Co-Branding Opportunity

Awhile back I was approached by a local writer about the possibility of using the Plant kitchen as a space for her writer’s group.I said that would be fine.  It turned out to be Judy Hogan’s Proust class, and they met every Monday night for about a year.  I don’t tend to like writers.  Or writer’s groups for that matter, so I politely turned down their invitation to “jump in.”

The other night I was meeting a truck which came late.  My task was to vacuum up about 3000 gallons of contaminated methanol that had been sitting in totes in the yard for over a year.  Having finally found a home for it, everyone on project was eagerly looking forward to its departure.  The driver was late.  It was dark.  We needed the space.  We needed that methanol to leave town.  It called for a late shift.

When the truck was loaded I took the flashlight out of my mouth and stopped by the kitchen to say hello to the Proust group.

And I was blown away.

Here were about a dozen folks, inspired by Proust, (and Judy) and devoted to their own work.  I sat around and chatted for about an hour.  They had published a book of their work, and they gave me a copy.  It was marvelous.  Filled with their poems, and essays inspired by Marcel Proust and one another.  It was remarkable.

It made me think differently about writer’s groups.  They were passionate.  And inspired.  And truly grateful for the use of our space.  So grateful, in fact, they put our logo on their t-shirts.

I couldn’t believe it.  Everyone was wearing a black t-shirt, with a picture of Proust on the front, and everybody’s favorite quotation was on the back.  It was hysterical.  And there, at the bottom of the shirt was our logo.

I headed home amazed.  Amazed by a committed group of writers devoting a year to Proust and their own work, and delighted that Piedmont had played a role. That night I passed on my normal routine and read “In the Kitchen with Proust.”

At Piedmont we don’t spend a lot of time or energy on branding, co-branding, product placement, or any sort of brand marketing for that matter.  We just do our thing.  If no one is using the kitchen-help yourself.  And voila, we accidentally loom a little larger on the backs of the Proust fans….