"AT&T customers have been complaining for months about dropped calls, spotty service, delayed text and voice messages and slow download speeds for the iPhone," says Jackie Huba in a post at the Church of the Customer Blog.

In response, AT&T produced a three-minute YouTube video in which it appears that a spokesperson called "Seth the Blogger Guy" will address concerns from a large number of unhappy customers.

"Look, we see the discussions on the Web," he says, "on blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook. So we thought it would be a good idea to take what's being said head-on." So far, so good, but Seth quickly loses his focus by:

• Describing the huge demands placed on networks by smartphone usage
• Congratulating AT&T for its role in expanding the smartphone market
• Detailing the extraordinary efforts to facilitate a smooth rollout for the iPhone's MMS feature—which had yet to be released when the video was made, and about which no customers had complained.

Nearly two minutes into the presentation, Seth finally gets to the point. "So what are we doing about it?" he says. "Well, put simply, we're working around the clock to enhance and expand out network to meet these challenges."

He concludes by telling viewers what AT&T plans to do and how much it plans to spend, but fails to offer concrete timelines, or much else that would matter to a customer frustrated by terrible service.

More importantly, though, your Marketing Inspiration is to consider what Seth left out: "[He never] says what customers really want to hear," notes Huba. "'We're sorry.'"

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