A Royal Flush: American Standard does blogger outreach right

As we all know, I’m not much for online contests, or linking, or really anything related tangentially to my blog other than what I feel like writing about at any given moment, but when I got an e-mail from a nice woman named Tracey, with a subject line that read, “Loved ‘The Great Underwear Experiment,’” well … I was beyond skeptical.

But for some odd reason, I decided to read the e-mail and realized what an idiot I was. I wrote a post with that exact same title about 4 months ago. What a coincidence! So I decided to read further. And I was shocked with what I found.

The e-mail author Tracey had actually read the post I wrote, had some follow up questions for me about it (yes, my mad method worked in about a week), and oh, yeah, she was doing research for a new blog for American Standard toilets called Professor Toilet and they had come across so many funny toilet stories online they created an interactive awards list for their new blog, and I was a nominee in their Best Potty Training Advice category.

She coddled my ego by saying I wasn’t a D-lister, and then THANKED ME FOR MY BLOG.

First I laughed out loud that this was my new claim to fame (and yes, I won the category, if you must know). And then I was shocked. Here was an email from a person doing blogger outreach, or PR for American Standard and I was asked to do nothing for their new site or brand. No products being pushed (although I could use a new scrubber, hint hint ), no links being asked of me, and no “can you spread the word about our new site?” mumbo jumbo.

Nope, for one of the few times in my two-plus years of blogging someone just thought I was funny.

This of course led me on a mad search through the Professor Toilet site (I didn’t know how funny people who make toilets can be) and a realization that without the slightest nudge, beg, trickery or giveaway I happily spent 20 minutes perusing information about flushing, toilet humor and saving water.

And now of course, I’m writing about it, because that’s what I’ll do for a company that made me chuckle and had connected with me through my blog in a unique and non-overbearing way. So often we write about bad pitches, promos, ads, etc. But many professionals, like Tracey, get it right and when they do, it builds that authentic experience with the person and the brand, that is worth way more than a $2 coupon for wipes.

So, kudos. American Standard and Tracey and your team. Thanks for making me laugh and for doing my former professional field proud. Even though we’re a Kohler household (sorry, we live close enough to Kohler, WI that we have little choice), I’m now American Standard at heart.

p.s. thanks to Jean for the blog post title. You still got it, girl!