One Way to Connect with an Aggravated Fan
A couple months back I wrote a blog post entitled “Thankful Gestures, Earnestly Given,” which included this line:
A small gesture, an honest thank you to some of your passionate user evangelists, a valued partner or vendor, or especially the too-often-ignored small customer, can go a long way towards creating a true emotional connection to you and your brand.
Well, here’s a slightly different take. A story of a major school* football coach responding, and surprising, a pissed off fan who wrote in after the horrible performance of the team in the season opener (“Coach’s gesture wins back UO fan“):
One disgusted Oregon fan asked Chip Kelly for a refund after the Boise State debacle — and got it.
Tony Seminary, an Oregon alumnus who lives in the Portland area, told the Web site EveryDayShouldBeSaturday.com that after he sent Kelly an e-mail with an attached invoice — Seminary’s expenses for his trip to Boise — the new head coach responded with a question:
“What is your address?”
A few days later, a check for $439 arrived, apparently signed by Kelly.
While this wasn’t a “thankful gesture” so to speak, and yes, it had a fair tinge of bluff calling to it, the effect was exactly the same:
“I think of Coach Kelly as a totally different person now,” Seminary told the Web site. “I have a different bond with him now. … Let’s just say he lost every game as an Oregon coach. You would never hear me calling for his head. It just wouldn’t happen. The guy showed an incredible amount of class.”
It was a small thing, maybe done out of anger, maybe done out of frustration at his own performance, or maybe done just because Chip Kelly is that kind of smartass. Who knows – Coach Kelly isn’t commenting. But it’s a wonderful example of surprising and delighting even your critics with a small, personal, and wholly unscalable gesture.
Nice work Coach.
Side Note: By the way, nice story by the Register-Guard, but it pulls significant quotes from a blog post – and original reporting – by EverydayShouldBeSaturday.com. The R-G cited the blog, but didn’t bother to post a link that I could find. C’mon old media, you can do better than that.
*Disclosure: I’m a huge Oregon Duck fan, if you haven’t noticed already.
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