Interesting thread over at Ed’s blog: he had a Tumi bag that died, Tumi wouldn’t replace it, and so Ed posted about his search for a replacement. Two things happened: Tumi saw his post and replaced his bag with a new one, and Briggs & Riley, the brand he was considering as a replacement, contacted him and offered to let him try one of their bags. I love to see this happen, and not because companies send me lots of stuff (I didn’t even get one of those crappy phones that Sprint was slinging around with such abandon a few months ago.)
Clearly both Tumi and Briggs & Riley “get it”; they saw a good opportunity to score some positive marketing for their products at relatively low cost. This is a smart strategy, and one which I expect to become a differentiator between savvy companies that understand how to enter into conversations with the broad community and the old school (which normally just shouts at them à la traditional advertising).
(and apologies to all my readers who saw the word “angels” and were expecting a more spiritual contribution!)
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