UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging

Chapter 32. Rockport

AS YOU READ in the opening of the book, one person's attitude can change the perception of a brand. This can also be done with products, like what happened with Rockport shoes and me last year. I was tweeting away mentioning my upcoming Vegas trip and reminding myself out loud to buy some new shoes because I had made the moronic error of wandering the strip in flip-flops on my last trip.^[97]

Somebody replied to me that he had the perfect shoes for me and would "hook me up." I just thought this was another person talking big online about his or her connections and what he could do for people. He later sent me a DM mentioning that he would send me what he wears because he does a lot of walking. This is where the relationships online can get a wee bit weird. I had to wonder if this guy was about to send me a pair of his used sandals. However, my desire for free stuff trumped my concern for hygiene. I said, "Ah, what the hell, why not," and sent him my home address and shoe size. He replied saying he was going away for a few weeks and would take care of it when he got home. Besides the fact that I just gave my address out to a total stranger, not to mention my shoe size, I was feeling quite good about it. I then proceeded to forget all about it.

A few weeks later the buzzer went off at my condo and it was a delivery guy! Thankfully not the guy I was talking to online. . . He was dropping off a huge box. I opened the box and there were three boxes, all from Rockport. ...