation. We were true to our customers and we feel good about that.

One of the things I mentioned over on Naked Conversations is this - marketers might not think we 'did it right', but our customers do. And, better yet, thieves know we did the right thing because they are being frustrated on the streets every day by our locks. THAT is were, as a security company, we have our best successes.

Yes, it may sound like 'fluff' or 'bs' when I talk so earnestly, Jose, and I know my title works against me on this, but really it is only passion. I honestly believe in this company and what we do on a daily basis. Thieves stink and we work every day to do our part in putting them out of 'work'.

Thanks, again, for such a detailed response, Jose, and do post here again if you have additional questions or suggestions. I enjoy learning every day so suggestions are welcome. Additional questions I'll answer without hesitation - unless, of course, they come in when I'm offline ;)

Happy Holidays, Jose.
Donna

What about the Wikipedia, which has the following text on the discussion page for Kryptonite Lock:

"The article finishes with "the company responded with a lock exchange offer", implying that the matter was concluded. However, none of the shops I've bought kryptonite locks from have any knowledge of the lock replacement program, which implies (a) that most locks are still vulnerable, and (b) the lock replacement program has problems worth mentioning. For example, does it only apply in the USA? Ojw 12:26, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kryptonite_lock

Is that still true? Relative to the purpose of this post, is it something that Kryptonite should have addressed "long ago"?

And the main Kryptonite Lock Wiki refers to the "2004 Kryptonite Blogstorm". It has a wiki link to Kryptonite_Blogstorm, but that simply redirects to Blog which doesn't even mention the term blogstorm. (What a mess!)

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptonite_lock

I would argue that the Wikipedia is supposed to be encyclopedia-level quality and customer-service issues should have no place in an encyclopedia.

But, since the issues have been raised there, AND LEFT UNANSWERED (including the "2004 Kryptonite Blogstorm"), they become memorialized.

So, the question remains: What can and should any company do about the "echoes" that remain after a "storm" has mostly died out?

-- Jack Krupansky

Donna,

After a bit of digging I did find those resources and posted them on my original article at thinkjose.com So definitely shame on me for not digging a bit and where the heck was I when this started bubbling back up. Apparently I am so behind the times in my neon Ray-bans and with my mini-disc player.

Still its a good conversation to have about how corporations interface with the web. I think we still have a long way to go before the twain shall meet.

Jose

Jose

I just checked my archives, and while I might be wrong, I don't think I made a big deal out of the kryptonite thing...

if anything, I would have written about how the story is more important that the actual facts...

I still maintain Kryptonite handled his terribly. Any crisis can be mitigated through effective communication. The vacuum of silence will be filled by misrepresentation, drivel and poison (I think Schopenhauer said that).

All the interviews reinforce for me is that as a business they responded well (except it turns out the problem had been flagged years before and they did nothing then). As communicators, they did lousy. If they new about the commentary, but didn't respond, it's pretty much the same as not knowing and not responding. No response is no response.

And for the record, about that time I bought a neat new mountain bike. I needed a lock. The blog coverage specifically caused me not to buy their product. If they had communicated what they are communicating now, I might have done so. To answer the question posed by Kryptonite: "here are millions of blogs, but what are the audiences of these blogs?" - it's me, the bike owner. The interview gets worse, reinforcing further cluelessness about the blogosphere: "We know that lots of teens and college students have blogs and, mainly use them to communicate with friends and family. These are our customers, but are they going to corporate blogs? Not so sure about that."

And then, worse still, they correct the misperception that they only found out about the problem in last year when bloggers started getting into it. Oh no, they knew about it in 1992 - and it would appear they did nothing? That's meant to inspire confidence?

I had the privilege of working around some of the best crisis communicators in my agency days. I once asked why there were so few case studies on this type of thing. I got an interesting response - post crisis, all you want the focus to be on is how the business is moving forward - you don't want to get into the mechanics of the crisis, it just casts further light on your problems. A pretty good idea in my book. Seems like Kryptonite is determined to teach us what not to do pre, during and post crisis.

Hi again:
It seems that Andrew maybe only read the interview and not the comments after the interview by his repeating of misinformation. This is what I've posted over on his site.
Happy Holidays one and all!

Andrew - while you are certainly entitled to your opinion I'd just ask you to do one thing - please reread my first response to Rebecca on Dave's site. It clearly states that we did not know about the article in 1992, and gives some pretty good business examples of why you might want to believe that. Again, I probably can not sway your opinion about our communication, but I can defend true facts.
Also, I ask you this - as I asked over on Naked Conversations this summer. You might not buy a Kryptonite lock because of how we communicated this issue. That is your right. However, shouldn't you buy a lock based on the effectiveness of the lock? Thieves don't care how we communicate an issue, they care about whether or not they can defeat a lock on the street. Since we replaced 380,000 locks worldwide, we're pretty confident that we are still frustrating those thieves. That's one of the most important factors for us.

I'm with you, I'd like for us to get past this, but with people still writing about it, like you, it seems that time hasn't come yet.

Happy riding, Andrew. Whatever brand of lock you bought remember to always use it and use it properly, that is more than half the battle when defeating thieves. I truly hope your bike is with you forever!
Donna

Is the Kryptonite Exchange still going on?

I have dilly dallied on this but will be upset at Kryptonite --and the bike store I purchased the lock from-- if they smirk and tell me time's up.

Here is an interesting question for Donna (though unlikely to answer) or for the readers of this blog -- how many of you are unlikely to ever again purchase a Kryptonite product as a result of this? How many of you would not have this opinion if Kryptonite had handled their communications more effectively? By the way, I am (was) a Kryptonite customer and I do read blogs. And I take advice from juveniles when it is important to getting my product right. In my reading of this Donna and Kryptonite STILL don't get it, even though they are a great example of the new media 2.0 reality -- the marketplace is a conversation. Your customers are talking and defining your brand. Join the conversation or ignore it at your peril.

I'm a long time cyclist and kryptonite customer. I was very impressed by they way the company handled this. They swapped my two locks out without hassle or complaint. Who cares if it took them a few days to get the program together? If they did or didn't ignore the "blogosphere", who cares?

They turned a crisis into an opportunity to demonstrate trustworthiness, then delivered.

Seems to me some folks are more concerned about rubbing Kryptonite's nose in its own poo than they are about securing their possessions. Unfortunately the "puppy trainers" in the former group, or critics in the world of corporate marketing, do have the ear of many people that influence how much shelf space a given brand occupies in the retail level marketplace. Fortunately for Kryptonite people like me who realize that there was probably less than a dozen competant bike thieves on the planet who got close enough to a computer in those 3 or 5 or 8 days to really put a bike at risk, still buy the best lock for the buck.
I just purchased a New York "Fahgettaboudit" U-lock and I believe it is currently the most effective lock on the market.
Maybe you pundits should go pick on the folks at Masterlock, currently marketing their "cut-proof" street cuffs as such, even though I doubt they don't fully know there are links to this:

https://webspace.utexas.edu/saitogm/MasterLockStreetCuffs/index.htm

Popping up on review sites like epinions all over the net.

Excellent interview provides a lot of missing information about the Kryponite crisis. Glad to hear from Donna Tocci to better understand what really happened. I used the Kryponite case in my latest posting on Crisis Communications and referenced your helpful analysis. For more, see: http://jon8332.typepad.com/force_for_good/2007/01/will_you_be_rea.html

Well, here's one of the issues of blogs and the blogosphere: no one verifies anything.

I've gone out there and told the right story in comments, but people prefer to believe the stories that help them with their own philosophies and personal agendas.

How many of the memes out there should be properly fisked? Probably all of them. I did it with FedEx Furniture, and still get hits from Wikipedia about it.

Any bike lock that uses a rotating cylinder type of combination lock can easily be broken into in less than a minute. I just bought my son a brand new bike and liked the look of the Kryptonite lock and purchased one for him. After a few days. I remembered that as a kid (I'm 50 now) that I could easily break into this type of lock. Just gently pull the lock apart and start rotating the right-most cylinder. When it reaches the correct location it will "snap" into place. The lock usually even separates slightly letting you know that it the correct number as well. Then try the other cylinders. After a little practice you'll find that you can unlock it in less than a minute.

The link to the bikebiz article is broken, apparently they remodeled their website. So much for permanent links. But the story can still be found in archive.org, though: http://web.archive.org/web/20040917010240/http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=4637

And it's fascinating that this blog post still receives comments after all thi time :-).