Ties that Bind

This is a tale about an E.T. doll, a three-year-old and a guy named Josh in California. And what do all three have to do with your marketing strategy? Everything.

In July of 20o7, I wrote a blog post and included this picture of my son and his new E.T. doll.

Over a year and a half later, a guy named Josh in California Googled the term “life size E.T. doll” and found my post. Unable to find the doll anywhere else – Josh sent me an e-mail.

The doll you got for your kid is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for. Can you give me any information on this doll? (manufacturer, details on the tag or anything else you think may aid me in my search for this illusive collectible?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Josh

After a few e-mails Josh revealed that he wanted E.T. to join him on the front of his bike for a ride in California benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. After a chat my son, we decided to lend Josh the E.T. doll. I figured packing E.T. up for a trip across the country would serve as an awesome lesson for Benjamin in geography, sharing and being altruistic.

After a few good-bye shots in the Cement Marketing office

Benjamin and I brought E.T. to the nearest FedEx store.

Before packing him up

and shipping him off to a far away place called California.

Just a few weeks later the pictures started pouring in.

Josh had E.T. all over his Facebook page and apparently, E.T. had become the star of the benefit bike ride.

In the end, E.T. ended up back on our door step with a beautiful notebook filled with thank-yous from riders written to Benjamin. One Google search led Josh to us, leading E.T. to him and his race and then Facebook ultimately impacting hundreds of cyclists and those who benefited from their charity.

Now–a question for marketers. What if Benjamin and I had been a business and E.T. had been our product or related to our product or service in some way? How are you engaging your clients or consumers? Are you proactively creating online content like blog posts, photos or videos that they can share or find some day? If not today, then when?

There’s no time to lose and so many opportunities to be missed. Not even to mention amazing opportunities to help make the world just a little bit better.

Tags | e-mal, E.T. doll, social connections, Social Marketing, social media