Recently, KLUC FM radio personality, Spence, caught my attention when he shared a story about being out to dinner with his wife at a local restaurant.
He ordered a whiskey from the bar and admits to picking a brand he wasn’t familiar with, but liked the look of the bottle. Fast forward and the bill comes, and to his shocked surprise, the shot of whiskey cost him $125! This is when he really caught my attention – he took to social media and shared what happened. He was so classy and funny about the way he was sharing. He never did anything but keep it first person and took responsibility for his lack of knowing the wonderful whiskey he innocently chose that night. But if you know anything about Spence and the KLUC morning show, they did it right! Spence opened a GoFundMe site humorously pleading his case to help with the cost and they took the story to their audience and asked if the bartender had a responsibility to advise a guest of the cost. Bartenders and KLUC listeners gave opinion after opinion and I loved how the bartenders explained the right way to handle – they kept it classy too!
My point being – in the media world today, your business can become the topic of conversation in a blink and that conversation can go one of two ways - smart, fun and productive or negative. With social media and review sites everywhere you look, your company and or products can be thrust in the spotlight within moments! It’s all in how YOU decide to handle it.
In Spence’s case, Whistlepig whiskey was the topic of conversation and Spence had fun. Whistlepig didn’t do anything but create a wonderful and quality whiskey and in this case, they received a ton of free publicity! You can’t pay enough to get that kind and type of publicity! Nice going Whistlepig!
Here’s the BEST part! The GoFundMe account reached the $125 goal that Spence setup and guess who donated to the fund? WHISTLEPIG! They included a wonderful message: “A) $125 is a steal, B) Not stupid. Best decision ever, C) the P should be capitalized.” How fantastic is that? Spence took the $125 fund, matched it and rounded up to $335 and donated the funds to St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer Research Foundation!
I am a forever fan of WhistlePig (now) and Spence (always have been)! Oh, and make mine a double - of their attitudes.
http://bit.ly/WhiskeyPigSpence
