Brand Wins by Giving Free Jeans for a Year to Jimmie the Plumber

So I found this video online the other day. The story is about a plumber that went out of his way to do his job. He went the extra mile. You might think that this guy doesn't deserve any praise or accolades since he was just doing his job.

And under most circumstances, I would agree with you. I mean, if you pick to be a plumber, sometimes you're going to have to deal with shit. Sometimes it's going to be waste-deep! Nonetheless, when you see how far he went to do his job, you'd agree with me that this guy probably did deserve a little pat on the back.

According to Inside Edition and the pictures floating around online, Jimmie Cox, the plumber, dove in about one half of his body, submerging himself upside down, just to fix a broken pipe. That's dedication, that's grit, and that's like Gary Vaynerchuk would say hustle.

Inside Edition even put him in touch with Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs, just to talk and stuff. Pretty cool, right? I'd be excited if I made the news and then talked to a celebrity about why I got on the news wouldn't you?

But what I noticed was a small part of the story where Wrangler noticed that Jimmie was wearing their jeans, so they sent the guy a year's supply of jeans. This is a brand that was paying attention and took a great opportunity to help and elevate their brand.

Kudos to Wrangler for listening to social media and using it in a positive way to give something back. If you ask me, they could have sent this guy a lifetime worth of jeans and still come out ahead. Even invite him to a store, or a factory to record the story and do some videos with him. Some people would think that's too opportunistic, but I don't.

The fails in this story? All the other brands that could have leveraged this but didn't. Think about his favorite breakfast spot, or his favorite coffee shop, even a plumber's tool outlet. All of them could have recognized his efforts and sent him a little something. Free breakfast, or free coffee for a month or even a new tool, courtesy of _____________. That was the fail.

Another example why you should be using social media AND listening to what's going on around you, especially locally, in your town, in your area, and in your industry. If this sounds like too much effort, or if you think that I'm crazy to suggest this, take a look at my review of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook... or better yet, get yourself a copy and read it. You can thank me later. By the way, you can now add me on Snapchat.

Update: A little later after I wrote this, I found another weird thing... one of Wrangler's twitter accounts is set to private, the one that is linked to from a Google card --arguably the most important one. This is sketchy, but I'm sure they have their reasons. Whatever it is, it tells me that they're not in social 100%, they're hesitant, or they have their legal counsel up in their business too much. Guys, relax, open up.

Update 2: I'm guessing that they're protecting their name by locking "WranglerJeans" and using their shorter Wrangler account. Smart!