Monday, April 12, 2010

Delightfully Unexpected



One would assume that being in the ad biz for as long as I have, that nothing can get us excited these days.  I have to admit, I'm a sucker for anything clever and unexpected when it comes to brands interacting with people, on and offline.  It doesn't have to be a grand gesture or blown-out marketing campaign.  It's the little things that count.  Do it in a delightful and unexpected way and you'll get people to look forward to "having a conversation" w/your brand.  Sorry for this overused, social media cliche, but it's all I got right now.  You can punch me in the face later.   Brands should should be here to enable interaction, and not just a transaction.  Damn, was that another cliche?  Okay, I'll stop now.  But before I do, check out this Twitter reply I received from the @OCGoodwill today after a Foursquare post mentioning them over the weekend.  What I found really cool about this was that they didn't feel it was necessary to follow me just because I mentioned them in a tweet.  How often have you experienced brands on twitter quick to auto-follow or spam you with links once you mention them in a tweet?  Most of the time, it's taken out of context and the company starts to become really annoying.  This small, unexpected, no-strings attached reply was genuine and unassuming.  It had me feeling delightfully more positive about the brand than I ever would have, had they not reached out.  Now, isn't that what it's all about?

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