If you read our post from last week, you know that KitchenAid disappointed me with a couple of lackluster Twitter responses to my dramatic blender explosion.

But what you DON’T know is that something ridiculously amazing happened.

We got a delivery to the office the very next day, and it was a fabulous, brand-spanking-new blender. (HOORAY!)

Agency friend and follower, @brianna_land, read our post. And, while she thanked me for the lesson in “good/bad PR,” she also gave me an idea for a part-two lesson. KitchenAid, you could learn a thing or two from this Whimseybox COO.

PAY ATTENTION
Brianna follows our blog, and she’s a friend of ours on social media. From time to time, she interacts with us, and (apparently) reads our posts. This time, she clearly read all the way to the end and saw my note. “P.S. Somebody send me a blender!” And while I was mostly joking, she decided to take it to heart and sent me a surprise the following day.

TAKE NOTE OF DETAILS
If you saw the photo of the blender shrapnel I posted last week, you may have noticed that my old (to use a KitchenAid-induced adjective) blender was red. And, wouldn’t you know it, so was the one that Brianna sent. Details are important, especially when those details keep your kitchen color-coordinated.

ACT FAST
When we received the package the very next day, I expected it to be an Amazon shipment of books we ordered for the office. Never did I imagine someone would actually send me a blender –– much less send one immediately. The timeliness of the action made it even better.

SURPRISE THEM
Things that are unexpected are memorable and talked about. This is a repeated mantra in our office. And what Brianna did was completely unexpected. I immediately took to Twitter to start a conversation with her, and we’re meeting later this week to grab drinks and talk collaboration. Surprise evokes emotion, and emotion evokes action. Never underestimate the positive impact an unexpected gesture can create –– especially when it comes to your customers.

While much of this seems basic, it’s amazing how infrequently this advice is followed. Social media isn’t that different from the IRL world. It might seem easy to shrug off an interaction made over social media. (KitchenAid, I’m looking at you.) But more and more the lines between life online and offline are blurring. We have to treat online interactions with the same care and consideration we use in real life. We appreciate thoughtful, kind, creative people in real life, so we appreciate thoughtful, kind, creative social media accounts.

A Blended Lesson: Part II of the KitchenAid Episode

Keeping social media as creative and personal as our real life

Regular

You know us, right? You know our hearts belong to Houston. We are constant advocates and cheerleaders of anything and everything Houston has to offer. But this? This is different. THIS IS OFFICIAL.

We’re working WITH the City of Houston on something we feel passionate about. MAKING HOUSTON A BETTER PLACE.

As of right now, almost HALF of Houstonians cannot recycle curbside. We’re talking about one MILLION people who are unable to recycle on a day-to-day or even weekly basis. If you’re like us and without a recycling program in place, you’re lugging crates filled to the brim with newspapers, plastic bags and empty wine bottles to a recycling center near you.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for most of our fellow Houstonians. We know that if it’s not easily accessible or available, it’s not necessarily a top priority.

And that’s about to change, Houston. Thanks to our indefatigable Mayor (Seriously, does she ever sleep?), Houston is a finalist in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge. Mayor Annise Parker and her team have proposed an initiative to completely change the way Houston thinks about going green.

We’re talking COMPLETELY, 100 PERCENT, NO-HOLDS-BARRED GREEN.

Enter One Bin for All. If the recipient of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, the City of Houston will provide every residence with curbside recycling services. EVERY. SINGLE. RESIDENCE.

The One Bin for All initiative makes recycling a cinch – all (yes, ALL) trash is thrown into one receptacle. A RECYCLING BIN. After your bin is picked up, it’s taken to a cutting edge, state-of-the-art facility where it’s sorted and recycled. FOR YOU. It ensures that every single recyclable material is taken care of and put to good use. Nothing, and we mean nothing, will ever fall through the cracks again.

No longer will you have to wonder, “Can I recycle this?” The City of Houston will be handling that, thank you very much.

With fewer garbage trucks on the road, this innovation will result in a reduction of 600,000 vehicle miles traveled. Houston’s CO2 emissions reductions would be equal to 5,000 passenger vehicles removed from the road annually. We’re creating jobs, reducing operating costs and redefining the concept of waste.

So yeah, Houston needs our help. We owe it to ourselves (and the future of our community) to make sure we do our part. Let’s paint the town green, baby. We’re voting for One Bin for All, HTX. YOU SHOULD TOO.

One Bin to Rule Them All