Ring security: Peace of mind vs. chilling nightmare

Authors
Kenneth J. Ramaley, Ramaley Group, Bradley W. Brooks, Queens University of Charlotte
Region
North America
Topic
Marketing & Sales
Strategy & General Management
Length
3 pages
Keywords
reputation
Reputation Risk
Branding
reputation
Reputation Risk
Copyright Holder
Society for Case Research
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Undergraduate Students

Ring, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, offered security products to enhance customer peace of mind. In December 2019, however, a chilling video went viral that showed an unidentified hacker observing an eight-year-old girl through a Ring camera while the girl was alone in her bedroom. The hacker, furthermore, spoke to the young girl through the Ring speaker. Additional videos quickly began appearing of Ring customers being victimized by hackers who observed them in the privacy of their own homes. For a product based on selling security, such encounters could have been devastating for Ring.

Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify product attributes and their influence within a consumer decision process
  2. Evaluate the effects of security breaches on a consumer security company’s branding based on Aaker’s theories of brand assets and brand liabilities
  3. Evaluate organizational motives behind company statements when the company is responding to a controversy
  4. Recommend a set of strategies for a consumer security company that has suffered from cyber-security breaches