Like many people I have been watching Hugh McLeod’s progress across the UK with massive interest. In case you haven’t been following it’s a trip in search of love, by a blogger with a bottle of wine hosted by Tesco. Geeks, wine, love, supermarkets. What’s not to like. It’ s a classic odyssey.
Hugh is working for Stormhoek, a South African winery run by the visionary Jason Korman, as many of us discovered when we received last year the now infamous Threshers coupon. The fact that Stormhoek and Hugh would push the envelope is not a surprise, but I’m tipping my hat to Tesco.
They are hosting an admirable social experiment that is not without a little risk. Pilloried as many things, by many people, this little explosion of humanity, humour and existential angst (will Hugh get a date?) is helping to personalise their brand on a store by store basis. It’s picking up lots of local press and radio coverage and the buzz factor from these visits (always difficult to quantify but always a big plus) is building. I really hope that the national media pick up on a truly personal quest for love (and a pretty good national video survey of what we think that THING is) rather than the usual diet of re-hashed Valentine stories.
And I can only imagine the huge morale boost Tesco staff and management get when the McLeod/Stormhoek love train pulls into their store. Well done Tesco. Every little helps.
[tags]Love, Tesco, PR, Hugh McLeod, Stormhoek [/tags]
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