On a United Airlines Flight, Dave Carroll saw United Airlines baggage handlers throwing and breaking his $3,500 taylor guitar. He complained to United staff but according to him they didn’t care, and United would not pay for the damage.
Dave them published a song “United Breaks Guitars” which went viral on Youtube, the chorus went “I should have flown with someone else, or gone by car, ’cause United breaks guitars.”
It amassed 150,000 views in 1 day and was all over the media, including CNN, the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone Magazine & the BBC. While United refused to compensate for the damage, Taylor Guitars stepped up and gave Dave Taylor 2 free Guitar and props for his next song.
As at Feb 2011, the video has almost 10 million views on Youtube, and has been a tremendous boost for Dave Carroll and his band Sons of Maxwell who made a trilogy of videos about the saga. “United Breaks Guitars” was ranked #7 in the Top Ten Viral Videos of 2009 by Time Magazine.
1 Response to "United Breaks Guitars – Viral Youtube Marketing bites United Airlines"
That video reminds me the Mister Bark guy who plays the piano in his briefs 😉